I was terrible at foreign languages, yet I ended up dating a diplomat who was fluent in eight. On my birthday, I arrived at the foreign restaurant Arthur had booked, brimming with excitement. Only when the waiter smiled and asked for the seventh time did I finally receive a message from him: [Stuck at work. Go ahead and order without me, don't wait up.] Right after that, I saw a new post from his "the one that got away," Mia, on her social media. In the photo, Arthur was holding a menu, ordering food, while handing a disposable bib to the person behind the camera. The caption read: [Haven't been back in the country for so long, someone was afraid I'd starve reading the Chinese menu and specially treated me to a meal~] I suddenly felt entirely bored. I handed the "hieroglyphic" menu I couldn't read back to the waiter: "I'll have one of everything." By the time I finished eating, packed up the leftovers, and got home, I found dozens of missed calls from Arthur. His last message was a voice note. "Babe, don't overthink it. Mia is new in town and doesn't know her way around. I was just helping her." "Next time, next time I promise to make it up to you with an even better dinner!" I didn't reply. Is a relationship that constantly relies on "next time" to make amends really worth anticipating anymore? 1 I never expected to run into Arthur at a bar. I had just sat down with my best friend when a pair of large hands grabbed my arm. Confirming it was me, Arthur's face filled with disbelief: "Chloe? You didn't reply to my messages, and you're out drinking here in the middle of the night?" Before I could say anything, my best friend pulled my hand back and looked at the woman behind Arthur: "What? You can come here alone with another woman, but we can't come here for a girls' night out?" Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose: "Don't talk nonsense. Mia brought clients to the bar to relax. I was afraid they might encounter some danger if they got drunk, so I tagged along." "And I did tell Chloe. She just never replied..." Saying this, Arthur sounded somewhat helpless. I then realized he had indeed sent a few more messages trying to coax me and report his whereabouts. I was quite surprised that Arthur would proactively report to me. In the past, if I just asked how many days his business trip would take, he would dismiss me with annoyance. "Chloe, everyone needs their own space. Can you stop hovering over me all day?" Only after I promised him repeatedly did he reluctantly forgive me, lecturing me not to ask about his affairs anymore. Turning off my phone screen, I casually brushed it off: "Sorry, I didn't see it." Arthur choked. Mia stepped forward right then. "Arthur? If Chloe minds, you should take her home. I can manage to call a cab." I clinked glasses with my best friend, not even looking up: "I don't mind. Suit yourselves." Arthur frowned, looking me up and down: "Chloe!" "Be good and go back first. If you want to drink, after I drop Mia off, I'll buy a few pounds of your favorite crawfish and drink with you at home, okay?" Arthur was a germaphobe and didn't allow anything with a strong smell in the house. So after getting together with him, I gave up my favorite BBQ, hot pot, and crawfish. Assuming he was in a hurry to get Mia to a hotel to rest and making such a big concession, I nodded perfunctorily: "Got it. Go on then." Arthur didn't expect me to agree so easily. He rubbed my head like a reward: "Good girl. Wait for me at home. I've already called a car for you." He left too quickly to notice my subtle flinch. By the time I got home, it was already 3 AM. Pushing the door open, I bumped right into Arthur, who was about to go out looking for me. Seeing me, he demanded coldly: "Chloe, look at the time. How old are you? Still acting like a little girl, coming home late when you're mad." I was so tired I could pass out if I closed my eyes. Too lazy to deal with him, I tried to bypass him to go to my room. He blocked my path: "Stop being so jealous. If there was really something between me and Mia, would I have ever gotten with you?" Saying that, he pulled a jewelry box from his pocket: "Here, birthday present. You're a year older now, you can't be as petty and childish as you were today." I was too tired to speak. Without even looking, I took the jewelry box and headed toward the bedroom. "Fine. Thanks for the gift." I casually tossed the gift on the table. Whatever. I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes. I didn't even have time to think about who slammed the front door so loudly before I completely fell asleep. 