I’d been secretly dating my dad’s long-time friend for eight years, and we were finally planning to go public. Excited, I called my dad, asking him to meet me back in Riverwood. But when I got to boyfriend place, I overheard him talking to his best buddy. “Julian, you’re going on blind dates behind Eleanor’s back? Aren’t you afraid she’ll find out and dump you?” He chuckled softly, his answer annoyingly confident. “She won’t.” “All these years, she’s stayed by my side without any official status. No matter how much she put up with, she never once broke up with me.” “Honestly, I do love her. But in the end, we can’t be together.” My heart twisted painfully. I froze on the spot, numb. It wasn’t until my dad’s voice rang through the phone for the third time that I finally swallowed down my tears, turned, and walked away. “Dad, I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you… the arranged marriage with the Hayes family? I agree to it!” “Do you think I’m just a stand-in for you?” In the coffee shop, the woman across from me had a face that was eerily similar to mine, yet her smile was bold and utterly unconstrained. Her name was Briar, and she was the woman Julian’s friend had mentioned—his blind date, and they were about to get engaged. Half an hour ago, I had stumbled out of Julian’s house, only to be stopped by her downstairs. Now, compared to her calm demeanor, I felt completely lost. She smiled, gently setting her coffee cup on the table. “But if he truly loved you, why would he look for a stand-in, especially while you were still with him?” Undeniably, she had a point. But after eight years with Julian, I still couldn’t quite let go. As if she’d read my thoughts, she suddenly leaned forward, closer to me. “If you don’t believe me, let’s make a bet. We’ll bet on who’s more important to him. If he consistently chooses me, you’ll step aside, okay?” When Julian came home, I was cooking his favorite chicken porridge. For some reason, today’s porridge just didn’t taste the same, even though I followed the exact same steps. Julian put down his jacket and came over to hug me, pressing a kiss to my ear. “Your porridge always smells the best. I could smell it from down the street.” My fingers paused. I turned to look at him. “You really think it smells good?” His smile was soft. “When do I ever lie to you?” I silently turned back, a bitter taste filling my mouth. Before, I never doubted a single word he said to me. But today, I knew I had trusted him blindly. He had once told me he wanted to be with me forever, yet today, he told someone else that we couldn’t be together. So, what did our eight years even mean? I reached out and turned off the stove, then scraped the sticky, burnt porridge from the bottom of the pot to show him. “But it’s already burnt. Can’t you smell it?” He paused, then smiled, taking the spoon from my hand and scooping a full bowl. “It’s okay. As long as it’s made by you, Eleanor, even if it’s burnt, I still think it’s the best.” He held the bowl, a wide smile on his face, and walked towards the dining table. I watched his back, my eyes welling up. When I followed him out, he had already eaten several spoonfuls of porridge. He was clearly struggling to eat it, his brows furrowed with each spoonful, but when he looked up at me, he forced a happy, contented expression. He had been wearing a mask all this time. I was just too blind to see through it. “Don’t eat it.” I walked to the table and quietly tried to stop him. He acted like he hadn’t heard a word, instead scooping up another large mouthful, blowing on it to cool it, and putting it in his mouth. “I said, don’t eat it!” I raised my voice, but it was no use. A wave of pure fury washed over me. I reached out and knocked the entire bowl of porridge over. The hot porridge spilled onto my hand and the table. The bowl clattered to the floor, instantly shattering into pieces. Julian froze for two seconds, then immediately grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bathroom, rinsing it with cold water. Even so, my entire hand was crimson and angry, like a bad burn. Julian’s brows furrowed deeper, and he couldn’t help but scold me. “Seriously, Eleanor, it’s just a bowl of porridge, right? A little burnt. I would have been fine eating it. Was it really worth knocking it over? Didn’t you know it was hot?” 2 My tears started to flow freely. Burnt porridge tastes bitter. Just like our relationship, tainted with lies, all those ‘sincere feelings’ could no longer be trusted. Seeing me cry so hard, Julian fumbled nervously. “Don’t cry, I won’t yell at you anymore, okay?” “Alright, alright, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have ignored you and insisted on eating the burnt porridge.” “Please don’t cry, my darling.” He kept wiping away my tears, but the more he wiped, the more they came. Finally, he could only pull me into his arms, defeated. “My darling, what can I do to make you stop crying, hmm?” I opened my mouth. After a long moment, I managed to croak out one word. “It hurts.” He immediately let go of me, his lips pressed together, and went to grab his jacket. “We’re going to the hospital.” I leaned heavily against the wall, watching his hurried movements, and wanted to ask him: Uncle Julian, the pain in my hand can be treated by a doctor, but how do I heal the pain in my heart? I never asked it aloud. Just as we were about to leave, Julian’s phone suddenly rang. He glanced at me, then took his phone aside