- 4.
“Why would I be angry? You two look quite good together standing side by side.” I smiled brightly, as if it had nothing to do with me, and just focused on eating.
“It’s a pity, really. If I hadn’t gotten sick, maybe Jerry and I would have already…”
Ivy put on a regretful expression. Jerry cut her off, “Ivy! Watch what you’re saying!”
Seeing Jerry’s cold face as he slammed down his chopsticks, Ivy immediately put on a pitiful look. “I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come to disturb you two. I’ll leave.”
She covered her face and cried. Jerry seemed to feel he had been too harsh. He gave me a troubled look.
“Go after her and check on her. Don’t let anything happen to her,” I said proactively.
Jerry immediately stood up, leaving with the words, “I’ll go take a look. I’ll come back to take you home in a bit.”
“Mm, thank you for your trouble.”
I continued eating. It would be a shame to waste such a big table of food. After eating my fill, I contentedly took a cab home by myself, because I knew Jerry wouldn’t be coming back.
As soon as I got home, Jerry called. “Susie, where did you go?”
“I came home,” I said flatly.
“Didn’t I say I’d come pick you up to go home?” Jerry’s tone held a hint of resentment.
“I figured you wouldn’t be coming back, so I just took a cab home. I had nothing else to do anyway.”
In the past when I asked Jerry to pick me up, he would always make excuses. “Why can’t you just go home by yourself?”
“You’re free anyway, what’s wrong with going home by yourself? Can’t you see how busy I am?”
There was silence on Jerry’s end of the phone. I hung up directly and leisurely applied a face mask.
As I had predicted, Jerry didn’t come home again all night. But I still slept soundly. Surprisingly, when I woke up, Jerry had already prepared
breakfast.
“You’re up. Come eat.”
It was rare for Jerry to cook so frequently. I drank some congee as Jerry looked at me with a complicated expression. “Susie, do you know what time I came home last night?”
I shook my head. “No, why?”
In the past, if it was past 10 PM I would call Jerry to ask when he was coming home. But recently, not only had I not called him once, I didn’t even care what time he came home. It was like I had become a different person.
Even when he smoked a whole pack of cigarettes at home, I only mildly said, “Smoking is bad for your health.”
Sometimes I didn’t even notice. Jerry felt uncomfortable all over, like something was missing.
“Susie, we’re both adults. If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t be like this.” Jerry finally couldn’t hold back and spoke up.
3:44 PM
