Chapter 11
On the day I left the job, my colleagues threw a farewell party for me.
Originally, I didn’t want to invite Jaime and them, but considering that they have been behaving well recently and there was no need to stir up trouble, I just casually asked in the group.
In the end, Jaime did come.
He was wearing a suit, with the delicate makeup of Celia on his arm.
She saw me and hugged Jaime tightly, pressing herself against him almost seamlessly.
Jaime had a blank expression.
I didn’t greet them and went straight to the other colleagues.
The party was very fun, but also a bit tiring.
Halfway through, I walked to the terrace alone, enjoying the night breeze and wanting to take a rest for a while.
At that moment, I heard footsteps behind me.
Although I didn’t want to admit it, after all these years of knowing him, I could recognize his footsteps in an instant.
The champagne tower on the terrace reflected shards of light as I turned around, my skirt brushing against Jaime’s leather shoes.
“Gracie.”
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The hoarse voice came from behind, like a rusty knife.
In the twilight, his shadow stretched long on the ground.
“Let’s talk. Jaime’s voice was hoarse, as if she had been crying.”
When I turned around, he was wiping the corner of his eye with his fingertip.
The evening breeze tousled his messy bangs, revealing dark circles under his eyes.
“The last time, I said.”
He gave a bitter smile and said, “You won’t even give me a chance to be friends?”
Seeing that I did not respond, he whispered again, “Can’t I just admit my mistake? We clearly…”
“It’s different now,” I interrupted him, “from the moment you laid a hand
on me.”
“Just for this?” he suddenly became excited, “At that time, I…”
“I heard your bet,” I said calmly, “before you splashed me with coffee.
He opened his mouth, like a stranded fish.
The setting sun cast long shadows of us, with an unbridgeable gap in between.
That evening, the setting sun was so bright that it hurt my eyes. I followed Jaime to the bar, almost as if I was under a spell.
In the booth by the window, seven or eight beer bottles were scattered
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around.
Someone slapped the table and laughed loudly, “Wow, childhood sweethearts who are still alive? Kamden, you’re so lucky!”
Jaime was pouring wine for Celia when he heard her words and just smirked, “Such a clingy person.”
The bar’s windows were fogged up, but their laughter pierced through sharply: “Chasing after her since elementary school… Isn’t Gracie just a pure little simp?”
“Kamden was awesome, hanging in there for so many years!”
“Over a decade?! That’s too devoted!”
“Kamden, you were so charming, weren’t you?”
Jaime took a sip of wine, his Adam’s apple bobbing: “She insisted on liking me, and I got used to it…”
Celia suddenly raised her hand and said, “How about we make a bet? How far do you think love–struck people like Gracie can go to be a love dog?”
“Why not play a big one?” someone shouted, “Embarrass her in public and then bet on how many days it will take for her to come and make amends!”
“Slap her?”
“This is a bit too much, don’t be silly.”
“Or just splash a cup of water, I don’t think Gracie would even get mad.”
“Can’t be, right? Gracie shouldn’t be that easy to talk to, right?”
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“Wanna bet? I bet Gracic will come back begging for reconciliation in three days with her tail between her legs!”
Jaime played with the wine glass, half–smiling: “Alright, I bet she will come to me for reconciliation the next day.”
Jaime’s fingers grasped futilely in the air, like a drowning person trying to grab onto nonexistent driftwood.
“It’s not like that! I was drinking that day,” his voice broke into pieces, “Gracie, it was just… just my foolish male pride at play…”
“Stop explaining,” my voice was as light as a feather falling to the ground, “the way you’re denying it now, it’s really ugly.”
He froze as if he had been slapped.
I looked at the boy who had grown up with me since childhood and suddenly felt that he was terrifyingly unfamiliar.
“Do you remember how you always taught me not to gossip behind people’s backs?” I chuckled. “But look at you now, using your own girlfriend to make a bet. Jaime, do you think you’re so great?”
Jaime’s face turned as white as a sheet in an instant.
Strangely, the once heart–wrenching pain now feels like it’s behind a layer of frosted glass.
I could see, but I couldn’t feel the warmth anymore.
“It’s normal to have a crush,” I said, running my fingers along the edge of the pink phone case. “At some point, you feel that Celia is more dazzling, more special, more able to satisfy your vanity. I can understand that.”
“But you shouldn’t have…” My nails scratched fine marks on the shell,
Chapter 11
“try to please her by belittling me.”
In the twilight, Jaime’s trembling was like a flickering candle in the wind.
“Gracie…” he reached out to touch me, then curled his fingers in mid–air, “Those stupid words were just a joke, I didn’t actually make a bet, that time was really an accident…”
“Really? I don’t believe it,” I caught his words, “Jaime, I don’t believe you.”
His pupils contracted sharply, and his breathing became stagnant.
He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn’t want to hear it
anymore.
I raised the corners of my lips, but the smile didn’t reach my eyes: “Jaime, what makes you think you can bully me? From childhood to adulthood, not even my parents have laid a finger on me.
His pupils contracted sharply, as if pierced by the dirtiest secret.
The calculations and disdain hidden beneath the gentle facade are now exposed in the sunlight, with nowhere to hide.
“Answer me,” I stepped forward, “where did you get the courage?”
Jaime staggered backwards, his throat constricting but unable to produce any sound.
He didn’t speak until a tear fell to the floor, then he murmured dreamily, “I didn’t… I love you, I just thought you wouldn’t… because of a small matter.”
“Love?” I suddenly laughed, “Who loves someone by testing and
humiliating them? Jaime, if this is your idea of love, then I don’t want it.”
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He opened his mouth blankly, like a stranded fish.
The night wind tousled his messy hair, revealing his pale gray face.
This time, we all saw each other’s true faces.
