Don't Cry, My Darling

I had clearly died. Why had I come back to life again?

When I saw my corpse on the ground, I realized that I hadn't come back to life. My soul had just left my body.

My soul was being attracted by some kind of force, and I arrived at the Lovean Sea.

This was the place where Ansel had bought a house six years ago with the first sum of money that he had received as a fund manager. It was the house that we'd lived in after getting married.

It had minimalistic decor, which was my favorite.

There were big gardens in both the front and the backyard, and they were filled with the pink roses that I'd loved.

However, we had only moved into the new house for six months when Ansel's rival set a trap for him. He lost so much money that he became bankrupt.

Ansel's mother, who was also my mother-in-law, was diagnosed with kidney disease.

All we did every single day was to hide from debtors. We lived like a family of rats who could never see sunlight.

I could not endure it and brought up the topic of divorce.

After that, Ansel sold the house and found a guarantor so that he could borrow the money to pay off the loan sharks.

He left New York with his mother.

Now that he had returned again six years later, he had become a finance giant on Wall Street.

The door was locked. Although my soul could go right through it, I wanted to try opening the digital lock.

I entered the date that we had started dating, and the door unlocked.

I was both happy and sad.

I was happy that Ansel still remembered the day we had begun our relationship, but I was sad that I was no longer the person by his side.

I had just sat down on the sofa when I heard the sound of brakes.

Before long, Ansel walked in, carrying a drunk Anne. He headed to the bedroom.

He had just pulled the blankets over her and was about to leave when Anne turned and wrapped her arms around his waist. She pleaded, "Ansel, don't leave. Could you stay and sleep with me tonight?"

There was a drunken lilt to her voice, and the bright red spaghetti-strap dress she was wearing made her look very seductive.

Ansel hesitated and nodded.

Anne drunkenly began to undo Ansel's shirt buttons and belt. Their clothes slid off onto the floor as they undressed.

My eyes were stinging, and my heart felt as if needles were being plunged mercilessly into it. I turned around hastily to leave.

I did not want to keep watching.

I comforted myself. They were about to get married and become a lawfully wedded couple.

They were doing what all married couples did.

Why should I be upset?

Besides, I was the one who had mentioned divorce first.

I wiped my tears dry and told myself to stop crying.

I had to wish Ansel the best.

I roamed around the other rooms in the villa. They were still furnished in the same way they had been back then.

Apart from the addition of Anne, it still felt like the house Ansel and I had lived in after marriage.

Why did I still feel as if I were the mistress of this house? That was far too greedy of me.

I sighed and got ready to leave.

Ansel came downstairs, carrying a large cardboard box.

I stood on my tiptoes and saw that it contained all the presents I had given him.

There was a razor, matching jackets, matching mugs, and all kinds of little trinkets.

What was he doing? Was he going to throw them all out?

Was he going to wipe away all traces of me from his life and his memories?

However, if he had decided to forget me, why had he bought that house back?

He took out a lighter from the box. It was covered with sparkly decals, and it was the first birthday present I had ever given him.

He lit a cigarette and stared at the lighter for a long time. I had no idea what he was thinking about.

After a long time, he took out his phone and opened WhatsApp.

I stood curiously behind the sofa and sneaked a peek at his screen.

His chat with me was right at the top.

The last time we had spoken was six years ago, on the 26th of July. It was the day we had broken up.

He opened the chat window: "I'm about to get married. This home still has your things. I've packed them up, so come and get them."

After he sent the message, there was no reply for a long time.

He began getting impatient, so he sent another message: "I'll give you two days. If you don't come and get them, I'll toss them out so that they don't take up space."

I looked at the trinkets in the box. They weren't valuable, but they were proof of all our years together.

We had known each other for over a decade.

Those things were evidence of how our love had lasted for over ten years.

He had once taken great care of those things. He kept them in a cupboard in his study, and no one was allowed to touch them.

Now he wanted to throw them out.

He wanted to forget me completely and wipe me out of his life.

I reached out to try to touch the matching rings that I had once given him, but I couldn't. My finger went through the box, and I could not touch anything.

Ansel stared at his phone screen until the sun rose, but there was no reply from me.

He began to look more and more grim. He picked up the box and stood up abruptly.

"Julie! You really are ruthless. You won't even reply to a message!"

I looked piteously at him. "Ansel, I'm already dead, and my phone broke three years ago. It's not that I'm not replying to you. I can't."

Ansel might have thought that I had blocked all methods of contact with him because I no longer wanted to pay any attention to a loser like him.

After all, I had said many nasty things to him when we'd broken up.

He looked furious as he carried the box to the trash can outside and threw it in without a second thought.

The porcelain cups shattered, and the pink blanket that I had knitted myself became stained with mud.

My heart twisted when I saw the proof of the love that Ansel and I had once had being abandoned like that.