2 The next morning, I woke up and scrolled through my social media to wake up properly, only to realize Arthur had slammed the door and left last night. Mia had updated her status again: [Wish time could stop at this moment.] The accompanying photo was of her and Arthur standing on a mountaintop, watching the sunrise from behind. I casually liked the post and sighed: Sigh, you two are having a great time, but poor me had to deal with an innocent door suffering for no reason last night. After a simple breakfast, I took a cab to the company. The manager was pleasantly surprised when she heard I was willing to accept the overseas assignment. After all, she had truly felt sorry for me when I previously rejected the assignment because I didn't want a long-distance relationship with Arthur. "You've finally figured it out. Transportation is so advanced now. If you two want to meet, it's just a two-hour high-speed train ride. Isn't there a saying, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'?" I smiled, accepting her teasing, and finally said: "I'm planning to break up with him." After finishing the transfer paperwork, it was just in time for lunch. My close colleagues insisted on taking me out for a farewell meal. I smiled and walked into the elevator with them. But as soon as I stepped out of the company building, Arthur suddenly appeared and shoved a bouquet of flowers into my arms. "An apology gift." My colleagues immediately started hooting: "Wow~ What did Arthur do to make our sweet Chloe so mad that he's waiting at the door with flowers!" "Hahaha, Arthur, you're late today. Chloe's lunch schedule is booked by us." Arthur pulled me toward his car while apologizing: "Sorry everyone, Chloe and I have an urgent matter. I'll treat you all to a meal next week to make up for it." Thinking something happened at home, I said goodbye to my colleagues and got into the passenger seat Arthur opened for me. The first thing I did was put the bouquet in the back seat before buckling my seatbelt. Arthur got in and saw this. He pursed his lips. Finally, while waiting at a red light, he couldn't help but ask: "Don't you like them?" I was still handing over my work on my phone and looked up after a while: "What?" His words finally started processing in my brain. I realized: "Oh, you mean the flowers? Did you forget again that I'm allergic to pollen?" Arthur froze, then looked very frustrated: "Sorry, I'll definitely remember next time." My eyes were already back on my phone: "It's fine." It wasn't the first time anyway. How could a brilliant diplomat who fluently spoke various obscure languages forget such a small detail? It was simply because he didn't care. Fortunately, I didn't need him to care anymore. "We're here." When Arthur reminded me to get out, I had just finished arranging my onboarding date with the branch office. When I saw the airport parking lot instead of our familiar neighborhood, I was confused. But before I could ask, Arthur had already opened my door. He pulled me and ran wildly through the departure hall. I was a bit stunned. In my eyes, Arthur had always seemed steady and mature. I had only seen this boyish side of him in Mia's social media posts. "Chloe, hurry up. They've already started boarding our flight." Only after sitting down, out of breath, did I have time to ask Arthur: "What's wrong? Did something happen to your family?" Arthur's family lived abroad year-round, so until now, I thought something had happened to them. Arthur was still catching his breath. He put away our IDs and passports and said: "I know you haven't used your annual leave yet this year." "Haven't you always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris? I'm taking this vacation to show you around properly. Stop being mad at me, okay?" I realized then that in our three years of dating, this was our first trip together. Because all his previous vacations had been monopolized by Mia. Or rather, Arthur's vacations were taken solely for Mia. He would accompany Mia to Africa to see lions, Iceland to see the aurora, and America to see kangaroos. Yet, when I just wanted him to go with me to a local café, he excused himself saying he was too busy with work. Forget it. Let's just treat this as a breakup trip and part on good terms. I pushed down the urge to break up with him. "Right, if we board like this, what about our luggage?" Arthur patted my head: "Don't worry, little manager. I was afraid we wouldn't make the flight, so I had a friend who is also going to Paris take them to our hotel." I nodded, thinking to myself that it was a good thing I was in the middle of transferring jobs. Otherwise, who knows if the company would have approved such a sudden leave request. 3 It was late at night when we got off the plane. Just as we arrived at the hotel entrance, Arthur's phone rang abruptly. Arthur answered: "Don't cry. Wait right there. I'm coming right now." Looking anxious, he snatched the car keys back from the bellboy: "Chloe, Mia secretly followed us to Paris." "Security here isn't great, and I'm worried she might have an accident. Go to the room and rest. I'll be back as soon as I pick her up." With that, he floored the gas pedal and sped off into the distance. Completely forgetting that not only was I unable to communicate with the locals, but my ID and passport were also with him. The trip was so sudden that I didn't even have a chance to set up international roaming. Unable to reach Arthur, I tried to communicate with the hotel receptionist using a translation app. But since I couldn't provide identification, I