to answer. I vaguely caught the sound of a woman crying on the other end. When he returned, his face was etched with apology. “Eleanor, I have something really important that just came up. I need to take care of it. I’ll put some ointment on you first, and then I’ll take you to the hospital when I get back, okay?” I looked at him, and curved my lips into a sad smile. “Go ahead. Business is important. I can put on the ointment myself.” Julian hesitated for a moment, then pulled the back of my head, pressing his lips to my forehead. “Then I’ll be back as soon as I can. Wait for me.” I didn’t respond, just watched him leave, then quietly closed the door. Julian’s “as soon as I can” meant he didn’t come home all night. In the middle of the night, I developed a high fever, my body felt like it was on fire. Feeling terribly unwell, I instinctively reached for my phone to call Julian, but then I saw a message from my best friend, Harper. [Ellie, isn’t this that jerk Julian?] Attached was a photo of Julian accompanying someone at an IV drip. In the photo, Julian was wearing the matching coat I’d given him, holding a woman in his arms. Her head rested on his shoulder, and she was sleeping peacefully. The photo was a candid shot, but it was clear enough. I couldn’t mistake Julian. [Yeah, it’s him.] After replying, I no longer had the urge to call Julian. I put down my phone and, dragging my exhausted body, went to the fridge for ice to cool myself down. When I got back to bed, Harper’s messages blew up my phone. [Oh my god, this is definite proof he cheated! That scumbag Julian, after you waited eight years for him, this is how he repays you?] [I’m so furious, Ellie. I looked her up; it’s Briar Hayes, the Hayes family heiress. I heard she just got back from New York and her family forced her into blind dates. Did she just snag Julian?] [See? I told you Julian was unreliable. Eight years with you, always had some excuse not to make us official. Now he’s done playing games and ran back to marry some heiress.] [Ellie, why aren’t you saying anything? Are you okay? Do you want me to come over now and stay with you?] [Honey, don’t be sad. How about I get revenge for you? I’ll find someone to blast them all over social media tomorrow. No, I’ll do it now!] After a long moment of silence, I slowly typed a line on my phone. [Actually, I already know all of this. But Harper, I don’t care anymore. I’m going back to Newport to get married.] After sending the message, I remembered it was time to tell my company I was leaving. I never really liked my job in marketing, but because Julian had found it for me, I’d grudgingly stuck with it until now. I sent both my resignation and a leave request to my boss’s email, then lay back down, but sleep wouldn’t come. I stayed awake until dawn, then showered and went to the hospital alone. 3 Just as I walked through the hospital doors, my phone dinged with a message from Julian. [Sorry, sweetie, things got delayed and I’m just finishing up now. Miss me? I’ll be back soon, I’ll bring you your favorite crab buns, okay?] Before I could reply, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a familiar figure in the parking lot. Through the unclosed car window, Julian was turned to the side, holding the back of a woman’s head, kissing her deeply. He really was busy! A wave of dizziness washed over me. I quickly grabbed onto the nearby building. After calming myself for a long time, I put my phone into my pocket, refusing to look at them again, and walked into the outpatient building. Julian’s call came just as the nurse called my name for the IV drip. There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, then he asked, puzzled, “Are you at the hospital?” “Yeah.” I softly replied, watching the nurse insert the needle into my vein. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me to take you?” Hearing his question, I looked at the swaying IV bag and let out a self-deprecating laugh. During my consultation, the outpatient doctor said my fever had reached 107.6°F. If it continued, I could pass out, and if it lasted too long, I might even suffer brain damage. But Julian? He said he’d be back soon, but he went to be with someone else. However, I had no intention of exposing him. “You’re busy with important things. I can’t always rely on you for everything. People have to learn to grow up.” Julian’s breath hitched for a moment, then he said softly, “Eleanor, you can always rely on me. You don’t need to grow up.” His words echoed a scene from a rainy night when I was sixteen. Then, I was young, naive, and under immense pressure from college entrance exams. I had a huge fight with my dad over something trivial. I ran out of the house and hid by the closed mall entrance, with torrential rain pouring down outside. It was Julian who found me when I was cold and exhausted. He was only five years older than me. He carried me on his back, held an umbrella over me, comforting me and cheering me up. At that time, I only felt the warmth of his back. I sniffled and asked him, “Uncle Julian, why are you so good to me?” Julian paused, then smiled gently. “Isn’t Uncle good to you?” “It’s not that you’re not good, but my dad says if you get too used to someone being good to you, you’ll become dependent and never grow up.” Julian stopped in the rain, turning his head to look at me. “Eleanor, you can always rely on Uncle, you don’t need to grow up.” Those words, in sixteen-year-old Eleanor’s