I Do, I Don't

I did not reply to Jason. Instead, I gathered everything that belonged to me.

I called movers to pull out the sofa, the shoe cabinet, and all the other large items. I did not even leave behind the packs of tissues I bulk-bought during sales.

By the time I finished, the apartment looked noticeably empty.

I set the keys on the entryway table, dragged two large suitcases behind me, and first stopped by my small apartment before getting into a car headed for my mother's house.

It was already noon when I arrived.

My mother and stepsister were eating.

When she opened the door and saw me, her expression soured.

"You sure know how to pick your timing. Have you eaten yet?"

In truth, I did not. But I had no desire to face her scorn, so I lied and said I had.

Only then did her face soften, as though relieved I wouldn't be eating her food.

"Go sit down. Later, the Barlowe family's boy will come pick you up," she ordered, then whispered under her breath, "Such good conditions, and he just had to set his eyes on a used woman like you."

I pretended I did not hear and sat quietly on the sofa.

Not long after, there was a knock at the door.

My stepsister, who was ignoring me the whole time, suddenly sprang up and eagerly ran to answer it.

"Nathaniel, you're here!"

Nathaniel Barlowe gave her a slight nod, but showed no intention of stepping inside.

"Is Jennifer here?"

With just a simple question, my stepsister's face turned black as soot.

She snapped her head toward me and shouted sourly, "He's calling you, didn't you hear?"

When I got up to leave, she deliberately bumped into me on her way past before storming off.

I could not be bothered to argue, so I simply followed Nathaniel downstairs.

Like a gentleman, he opened the car door for me. Once we were both seated, he finally began making small talk.

"Jennifer Knox, it's been so many years since we last met."

His hand on the steering wheel was trembling slightly from nerves.

I blinked and said, "Yes, it's really been a long time."

In a way, Nathaniel and I were childhood friends.

He was the boy next door to my grandfather's house, and we grew up playing together.

It was not until high school, when I went to the city's best school and he went abroad, that our contact dwindled.

By now, it was over ten years since we last saw each other.

And yet, the strangeness between us was surprisingly little.

He drove me back to my grandfather's neighborhood, recalling story after story from our childhood days.

By dinnertime, we were still chatting happily, reluctant to stop.

Nathaniel even managed to reserve a table at a notoriously difficult-to-book restaurant.

When he went to park the car, I pushed open the restaurant's door, only to be greeted by the sight of two people I least wanted to see.

Jason, who told me he was on a business trip, and his assistant.

On his face was the gentle smile I knew so well, as he carefully cut a steak for the young woman across from him.

Her eyes sparkled, full of shyness and sweetness as she gazed at him.

If Jason and I had already broken up, I might have even thought to myself, 'What a perfect-looking pair they were. A talented man and a pretty woman, glowing with affection.'

Perhaps my stare was too intense, because Jason suddenly looked up. And across the crowd, his eyes locked directly onto mine.

In that instant, a storm of expressions crossed his face: Surprise, guilt, and finally, anger.

"Jennifer, are you following me?"