Love Across Mountains and Seas

I waved it off, "It's fine. I'm used to it."

Emily didn't speak to me again.

Instead, she continued to chat enthusiastically with Bill, as if I wasn't there, both of them reminiscing about old times and laughing.

In front of me, they even joked around and drank a toast.

Everyone looked at me with complex gazes, some disdainful, some schadenfreude, and some sympathetic.

I couldn't remember the last time Emily had been this enthusiastic towards me.

If they ended up getting a room tonight, I wouldn't be surprised.

To everyone, it seemed like Emily and Bill were the couple.

They always did things beyond what friends would do, though they used to restrain themselves more, perhaps flirting in conversation. They tested my limits again and again with the physical contact and the kiss fueled by the alcohol and the atmosphere until now.

"You guys have fun. I'm going home. I have work early tomorrow." I calmly picked up a cigarette and left.

Everyone looked at each other.

As I left the private room, I heard some girls discussing me, saying I couldn't take a joke.

I didn't care anymore and couldn't be bothered to argue.

I've always been an easygoing person, able to chat with anyone and able to be friends with anyone.

In the past, whenever Bill was around, I would anxiously stay until the very end. Though nothing had happened to me personally, I had seen it online. An ex crying spells doom for the current relationship!

I stepped outside the restaurant, smoking a cigarette. Feeling the satisfaction of the tobacco filling my lungs, my mood was calmer than ever before. When did it start? I was tired! Suddenly, I realized—I no longer loved Emily!

I returned to our rented apartment.

It was over four thousand a month, three bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen, decorated by me and Emily. In my eyes, this was our home, and I loved it deeply.

I numbly scrolled through TikTok, falling into a doze on the sofa.

I could sense, about two hours later, the sound of Emily entering the door. I didn't need to look. I knew she was as drunk as usual, calling out my name.

Because she was used to it. No matter how drunk she got or how late she played, she could always enjoy my attentive care when she got home.

She would see the fruit I cut for her, her favorite lemonade and the hot water for her foot bath.

To keep the foot bath water warm, I used to add water several times, to make sure she was satisfied when she got back.

But tonight, nothing was prepared, and I pretended to be asleep, not responding to her. "Lucas?" Emily called out again. Her sensitive nature could tell something was off about me tonight.

At the restaurant earlier, from the way Emily looked at me, I knew she was ready to respond.

But this time she guessed wrong. I faced her and her ex-boyfriend Bill calmly, walked out of the private room calmly, and calmly took a taxi home. The atmosphere was still.

After three or four minutes, she took off her high heels and lay down on another sofa to sleep. Without everything prepared by me, she'd rather sleep on the sofa.

The next morning, when Emily woke up, I was already sitting on the sofa, preparing for today's meeting report.

Like last night, there was no loving breakfast, no essential sunny-side-up eggs (she liked them half-cooked), and no poured milk.

"Are you awake?"

"Last night, I drank too much. Bill drove me back. It's good there was no DUI checkpoint."

"Otherwise, you might not see me until the end of the year."

Emily joked awkwardly.

In her words, she was blaming me for leaving her alone in the restaurant last night.

It wasn't that she cared about me. I couldn't feel it. It was that I didn't provide her with the princess-like treatment she was accustomed to.

"Oh, tell Bill not to drive after drinking next time."

I stood up, tying my tie proficiently.

Suddenly, I remembered, it had been seven years, only in the beginning when Emily and I started dating, she tied my tie a few times. For the next six or seven years, I did it myself.

I'm not petty, nor do I care about these little details.

I just think that a woman tying a tie for me shows she cares.

"Bill got dumped. He told me last night. Tonight, he's planning to invite me for dinner, have a drink and spend some time with him."

"He said he has few friends in this city. Besides me, he couldn't think of anyone else."

Emily told me, rubbing her forehead.

Her hangover was severe. If my reaction last night surprised her, then this morning, I shocked her. I nodded, "Okay, come back early." Then I walked out the door. "Aren't you going to stop me?" A somewhat angry voice called out from behind me.

As I turned, I saw Emily standing in the living room, her face full of astonishment...