heart, dropped a pebble, creating ripples on the calm surface that hadn’t faded for ten years! But now, hearing those words again, my heart remained completely unmoved. I said, “Uncle Julian, people always have to learn to grow up.” Later, Julian still found his way to the hospital. He sat silently beside me. After a long time, he asked, “Eleanor, in these eight years, you never called me Uncle Julian. Are you… mad?” I didn’t answer his question. I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. He looked at me, sighed, and took off his trench coat, placing it over me. The lingering scent of his cologne instantly filled my nostrils, stinging my eyes with tears. Julian didn’t notice my unusual behavior. He was holding his phone, completely engrossed in it. As I secretly wiped away my tears, I saw his fingers flying across the screen, a smile occasionally gracing his lips. Looking back, he seemed to have been like this lately, inseparable from his phone, as if he had endless conversations with someone. I drifted off to sleep unconsciously. I don’t know how long passed until the kid in the next bed poked me awake. 4 As I groggily looked at him, confused, he pointed at my IV bottle. “Sister, your IV has been blood-backflowing for a while now. Your boyfriend has been on the phone this whole time. You should call the nurse yourself.” Only then did I notice that my IV bag was completely empty, and half of the IV tube was filled with my own blood. I didn’t know how long it had been like this. I pursed my lips, glanced through the glass at Julian, who was still on the phone outside the infusion room, and pressed the call button myself. The nurse came over, assessed the situation, took a new IV tube, removed the old one, and re-inserted the needle. Julian noticed what was happening and hurried over, hanging up his call. “Eleanor, I’m sorry, I…” “If you have something to do, just go ahead and do it.” Not wanting to hear his elaborate lies, I cut off his explanation first. Julian hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, “I’m sorry, Eleanor, company matters are truly urgent. You finish your IV alone, and I’ll come pick you up.” Watching his hurried retreating figure, I smiled. “I won’t wait for you anymore, Uncle Julian!” Back home, I cleared his fingerprints from the door lock one by one. Even the password, which used to be the day we first held hands, was changed to yesterday, the day my heart died. After doing all that, I collapsed onto the sofa, drained. When I woke up, there were several missed calls from unknown numbers on my phone. I ignored them and went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast, the sleek black Cadillac Escalade was parked outside the villa. Caleb stepped out of the car, addressing my dad as ‘Mr. Rob’ with such genuine respect that my dad beamed, practically pushing me into the car. I couldn’t help but feel a little exasperated! Once inside the car, alone with Caleb again, that sense of awkwardness from yesterday had completely vanished. It was replaced by my deliberate coolness. However, my frosty mood completely melted away when Caleb handed me a stack of car buying guides. I flipped through the incredibly detailed guides, unable to suppress my surprise. “You made all of these?” “Yeah, it was a bit rushed, so I only picked out some of the latest models suitable for women right now.” He said, flipping through a few pages of the guide, pointing to a silver-grey SUV. “If you can’t make up your mind, you could consider this model. The driver’s space design is very suitable for women, and the material is quite sturdy. The smart system also has mostly practical functions.” He introduced several models in a row, speaking fluently and eloquently, giving off an impression of profound knowledge. After we picked out a car, Caleb checked his wristwatch and said, “How about we grab some lunch together? As a chance for me to apologize for being in a hurry yesterday.” Remembering my dad’s words, I didn’t refuse. On the way back, Caleb suggested I drive my new car for a spin. I was a little nervous. “Oh, maybe not. Even though I got my license a long time ago, this will be my first time on the road.” Caleb, without a word, opened the passenger door and got in. “The less you’ve driven, the more important it is to start driving. Don’t worry, get in. I’m here for anything.” Seeing his calm demeanor, I gritted my teeth and got into the driver’s seat. He guided me to a quiet road nearby. He didn’t laugh at me for driving at a snail’s pace, instead, he kept encouraging and praising me, providing immense emotional support. In the end, I genuinely felt much more confident and safely drove the car home. When I was hesitant about parallel parking, he taught me how to use the smart parking feature. After that day, he started taking me out to practice driving every day. Three days flew by, and my relationship with Caleb had become much more harmonious. Both families chose a suitable day to meet, and the wedding date was quickly confirmed. That night, Harper’s call came in. I answered, and her urgent voice floated from the other end. “Eleanor, Julian got back and couldn’t reach you. He’s gone crazy, insisting on having someone break into your house! What should I do?” I remained silent for a moment, then replied, “Let him in, Harper.” I had thought that seeing the empty house, Julian would understand that I had left and let go.
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