11
Ethan decorated our new home exactly the same as before.
From the detailed layout to the furniture colors, even the ceramic doll standing by the coffee table hadn’t changed. It was as if the six–year separation had been just an illusion.
7:54 AM
<
I sat on the sofa waiting for him to come home.
Glancing at the clock from time to time.
When anxious, I habitually sucked on nutrient tablets. The empty shells piled up by my feet, the whole box cleared out.
“Why isn’t he back yet……”
The phone wasn’t answered, and messages were unread.
I paced back and forth.
Unable to stop worrying, I bit all ten fingernails ragged, finally crouching by the curtain and crying.
The door opened.
Hearing hurried footsteps, then I was suddenly embraced.
The scent of verbena enveloped me, and my restless heart finally calmed down.
“I’m sorry……”
Ethan was still panting, surely having run all the way back.
“I went to the North District to buy some fresh vegetables, wanting to cook for you at home, so I was a bit late.”
“I won’t leave you, never in this life.”
I used my long hair to hide my reddened eyes.
“I’m fine……
He reached out, just in time to catch my falling tear.
“Look.”
The liquid floated up, transforming into the shape of a rabbit, then into butterflies chasing the sun, before finally exploding like
fireworks.
So tears weren’t necessarily painful.
“Olivia, you don’t need to hide anything from me.”
He wiped my face clean with a damp towel, pinching it and lightly tapping my lips with his fingertips.
“Ihave the ability to make you happy.”
“Alright, go sit and wait for dinner.”
Ethan cleaned up all the trash, picked up the scattered vegetables, and walked into the kitchen.
He rolled up his shirt sleeves, his slender fingers hooking the apron, his lean waist hidden behind the black cloth.
7:54 AM
<
During a break from cooking, he suddenly turned and smiled at me.
“Bored waiting for me to cook?”
“I’ll find something for you to watch next time.”
After that, Ethan never wore an apron while cooking again. No, he never wore a shirt, bringing me quite a bit of enjoyment.
“I can grow vegetables. You don’t need to go to the North District to buy them.”
“There’s a big empty space in the backyard.”
I swallowed the vegetables.
“No need.”
Ethan put down his chopsticks.
“It’s fine for me to run around a bit more. But you, don’t bleed anymore. It hurts.”
This new body was intact.
No bite marks, no knife scars, blurring the pain. Even I had almost forgotten.
Or perhaps I was used to it.
Viewing my own blood as Federation property, as a tool to benefit others. It could be viewed as anything, but never as my own.
“Love yourself first, then love others if you have energy los
His eyes were very deep.
When he looked at me, I felt as if I was being seen through.
“Be a little selfish. Don’t hurt yourself.”
“It’s not worth it for anyone.”
Olivia.”
Ethan had seen that plot of land in the North District growing well, and smelled the bloody scent of his lover in the soil.
Good thing he came home a step earlier.
Otherwise, those evil beasts in the Federation would have eaten her up without leaving a trace.
