It was rare for Lucas to have a weekend off. After much pleading, I finally convinced him to make sweet and sour pork ribs for me. As he was cooking, his phone on the coffee table buzzed. I tapped the screen but couldn’t see clearly. Upon closer inspection, I realized he had installed a privacy screen protector. Instantly, an ominous thought crept into my mind. I suddenly recalled what a colleague had said earlier. “When your partner starts using a privacy screen behind your back, it means they have secrets.” Those words stung like a thorn in my heart. I tried to convince myself it was just a coincidence, but the doubt in my mind grew like wildfire. Fortunately, he hadn’t changed his password yet. I unlocked the phone and saw a new Snapchat message from an unfamiliar name. The message was simple and direct. “Miss you.” My heart clenched tightly, my eyes fixed on those two words. Scrolling up, I found no other chat history. But those two simple words were enough to make my heart ache. As I tried to calm myself, I accidentally knocked over the water glass on the table. Lucas poked his head out of the kitchen, holding a spatula. “What’s wrong?” I forced a smile and quickly slipped the phone into my pocket. “Nothing, just wondering how far along you are.” “Not that fast,” he frowned and complained, “The caramel is so hard to get right. Let’s just eat out next time.” I paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement, “Okay.” Lucas seemed to have forgotten that I’m from the Midwest and don’t like sweet food. The one who loves sweet and sour pork ribs is him. When we first bought this house, he had pointed at the kitchen, his eyes gleaming with confidence and anticipation. “This is my domain. No one enters without my permission!” Every weekend, he would hole up in the kitchen, tinkering with my personal recipe book. Back then, he was so in love with this home, so in love with the beautiful memories we were creating together. The phone in my pocket felt like it weighed a ton, digging into my leg. After calming down, I decided to reply on his behalf. “Come over to my place, she’s not here.” I was curious about who this person was and how Lucas would react. Not long after, the doorbell rang shrilly. I quickly changed clothes and walked to the door. My hand rested on the cold doorknob, hesitating for a moment before deciding to open it. The person outside was clearly stunned, the excitement on their face instantly freezing when they saw me. I studied her carefully, unconsciously comparing every detail from age to appearance to figure with myself. However, the conclusion I drew was cruel – she surpassed me in every aspect. “You must be Olivia.” “You know me?” “Lucas mentioned you.” The thought that my name might have become a topic of amusement between them only deepened my disappointment in Lucas. She seemed to remember something and took out a familiar food container from her bag. “I came to return this.” “Last time Lucas brought some sweet and sour pork ribs to the office, I suddenly had low blood sugar, so he gave them to me to eat.” Looking at the lunch box she was tightly holding – the one Lucas and I had bought together at the supermarket – I couldn’t help but recall how reluctant he had been when I begged him to make sweet and sour pork ribs this morning. My anger was instantly ignited. I deliberately called out loudly towards the kitchen, “Honey, someone’s here to see you.” Lucas heard the commotion and came out of the kitchen, looking bewildered when he saw her. I carefully observed their reactions, but there was no sign of the guilt and unease I had expected. “Why did you come?” Lucas asked, confused. “I was in the neighborhood and remembered I hadn’t returned your lunchbox from last time, so I texted you.” “What text?” Lucas suddenly seemed to realize something, glanced back at me, then his face darkened. “Just leave the lunchbox and go.” However, she didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she stood at the door, her eyes fixed on me. “Miss Su, aren’t you going to invite me in?” I couldn’t help but smirk, deliberately making way and glancing at Lucas. “Why don’t you invite her in? We just made sweet and sour pork ribs again today.” I deliberately emphasized “sweet and sour pork ribs,” and sure enough, Lucas’s expression changed. “Stop it,” he said. Sensing Lucas’s displeasure, she slowly replied. “I just remembered I have plans nearby. I got too excited and forgot. I’ll come play another time.” I didn’t say anything more, just coldly watched Lucas see her off. When he returned, his face was so dark it looked like it could drip water. “What, still reluctant to see her go?” I leaned against the door, mocking him. Lucas glared at me angrily, “Don’t talk nonsense, she’s