He wiped my tears clumsily, but they never stopped flowing.
“I shouldn’t have messed around with you,” I said.
“But you already have,” Landon said.
He leaned down and cupped my face as he looked at me, saying with a serious tone, “Christine, since you’ve already started this, then you need to see it to the end.”
On the seventh day in Harbor City, Jerome Sloan, a friend from Gold City, suddenly sent me a message. “Christine, when are you coming back to Gold City?”
I replied, “I don’t have any plans to return for now.”
Jerome: “Everyone misses you. Jorgie’s birthday is in a few days. Why don’t you come back and join us?”
Me: “No, just send him my regards. I’ll send a gift over.”
Jerome: “Alright then. Take care of yourself.”
In the room, Jerome handed his phone to Hansen. “Hansen, why don’t you call Christine? She’ll definitely listen to you.”
Hansen stared coldly at the words on the screen.
Then, he suddenly stubbed out his cigarette and stood up. “If she doesn’t want to come back, then she can just rot there.”
“Hansen, don’t be angry. Christine is probably just really upset right now.”
“Yeah, she even took her ring off this time. It looks like she’s really heartbroken. Honestly, you went a bit too far with that girl…”
“It’s already over between us. What else does she want?”
Hansen suddenly snapped in anger. “Listen up, none of you are allowed to contact her. Not even if she dies!”
“Alright alright, we won’t. Calm down, you just went to the hospital with a bleeding stomach two days ago.”
“You only stopped having stomach issues when Christine was around. It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already wrecked yourself…”
Every word they said made Hansen’s face darken even more.
By the end, he simply grabbed his coat and stormed out.
The cold wind hit his face when he stepped outside, but Hansen still felt his chest burning with frustration.
That damned woman. It’s been seven days, and Christine hadn’t even sent him a text.
So, she was really trying to play this game?
Hansen coldly pulled up her number and blocked it.
She’d better not come back crawling to him.
This time, he swore he wouldn’t go soft on her like he always did.
…
Landon called just as I finished typing up the last line of my manuscript and hit the formatting button.
I had been writing magazine columns since university and built up a decent reputation.
Then, I went full-time after I graduated.
Thanks to this, the income was pretty decent.
The freedom made things even better. I could take my laptop and work from anywhere.
So, after the breakup, there was no reason to stay in Gold City just to drown in heartache.
“Christine, what do you want for dinner?” Landon asked with a clear voice. Suddenly, all my exhaustion from working in the afternoon was soothed.
I said, “My brain cells are fried. I’m too tired to think about it, so you pick.”
He said, “How about some fondue? I know a place with amazing bone marrow. You’ll love it.”
