Chapter 5

My dad said nothing. He just looked at me.

“Ryan, what do you think?”

What did I think?

I thought about those orders, that address, that name.

I thought about how she said she was working overtime, how she said she was in meetings, how she said she was too tired and wanted to rest early.

“Dad, I want to confirm one more thing.”

“What thing?”

I stood up, went into the study, and brought out the tablet.

I pulled up those orders and handed it to my dad.

My dad looked at it, his brow furrowing.

My mom leaned over to look, and when she finished, she lifted her head to look at me, her eyes red.

“That address isn’t ours.”

“And those things weren’t bought for you.”

The living room went quiet.

My mom wiped at her tears beside me, and my dad stayed silent for a long time.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

I looked at him, then at my mom.

“I want to wait for her to come back.”

“I want to hear what she says.”

“What’s left to hear?” my mom said, wiping her tears. “The evidence is all here. What else is there to say?”

“Mom, I want to hear it from her own mouth.”

My dad patted my mom on the shoulder. “Let him handle it himself.”

My mom wanted to say something else, but my dad held her back. He looked at me and said, “Call Dad anytime if anything comes up. No matter how late it is.”

“I know.”

“Then we’ll head back first.”

“Okay.”

They got to the door, and my mom turned back and hugged me again. She held on so tightly that it was hard to breathe.

“Ryan, Mom’s here with you.”

“It’s okay, Mom. Go home. I just want to be alone for a while.”

She let go of me, looked at me for a long time, and finally sighed before leaving with my dad.

The door closed, and the house fell quiet again.

Mia didn’t come back.

I sent her a message: Come back. We need to talk.

She didn’t reply.

I just sat there, looking at the wedding materials, looking at the chestnut pastry, looking at all the things that should have belonged to us.

When daylight came, the lock clicked.

I looked up and saw Mia walk in.

When she saw me sitting on the sofa, she froze for a second, then looked away and went straight into the bedroom.

I stood up and followed her.

She opened the closet, took out a suitcase, unzipped it, and started putting clothes inside.

Her T-shirts, her blouses, her coat.

The clothes I had thrown on the bed last night, she folded one by one and put into the suitcase.

“Mia.”

She didn’t stop.

“Mia, look at me.”

She kept folding clothes.

I walked over and grabbed her wrist. She shook me off and kept folding.

“Let’s cool off for a few days.”

She said, looking at the suitcase.

“I’ll move out for a few days first. Let’s both calm down.”

I looked at her, at her hands, at the clothes she folded so carefully.

“Cool off for a few days?” I asked.

“Just a few days.”

“And then what?”

She looked up at me.

Her lips moved, like she wanted to say something, but she swallowed it back down.

“Mia,” I said, “there’s no need to cool off anymore.”

She looked at me.

“Let’s just break up.”

Her hand paused for a second, then she kept folding clothes.

“Ethan, don’t be like this.”

“I just think the wedding isn’t necessary. I wanted to save some money. Do you really need to make such a big deal out of it?”

I laughed.

“Save money?”

“Yes.”

“Save it for who?”

She didn’t say anything.

“For that guy with the last name Lin?”

“Buying him a computer, buying him a watch. Booking restaurants for him, buying movie tickets for him. Was all that money supposed to be saved?”