just my colleague.” How could I let him off so easily? “Colleague? Then what’s with her sending you ‘miss you’ messages?” Lucas looked exhausted, “We’re just working on a project together recently. The pressure is high, so we joke around to relax a bit.” I didn’t believe his bullshit at all and had a huge fight with him. After that, Lucas’s relationship with me became extremely tense. I also slowly started to reflect on whether I had been too impulsive, but I felt Lucas’s explanation was too unconvincing. This life had become utterly frustrating. I told my best friend Mia about my suspicions of Lucas cheating. She laughed for a long time. After my parents passed away unexpectedly, she and Lucas became the most important people in my life. “What nonsense are you talking about?” “Back in college, Lucas bought our dorm bubble tea for over a semester just to pursue you. I still remember there was no KFC on campus then, so he would take the bus for over an hour each time to bring you food, not even eating a single fry himself, saving it all for you.” I laughed helplessly, “Really? I’ve forgotten all about that.” Mia animatedly discussed how Lucas had pursued me in college, but it all felt so distant to me. Indeed, 10 years had passed. In just two months, I’ll be 28. Before leaving, Mia earnestly advised me. “Olivia, have a good talk with Lucas and set a date soon.” “Don’t let it drag on too long.” Mia and I both tacitly avoided discussing it further. The sunk cost of a 10-year relationship was something I couldn’t afford to bear. That night, I took the initiative to text Lucas and sent him a sexy photo of me in black stockings. In the past, he would have playfully replied, “Hubby’s coming home right away, please be patient a little longer, my dear wife.” But today, he replied three hours later with just, “Working overtime.” I exited Snapchat and opened Facebook, searching for Lucas’s account. The glaring “5G Online” status. He wasn’t at the office. By the time I realized it, my carefully grown nails had already been bitten down to the quick. After my parents passed away, I developed a habit of biting my nails when anxious. Lucas used to worry about me, saying he’d help me quit this bad habit, even voluntarily applying bitter nail polish with me. But now… Thinking of this, I felt a surge of irritation for no reason. I had initially decided not to reply, but remembering Mia’s words, I typed again. “It’s okay, I’ll wait for you to get off work.” This time, he didn’t reply. I sat in the most conspicuous spot in the living room. The tight black stockings had long been replaced by loose loungewear, but they couldn’t conceal the anxiety and unease in my heart. The wall clock showed it was already 1 AM. I held the photo album Lucas had made for me during our college days, lost in thought. When exactly did our relationship change from inseparable lovers to roommates who rarely see each other? “Door open, welcome home.” The mechanical voice of the smart lock broke the silence of the night, also awakening that faint hope in the bottom of my heart. I suddenly raised my head, my gaze piercing through the darkness, trying to capture that familiar silhouette. Lucas stood at the door for a long time before finally stepping over the threshold. But his eyes quickly averted when they met mine. That momentary evasion hurt more than any words could, making me feel an unprecedented despair and coldness. He stood in the entryway and suddenly lost his temper. “Can’t you stop leaving your shoes all over the place?” I was stunned for a moment, about to go tidy up, when I saw him carelessly kick my shoes aside. There was a time when he would carefully arrange my high heels, always charge my electric toothbrush, and even sort out my seasonal clothes well in advance. But now, all of this had become a distant memory. Lost in thought for a moment, I saw Lucas walk out of the kitchen with a new glass in his hand. Unlike the one in front of me, it was a brand new glass. He sat down directly at the dining table and poured himself a glass of water. I stared at the glass in his hand, remembering the little habit we once shared – using the same glass. Suddenly, I felt a bit hurt. “Why aren’t we using the same glass anymore?” “No reason.” He seemed a bit impatient, slightly turning his body away and focusing on his phone. I didn’t want us to keep up this cold war, so I mustered up the courage to hug him from behind. “What are you doing!” He shook me off as if I were the plague. I stared at the red marks on my wrist, my heart shattering. “Today is our 10th anniversary,” my voice tinged with desperation and pleading. Lucas’s body tensed slightly, a flash of guilt passing through his eyes. But it only lasted for a few seconds before being replaced