had no choice but to sit in the lobby and wait. The long flight, combined with the fact that it was the time of day when people are most sleepy, made me drowsy sitting on the lobby sofa. The drive from the airport to the hotel was only half an hour. But the hour hand turned twice, and Arthur still hadn't shown up. Too tired to guess what he and Mia were doing, I closed my eyes, ready to go back to sleep. A deep voice suddenly sounded by my ear: "Chloe?" My sleepiness vanished instantly. I turned around in shock: "Liam! What are you doing here?" I jumped up in joy. Running into an old friend in a foreign land, and my high school deskmate for three years at that—who wouldn't be happy? Liam walked over smiling: "Here on a business trip. Closed the deal a few days earlier than expected." His gaze swept across the lobby, and he narrowed his eyes: "Did Arthur bring you here? Where is he?" He directly ruled out the possibility of me traveling alone. Anyone who knew me knew my foreign language talent was zero. I pulled him toward the front desk, waving it off nonchalantly: "He went to pick up a friend." "Hurry up and book a room for me to lie down. I really can't stay awake any longer." Before we parted, Liam specifically reminded me: "I couldn't get a room next to mine on such short notice. I'm upstairs in 1312. Come find me if you need anything." I nodded: "Got it, got it. You're just as naggy as you used to be." "Go sleep. Good morning." 4 Not long after I closed my eyes, I was woken up by a loud "bang bang" on the door. Thinking it was Liam, I blindly fumbled to the door and opened it. The person pulled me into a tight hug. "Chloe, you really have a big heart! You'd sleep in a room booked by a strange man? Do you know how long I've been looking for you!" I finally woke up and pushed Arthur away. "What else was I supposed to do? Sit foolishly in the lobby waiting for you until dawn?" Arthur lost his momentum. Even forgetting his initial shock at me pushing him away, he opened his mouth: "I'm sorry, it's my fault. Mia lost her passport, and I helped her look for it at the airport for a while." Saying that, he reached for my hand: "Chloe, come back with me. This room is perfect for Mia to stay in." I dodged his hand, my tone completely flat: "No need. I trust you guys. After all, if there was something between you two, you would've been together a long time ago. I wouldn't have even been in the picture." Arthur froze. This was the excuse he often used on me. Like the year before last, when Mia came back to the country, forgot her pajamas, and wore his T-shirt. Last year, when Mia got a mosquito bite and insisted on jumping into his arms for a princess carry. And this year, when Mia borrowed his razor to shave her legs. Whenever I thought they were too close and wanted them to keep their distance, Arthur would always use this excuse to brush me off. I yawned, too lazy to care anymore, and slammed the door shut. Falling back onto the bed, I went back to sleep. 5 In my sleep, I think I heard more "bang bang" sounds. It wasn't until I woke up and saw the note, cash, and passport slipped under the door that I realized it wasn't a dream. [Chloe, I'm going with Mia to get her a replacement passport and will be back soon. Don't be afraid to spend the money. Tomorrow I'll take you on a boat ride on the Seine.] I pocketed the cash and passport and tossed the note into the trash as I passed by. After washing up and leaving the room, I bumped into Liam just as he was about to knock. I was pleasantly surprised: "Liam, what a coincidence!" Liam smiled: "It is." "Is Arthur here? I went down for breakfast this morning and think I saw him go out with someone else." "He's probably not back yet." Not wanting a perfectly good vacation ruined by irrelevant people, I answered simply. Liam took my bag: "Then do you want to go see the Eiffel Tower this afternoon? I chartered a boat." "Really?" I couldn't wait: "Then let's go. I also want to see if the coffee by the Seine is really that good!" The sun in Paris was exceptionally bright today. Liam and I walked through the Arc de Triomphe, took a boat on the Seine, listened to a violinist play on the riverbank, and finally had dinner at the Eiffel Tower. After returning to the hotel, I didn't close my door because Liam still needed to bring his camera down to transfer the photos to me. Liam sent a message: [Chloe, there's no hot water on the 13th floor. Do you mind if I come take a shower in your room?] I replied: [Sure, just bring the camera down too.] Liam handed me the camera and took his clothes into the shower. I was busy admiring the beautiful photos on the camera. When someone knocked on the door, I instinctively yelled "Hold on a second" in Chinese. Liam happened to come out and went to open the door for me. Immediately following was the word "animal." I looked up just in time to see Arthur throw a punch at Liam. Arthur pointed at Liam, who was bare-chested with only a towel wrapped around his waist. With red eyes, he demanded of me: "Who is he?"
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