11
Once, Eric and I were very close.
When I was in middle school, my father was negotiating a partnership with the Stuart Group. In a cliché turn of events, he was kidnapped. He nearly died saving Mrs. Stuart.
Mrs. Stuart, her face streaked with tears, asked him what he wanted.
“I have a daughter at home,” he said weakly. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to take care of her…”
My father was a shrewd man. If the favor was repaid with money, it would be over. But if the Stuart family’s only son married his
daughter, he would be set for life.
He only said half of it, but Mrs. Stuart understood. In a moment of emotional distress, she agreed. “Fine. Let my son marry your
daughter. You’re a good man, so your daughter must be very kind.”
But Eric and I knew each other before that. He sat behind me in class, constantly poking me with his pen cap. When I turned around
to glare at him, he would just grin and say, “Are you hungry? I’ll go buy you something to eat.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be studying?” I would snap, then turn back around.
Eric didn’t mind. He brought me snacks day after day. He even gave me the snacks other girls had stuffed in his desk.
00:33
00.33
Chapter 2
“I don’t want other people’s leftovers,” I said coolly.
He paused. “Then from now on, I’ll only give you what I buy.”
He was about to throw away the other snacks.
“If you don’t want them, why don’t you just refuse when they give them to you? You’re wasting their money,” I said.
He looked wronged. “But I don’t want them, and they insist on giving them to me. Just like you don’t want my snacks, but I insist on
giving them to you.”
I was silent for a moment, then ignored him and went back to my work.
Later, I couldn’t run the long–distance race for the school sports meet. Everyone said, “You’re the class president, you have to set an example! You’ll get through it if you just keep running!”
It was Eric who stood up and slammed his hand on the desk. “She’s not running, so what? You’re going to force her? If you’re short on people, I’ll just wear a dress and run myself!”
Me: ?
Everyone fell silent.
After that, I started being nice to him.
The landlord’s silly son.
We walked to and from school together, played video games together, and I helped him with his homework. He called me “Sarah, Sarah” all day long and brought me stuffed animals, saying, “So fluffy, so cute.”
Until one day, he carne to me with a long face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“My mom wants me to get married in an arranged marriage,” he said. “I’m so young.”
“It’s a good thing,” I comforted him. “A good match.”
“She said her name is Sarah,” he complained. “Even if her name is Sarah, could she be as cute as the one in front of me?”
I was silent.
“Um… actually, my dad said he found someone for me too. Could it be…”
We put two and two together.
He cried with joy. “Fuck, my wish actually came true!”
Later, in high school, I was in the science stream, and he was in the arts. I had endless homework, and he spent a lot of time trying
to hang out with me. When I said I had to study, he would just rest his chin on his hand and watch me quietly.
For every basketball game, he would beg me to bring him water. “Sarah, everyone else has a girlfriend bringing them water. You’re my fiancée, you can’t not come, right?”
Until one day, I had to go to a competition and refused him.
He stared at me. “Do you have to go? Is this competition that important?”
“Honestly,” I said, “it’s not that important. But I don’t want to let my teacher down. And this is my choice.”
He said unexpectedly, “When we get married, all of the Stuart Group’s money will be yours. What will all this hard work Stuartge?”
Chapter 2
I was silent for a long time. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to explain it. But it’s different.”
He nodded, said “okay,” and turned to leave.
00:33
The recent events flashed through my mind. Scene after scene,
My thoughts slowly returned to the present.
Suddenly, a tear fell from the corner of my eye.
When had such an unhealable wound opened between us?