by his cold gaze. “What gift do you want? Send it to me on Snapchat, I’ll buy it for you tomorrow.” His tone was as flat as if he were talking about something unrelated to him. “It’ll be too late tomorrow.” I tilted my head slightly, trying to win him over with the cuteness he used to love. He once said he loved it most when I puffed up my cheeks in anger, saying I looked as cute as a pufferfish. But now, his gaze grew even colder, as if I were a complete stranger to him. “Olivia.” He called my name coldly, making my heart skip a beat. Using my full name meant the invisible wall between us had grown thicker. “Stop it.” Those three short words cut like an icy wind. “We’re both 28 now, not kids anymore. Life isn’t built on anniversaries.” My heart suddenly contracted, as if struck by a heavy hammer, the pain unbearable. The man before me, in his suit and tie, mature and steady, was a far cry from the bright-eyed boy in white who used to smile so brilliantly in the sunlight. I stared at him, trying to find a trace of the past in his face, but only saw unfamiliarity and resolution. Finally, I gave up arguing with him and just mumbled, “Yeah, I’m 28 already.” He seemed to guess what I was about to say next and quickly interrupted me. “You know, my career is at a critical point right now, I don’t want to get married yet…” Lucas was about to say more when his phone rang inopportunely. He glanced at me and quickly rejected the call. My heart sank, but I still pretended to be calm, even with a hint of pleading. “So, when do you want to get married?” He didn’t answer me directly, nor did he let me continue waiting. Instead— “If you feel wronged being with me, then…” “Then break up with you? How did I become the bad guy?” The words that slipped out made us both calm down. In the end, it was Lucas who broke the silence. “I’m not good enough for you.” I suddenly got angry, the emotions I had been suppressing all night reaching their peak. “You only realize you’re not good enough now? Why didn’t you think that way when you were chasing me so openly back then?” Lucas’s face instantly turned ashen. His lips moved slightly, as if wanting to say something, but after a moment of struggle, he gave up. Just like our current relationship, he didn’t even have the will to salvage it. I watched him walk towards the guest room with a dark face, not saying a word. Until he struggled to open the door for a while and angrily turned back to shout at me. “Olivia! Can you stop messing around! Open the door!” I kept a cold face, trying hard to suppress the displeasure and disappointment surging inside me. “I told you to change that lock ages ago. The balcony window wasn’t closed today, and the wind was too strong, so it slammed shut. I can’t open it either.” He instinctively looked towards the balcony, as if to verify what I said. The atmosphere around us became even heavier, a suffocating oppression filling the air. Until he spoke first, breaking this silence. “Then I’ll go stay at a hotel.” The rational defense line completely collapsed at this moment. I suddenly stood up, my voice sharp and piercing. I shouted hysterically, “What, is this big house not enough for you anymore? Or are you just too lazy to even pretend?” Lucas’s face became extremely unpleasant, a flash of shock in his eyes. He seemed to have never seen me so out of control before and was momentarily speechless. “If anyone should go to a hotel, it should be me. After all, you bought this house, how could I let you leave.” I continued my high-frequency output, as if making him uncomfortable could make me feel better. Or perhaps, deep down, I hoped that making a fuss like this would make him care about my feelings again. “Olivia, you’re always like this, never considering others’ feelings when you speak or act.” “What do you mean?” I glared at him like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “What do I mean? Last week you deliberately invited my colleague to our home, didn’t you think about how I’d face people at work afterwards?” “Face them? How to face them? She sends you those ambiguous messages, and I can’t say anything?” “I don’t want to explain anymore. Think whatever you want.” He completely cooled his face, ignoring my anger and insecurity. Then he walked towards the door without looking back. When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped but didn’t turn around. “Olivia, if you really can’t go on, let’s just end it.” I held my neck stiffly, not answering. My heart was about to explode with frustration. At this moment, I was certain that Lucas no longer loved me. After that day, Lucas didn’t come home again. On Friday night, Mia sent a message in our group chat with three people. “Friends, I’m getting married!” Following that