She appeared at the door, holding his hand,
and looked very smug.
“The little guy likes me a lot. Jake, you can
forgive me now.”
I looked for my son for a whole day, and I was
<
going crazy. I wanted to slap Sarah, but Jake
stopped me.
“Karen, take him back inside. She’s crazy;
she’ll do something. If she hurts you, it won’t
be good.”
I don’t know what Jake and Sarah said, but
when he came back his face was really dark,
and there was a line of bite marks on his
neck.
After Jake’s son went to sleep, I went to pull
the curtains, and I saw Sarah kneeling
outside. She looked up, glaring at me.
I reminded Jake: “She’s still out there.”
Jake looked emotionless: “She likes doing
things like that. Just ignore her.”
く
Perhaps, the only person who cared about her
in that house was Jake…
It started raining at night, and the sounds of
the rain woke me up. Turning on the lights, I
found that Jake wasn’t there, and when I
looked outside, Sarah was gone.
I just smiled to myself in mockery, and turned
off the lights.
Jake and I didn’t have any feelings for each
other, so I couldn’t be sad.
When his son started elementary school,
Jake’s mom took care of him, hiring college
professors to teach him every subject.
I was afraid that he couldn’t take it, and I
wanted to tell him a bedtime story to help him.
<
relax. But he said that I was wasting his time.
Before, I would always make him a birthday
cake when it was his birthday, and then give
it to him after the birthday party was over.
But he didn’t even take it, backing away in
disgust.
“This cake is ugly, and Grandma says that
things that are a waste of time shouldn’t be
done.”
I patiently explained, “Honey, not everything
needs to be measured by how efficient it is.”
“Then you mean like you? Just living a normal
life? Can’t you be like Sarah? Her and my dad
make a good pair.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but
Jake’s son just scowled, throwing away my
cake, and turned around to leave.
“You’re annoying; don’t give me a birthday
anymore!”
Thinking back to that, and looking at the look
in his eyes that he wanted to celebrate his
birthday, I smiled faintly.
“We’re just a normal family. Having a birthday
for you would make you lose face.”
“And, you’re supposed to celebrate your
birthday with family, and sorry, we aren’t your
family.”
Alex’s face was pale, and it seemed like he
remembered all the horrible things he said to
<
- me.
I pulled Chris up to leave, and Chris looked
back worriedly: “Alex…”
“Don’t worry about him; he’s just a kid who’s
fighting with his family.”
Chris patted my shoulder in an attempt to win
me over: “Got it.”
After we finished eating the cake, I took my
son to the amusement park.
He was so excited to be there that he fell
asleep as soon as he got into bed at eight.
Chris got on a call with the employees at his bakery, telling them about all the orders that
needed to be done.
く
He ran a few bakeries, and he’d always come
up with cake designs for the bakeries.
Chris and I met in college. He was the
campus heartthrob at the art school. We were
originally in different fields, but we ended up
in the same group at an art competition that
was held between the two schools.
He was creative and had a strong art
foundation, while I was more familiar with
human anatomy, so we ended up winning.
He asked me out the day we won, and after
he changed out of his slouchy clothes, he
seemed a lot more mature. He pulled out the
chair for me and let me order.
During dinner, he said: “You pre–med
students aren’t just good at memorizing; you
have a really creative way of thinking.”
I replied, “You art students aren’t just free
and easy; you can also be really focused.”
After saying that, we both laughed, and we
kept in touch.
