Chapter 3

Lola didn't give the hotel staff a chance to say another word. She just hung up and blocked the number.

Back to the restaurant.

Leonard had already come out of the restroom, and he noticed that Lola was returning from outside holding the phone he'd left on the table.

"Did someone call me?"

"No. I got a craving for a cigarette, so I went out for a smoke. I was worried you'd lose your phone, so I just took it out with me."

Leonard, suspecting nothing, took the phone.

Just as he was about to open it, Lola pressed his hand down.

"Come on, really? You can't go one meal without checking your phone? Does the world stop turning without you?"

"I'm the one who helped you win Tania over, and this is how you repay me? You value romance over friendship! We're through!"

Lola pushed her chair back and stood up, pretending to leave.

Leonard caught up with her in a few steps.

"I was wrong, I was wrong, I'm sorry. From now on, I'll leave my phone with you. Whenever you say I can check it, that's when I'll turn it on."

"We said friends for life. Why bring up ending it? It hurts."

To make Lola happy.

Leonard cleared out the restaurant and booked the whole place.

Back then, it was right across from this restaurant.

Leonard and I each had a piece of grilled corn in our hands.

Sitting on the edge of a flower bed.

I watched with envy as, beneath the exquisite, dazzling crystal chandelier, a man and woman celebrated a successful proposal. I couldn't help fantasizing, and, blushing, I hinted:

"Hey... Leonard, if you proposed to me somewhere like that, I'd definitely say yes."

He only lifted his eyelids at that, then looked away, his tone rational and calm.

"Booking out a whole place is such a stupid thing to do. Spend money just for that kind of show? I couldn't do it."

"Flashy and useless. I don't like it. Tania, be practical, and stop chasing dreams that don't suit you."

And now.

Without even blinking, he paid for the entire place and cleared everyone out, wrapped his arm around Lola's waist, and danced a waltz under the crystal chandelier, building the dream for her with his own hands.

Every now and then they'd laugh softly and whisper together.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, young couples passing by stopped to look in.

After Leonard and I made our relationship official freshman year, we became video creators to give what we had a more solid future.

I poured all my spare time into it.

With dedication and persistence, and catching the right trend on top of it, in just half a year the account topped ten million followers, and our income leapt us into a whole new class.

He got rich, but he changed too.

Leonard had too much to drink.

As Lola walked him inside on her arm, he dimly recognized that it was her rented apartment.

"Why did you bring me here?"

He shook his head, tried to straighten up, and stepped back twice.

Lola shot Leonard a look.

"You drank so much, you reek! Tania hates men who stink of alcohol. Sending you back to her like this would hurt your relationship and wreck your image in Tania's eyes."

"I can't take the blame for that. But, heh heh, I don't mind that you smell. Stay here and rough it for the night, and tomorrow morning the two of us will get all cleaned up and go find Tania."

Leonard thought that made sense.

He bent his head, tugged up his shirt collar, and sniffed it.

"Does it smell? Where does it smell? I think it's fine."

Lola came over, all giggles, first circling around Leonard like a puppy.

Then, nose twitching, she leaned in close to his collar and sniffed.

"It's okay here."

She worked her way down from the collar.

His chest, his stomach, his upper thighs...

Her nose almost touching the thin fabric of his pants, she sniffed.