was a beautifully designed invitation card. She tagged me and Lucas. “You two, the golden couple from our campus days, must come and support me. The time and place are written above, be there on time!” I waited for a long time but didn’t see Lucas reply. Not wanting Mia to worry, I responded. “Mm, we’ll be there.” Just after I sent it, a private message from Lucas popped up. “Just find some excuse, say I’m on a business trip or sick or whatever. I won’t go.” I hesitated for a few seconds, “But they’ve invited us, it wouldn’t be right not to go.” “Besides, Mia is my best friend.” I watched the “typing” indicator on the Snapchat chat bubble. After waiting for a long time, until— “Olivia, let’s break up.” I stared hard at the screen, tears falling uncontrollably. Clumsily moving my already stiff fingers, I repeatedly typed on the keyboard, only to hesitate and delete each time. After a long while, I defiantly pressed send. “Fine.” When I first met Lucas, he was being scolded by our academic advisor. “Little Li, I chose you as class monitor considering your poor family background. Being a student leader can add points, which would be very helpful for your future scholarship applications.” Lucas was hunched over, “Yes, I’m very grateful to you. It’s just that I had a high fever last week and couldn’t help you move. Next time you need anything, I’ll be there immediately.” I overheard a bit more and learned that this tall boy had often been ordered around by the short, chubby advisor in front of him to do hard labor. “You say that, but I ask you for help because you’re a country boy. I’m just looking out for you a bit more.” “Yes, I…” “I’d say rather than looking out for him, why don’t you introduce him to a proper part-time job? Besides, those few points from being a student leader aren’t enough compared to winning an award or something.” “Who are you?” Great, he doesn’t recognize me. “Who I am doesn’t matter. I just can’t stand you bullying people.” I walked over and pulled the dumbfounded Lucas away. “Hey…” “Are you stupid?” Lucas smiled bitterly and shook his head, “I know he doesn’t have good intentions, but I figured it’s better to avoid trouble. Besides, being a student leader looks good on the resume after graduation.” “You’re worried about your resume with all those first prizes you’ve won?” Lucas was stunned and finally took a good look at me. “You’re the one from the English Cup competition…” “Second place!!” I said angrily. If it weren’t for him butting in, I would have gotten first place, and the DSLR camera my dad promised me would have been in my hands already. “Hi.” He scratched his head shyly and smiled. “Hi my ass.” I turned and walked away. Later on, Lucas became my shadow, following me wherever I went. It wasn’t long before he confessed to me. I didn’t play coy either. I had my eye on him since the English Cup competition, how could I let him slip away? The reminiscence came to an abrupt end. After I agreed to break up, Lucas didn’t contact me again until that night. I was revising my new resume at the company when I suddenly received a call from Lucas’s friend. “Sis-in-law, Lucas and I are at Mirage KTV. He’s drunk too much and we’re worried something might happen. Could you come pick him up?” I guessed Lucas probably hadn’t told them about our breakup yet. “Alright, I’ll come over now.” I got Lucas out, originally planning to take a taxi home. But seeing his car parked outside the KTV, I hesitated for a moment. The internet says that car dash cams are the best tool for catching cheating men. Lucas’s car was bought for me by my parents, but I’m not very good at driving, and since my workplace is close by, I let him use it. On weekends we would go out shopping together, but usually it was just him driving to and from work. After careful inspection, I didn’t find anything unusual. I breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps he wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. Back home, I helped Lucas to the small room. There was a “thud” sound. I picked up the phone that fell out of his pocket and placed it on the bedside table. After a while, I picked it up again. “Password incorrect, please try again.” After five consecutive wrong attempts, the screen prompted: “Please try again in 1 minute.” Lucas had changed his password. I unconsciously started biting my nails. My fingertips felt a burning pain, but it couldn’t alleviate the anxiety in my heart. Just then, a scene from our college days suddenly flashed in my mind. Back then, Lucas always won first place in the school’s network security competitions. He confidently told me that his secret was setting the simplest passwords. He firmly believed that the simpler things are, the harder they are to guess. Because