Chapter 20
He tossed my phone back at me, and I caught it neatly. I managed to catch a glimpse of frustration on his grumpy face.
My head started hurting. All of a sudden, I didn’t know how I was supposed to spend the rest of my winter break with him around.
If I got close to him, he would feel disgusted and get sick of me. But if I kept my distance from him, he then said that I was a killjoy who didn’t know how to take a joke.
Whatever I did, he would always find a way to criticize me.
After getting my phone back, I wasn’t in the mood to continue watching the movie anymore. Instead, I found myself over–analyzing the words he told me just now.
“You girls are all the same overthinking species.”
He used the plural form of “girl“, which meant he was referring to me and at least someone else. But then again, it wasn’t hard to guess who else he was referring to.
First of all, he used to be quite anti–social since he was young and hated talking to females. I was the only exception. As of now, the only other female he was talking to was Lilac.
He had never once belonged to me. Everything I did or felt for him was just wishful thinking on my part.
After thinking it through, I opened up the photo gallery on my phone. I then deleted each and every photo of him that I’d carefully collected and cherished over the years.
Deleting his photos had been a lot harder than I thought. It felt as if I was ripping ctparts of my sanity with each deleted photo. It was painful yet calming at the same time.
All of his photos were soon gone from my phone. From then on, I no longer had any e
him any further.
to linger on
Around 9:00 pm that night, Colin video–called his family. He chatted merrily with everyone and got along
with them like a house on fire.
“Lulu, come here. Colin has something to say to you.”
I sat next to Aunt Mel obediently as she turned the phone around to face me. Colin’s face was on the
screen. He was looking at me quietly with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Lulu, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to show you around campus because I was too busy collecting data
with my supervisor. How have you been doing? So far, so good?”
I’m doing pretty okay.” I answered. We hadn’t seen each other for more than a year. Colin looked even
more mature now. The twinkle in his eyes continued to glimmer.
Felix was already very good–looking, but Colin was on a whole other level altogether. I was particularly
drawn to a tiny mole in the corner of his eyes. It made him look like a mythical creature.
“You’ve lost some weight. Is the food there not to your liking?”
“Really? But I didn’t lose any weight. In fact, I love the food there. The pork ribs are some of the best I’ve
ever tasted!”
Maybe Colin was amused by how much I kept talking about the food there. He gave me a wide smile with
the most endearing eyes I’d ever seen and said. “Alright then. I’ll be back sometime around March or
April. I’ll treat you to a meal of pork ribs as soon as I’m back!”
Colin’s video call was the highlight of my time at the Whites‘ house this Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve dinner lasted for quite a long time. By the time it was over, it was past 11:00 pm. It was
less than an hour away until the Christmas fireworks would go off. However, I was feeling very sleepy
after dinner and couldn’t keep my eyes open. I lay on their couch and went straight to sleep.
Dad had had a lot to drink, so Mom first took him back. She said that she would come back for me in a
while.
I was already overwhelmed by sleep while doing the dishes earlier. I was still b
didn’t want to open my eyes.
‘Felix, look at Lulu. She’s fast asleep. Let’s not wake her up. Why don’t you bring..
rest? It’s just a few steps away.”
“Alright.”
bonscious, but!
room to
I could hear his cold voice answering Aunt Mel’s request. Then, he reached toward me with his arms.
I instantly jerked awake. As I felt his familiar scent coming closer and closer to me, I began to panic. I used up every ounce of strength in my body to struggle and fight him off.
Suddenly, I heard a rather loud exclamation. I’d knocked my head against something, and it hurt quite a
bit.
+15 BONUS
Baldy opened my eyes and saw Felix with his hand over his nose. He was pointing at me with his other
hand as his eyes titled up with tears in silent accusation.
As it turned out. I’d accidentally knocked my head against his in my haste to get up. He hadn’t been able
to avoid the collision.
Hooked at him with guilt in my eyes. He appeared to be in a sorry state.
“Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was still half–asleep.” I defended myself.
Then, I saw small streams of red gliding down his hand. I quickly ran to the bathroom to get a face towel
for him.
He then saw me out of the house with anger in his eyes. I could feel his scorching stare on my back as i
walked back home next door.
Red was a cheerful color, after all, right? So, it made sense for him to “see red” on Christmas day.
Perhaps he could consider it my Christmas blessing to him.
It would only be many, many years later that I realized he was a lot more prone to nosebleeds after that
because of this incident. a
And that was the only last impact I’d ever left on him in my 18 years of living.