Chapter 9
From that day on.
Ralph shed his usual stoic and proud demeanor, becoming annoyingly
chatty.
Morning brought obligatory “Good mornings.”
Nights demanded “Good nights.”
He flooded messages with puppy emojis.
Every meal eaten, meeting attended, document signed –
He had to call and tell me each detail.
“I’m reporting my schedule. I want you to know everything that happened. to me today.”
“Oh, Diana, I accidentally canceled your flight ticket. You won’t blame me, right?”
“Goodness, that perfectly good ticket just vanished. Doesn’t this mean you. and your first love weren’t meant to be…”
“What a mess.
I frowned coldly: “Accidentally canceled a flight ticket? Are you always this unreliable?”
Ralph panicked, voice trembling: “Of course not…”
09:50
I grew impatient: “If you’re this irresponsible, I’ll have to reconsider our engagement.”
Ralph grew more frantic, voice cracking as he pleaded meekly: “Diana, please don’t reconsider, okay? I was wrong. It wasn’t an accident–I did it on purpose. I…”
I clicked my tongue helplessly: “Don’t cry at every little thing. Men who cry too much will cry away the family’s good fortune.”
Ralph immediately stopped crying, silently calmed himself down, then transferred me a large sum of money, proudly saying: “This is my pay for today, handing over my pay (^w^)”
After hanging up the phone, silently calmed himself down.
Then transferred me another large sum of money, proudly saying: “This is my pay for today, handing over my pay (^o^)‘
I was annoyed by his constant disturbances: “Get lost, or I’ll block you if you keep bothering me
A A
Ralph paused for two seconds.
With his tail between his legs, he quickly withdrew all the messages he had just sent.
From then on.
He never said anything beyond transferring the salary.
But he started coming to my house.
When Ralph came,
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My dad, as usual, exchanged a few pleasantries with him and pointed upstairs: “Well, I’ll call Diana down right now…”
Ralph politely curved his lips and was about to nod.
My dad immediately shook his head again:
“Look, I almost forgot. You said before you didn’t need to see her, since. it’ll be hard not to see each other in the future anyway.”
“I remember, don’t worry. I won’t call her, definitely not.”
“Haha, don’t take it the wrong way. My memory is getting worse and
worse. Usually, I can’t even remember when to take my medicine.”
Π
Ralph was silent for a long time, then let out a bitter laugh and said. seriously:
“Willie, you might not believe it, but I was crazy that day.”
My dad: “?”
“By the wa
way,
I should call you Dad now. Dad, you don’t have to be so polite with me.”
My dad was a bit bewildered by Ralph’s suddenly fawning attitude: “Huh?”
Ralph didn’t feel it was inappropriate at all.
“Dad, have you had breakfast? I’ll go buy some.”
“What do you like to eat? What does Mom like to eat?”
D–50)
Π
“By the way, we haven’t mopped the floor today, the windows haven’t been wiped, I see there are unwashed clothes in the laundry room, and the dog needs to be walked.”
“Dad, you rest, I’ll go do all the work now.”
“Dad, don’t worry, I’ve been capable since I was little.”
My dad was very nervous, tremblingly came to ask me:
“Dear, has something gotten into Ralph?”
“It wasn’t like this the past couple of days…”
Me: “”
For the next several days in a row.
Every day I wake up and go downstairs.
I see Ralph diligently appearing at my house.
In his left hand, a mop; in his right hand, a rag.
He worked busily, massaging my dad’s shoulders, rubbing my mom’s legs, and washing my dog’s fur.
On the table, he also placed the things I love to eat and a bouquet of bright red roses.
He would carefully remember every word I said.
Even when I mumbled in my nap that I wanted to eat Crispy Pig Terrine, and it was raining so I couldn’t get takeout, he foolishly ran out in the rain
00:50
to buy it for me.
I felt a bit guilty.
Seeing this, Ralph said half–jokingly, “Grandson taking care of grandma, it’s only right, it’s only right.”
Me:
I sighed, “Ralph, you don’t have to do this…”
Ralph bit his lip, pretending not to hear, his voice stubborn, “I don’t understand what you’re saying, I’ll go tidy up your study.”
Then.
He spent the entire night alone in my study.
He left in a daze.
He even stumbled and fell on his way out.
I had no idea what was wrong with him.
Until I received his message that evening.
“Diana, are you still hung up on your first love?”
I didn’t confirm or deny it, answering objectively: “Whoever it might be, isn’t your first crush always unforgettable?”
Ralph suddenly fell silent.
After a moment, I added: “Does my past relationship bother you? It’s fine if it does–we don’t have to get married.”
Ralph remained quiet.