people tend to overcomplicate their thinking. Thinking of this, I felt like I had grasped a lifeline. My fingers lightly danced on the screen, silently inputting that string of numbers so simple it couldn’t be simpler: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6” The cursor on the screen blinked a few times, as if making a final judgment. Then, miraculously. It unlocked! I opened Snapchat and found the female colleague who had sent him ambiguous messages in the blocked list. The chat date stopped on the night he told me we should break up. “Thanks for your help last time.” Lucas had transferred her $200. “Thank you. If you need this kind of job again, remember to find me.” “Won’t be necessary. She’s agreed to break up.” My heart sank. So that woman’s ambiguous message was a trap he had deliberately set. Thinking of this, details I had previously overlooked suddenly became clear. For example, Lucas always kept his phone on him, even when going to the bathroom. But that day while cooking, he “happened” to leave it on the table. “Then you’re free now, you can be with her properly.” Lucas didn’t reply to her again, but instead blocked her directly. “Her?” I was confused. Did Lucas have another woman? Lucas is a cautious person. That Snapchat message was deliberately left for me to see, so he certainly wouldn’t use Snapchat as a chat tool with the person he was really cheating with. I thought for a moment and clicked on Lucas’s Instagram. That was the app Lucas had actively downloaded for me back then. He said he was just a straight guy and needed to learn how to take photos for his girlfriend and how to choose gifts for her. The most recent chat boxes were all advertising messages. I couldn’t find any useful information after scrolling through them. Until a cute avatar marked “Intern” caught my attention. With trembling hands, I clicked in and scrolled up to see their chat history. Those moments I had never been part of played out before my eyes like a movie. Until one chat record caught my attention. He had mailed her a package, which was written as concert tickets. I suddenly thought of something and quickly opened my own phone. A moment later, I almost collapsed on the ground. Those were the Coldplay concert tickets I had struggled to get from a scalper. Lucas and I had been fans of Coldplay since college. When we first graduated, we didn’t have money to attend concerts, so we could only huddle in our rented room listening to CDs. Later, when our salaries increased, we didn’t have time to go to concerts. We missed out for several years like this. This year was Coldplay’s 25th anniversary concert, which also happened to be our 10th anniversary. I thought it was significant and begged Lucas to take time off work early. But in the end, he still broke his promise, saying the project had entered a critical period and he really couldn’t get away. Although I was angry, I had no choice. After all, he was working so hard for our better future. Later, Lucas said his colleague also wanted to go and asked if I could give them the tickets. I was reluctant, after all, those tickets were so hard to buy. I thought about going with Mia instead. But I couldn’t resist Lucas’s persuasion, and he even promised to take me next year. I never expected the tickets would end up in her hands. And Lucas had sent them to her himself. Thinking of this, I trembled with anger, wishing I could rush into the room and drag him up for a beating. ———-Cut-off point———- My heart couldn’t calm down for a long time. Before this, I could convince myself to accept that ten years of feelings had gradually faded in the daily grind of life. If he wanted to break up, I could oblige. But I couldn’t accept his deliberate scheming and deception. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. Closing my eyes, memories of Lucas and I flashed through my mind. Those beautiful memories had now turned into sharp fragments. Each piece reminded me that our love was gone forever. Thinking of this, I suddenly felt much lighter. Perhaps it was because the uncertainty had suddenly become certain, freeing me from long-standing entanglement and insecurity, as if a thousand-pound weight had been lifted. I had asked myself countless times in the dead of night, why had Lucas and I come to this point? Was it because I hadn’t done well enough somewhere? Now it seems, on the path of promised companionship, some people choose to leave early. The fault wasn’t mine, but theirs. That night, I slept unusually soundly, the most peaceful sleep I’d had in a long time. On a very ordinary day, I gave up a very important person. Although I felt a bit reluctant, my heart full of joy should also come to an end.
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