Goodbye,My Once Beloved

But at that moment, I suddenly mustered a kind of reckless courage.

"I want to get married and give birth to the baby!"

I quickly typed a line of text, pressing send before I could regret it.

Another long wait, until the end of the workday, Jack still hadn't replied.

Dragging my already exhausted body, looking at my reflection in the subway station glass, I felt my supposedly self-righteous courage was so laughable.

The subway was crowded. I felt like a sandwich cookie being compressed to its smallest.

I felt my stomach churning, a sharp pain in my lower abdomen.

''Fine, if it can crush this child out, so be it!''

The tears I had held back all day finally broke through at that moment. I bowed my head and cried silently, the crowd too dense, no one saw me.

I had already thought it through. I would abort this child and pretend to live as if nothing happened.

Or, I would follow my mom's advice, break up with Jack, go back to my hometown for a blind date and find a reliable man to settle down with. After all, no matter how I lived, as long as it wasn't like this, I just wanted a way out of this life!

When I reached the door of our rental, I indulgently bought a Haagen-Daze, the sweet taste of cream melting in my mouth, and my troubled heart gradually stabilized.

I wiped away my tears, casually straightened my hair.

"Let's break up!"

"Have you ever thought that maybe we are not suitable!"

I practiced these inevitably awkward topics as I walked to the rental.

I couldn't tell if I was just angry or really ready to leave.

However, all the hesitations weighed down as I opened the rental door, rationality once again suppressed by emotion.

As the door opened, a delicious smell of stewed meat wafted towards me.

Jack was wearing an apron, stewing ribs in our small pot on a tiny electric stove.

''Angel, sit down. I made meat soup for you.''

I ignored him, threw the empty Haagen-Daze wrapper on the floor, then sat down on the bed, feeling a mix of emotions, still upset he hadn't replied.

"Angel, I went around several streets to buy the meat. It is perfectly marbled. You eat more later."

Jack clearly noticed my displeasure, yet habitually played dumb.

''Why didn't you reply to my messages?''

I looked coldly at Jack, my tone not gentle.

The ashtray was filled with countless cigarette butts. I knew, Jack couldn't have missed my messages.

'Angel, I was on the phone with my mom for an hour. She and my dad sold the cattle back home, scraped together a few tens of thousands for us. Along with what we've saved, it's just enough to buy a small apartment. let's get married!"

Jack's eyes were so sincere. I almost mustered the courage to bet my whole life on it.

"My mom..."

I started to say but stopped myself, unable to bear telling Jack that my mom wanted 200,000 dollars for the dowry.

"What's wrong, Angel?"

Jack wiped the tears from my face with his fingers, his eyes full of concern.

I said nothing more, just turned into his embrace. At that moment, it felt like I could really escape the troubles.

"Did you buy this ice cream?"

Sure enough, sweetness lasted only a second!

Jack's eyes fell on the ''Haagen-Daze'' wrapper on the floor.