Chapter 9
The private hospital was located in the suburbs, with endless forests outside the window.
I couldn’t get out and couldn’t contact anyone.
I once tried to seek help from doctors and nurses, but they said they were unable to assist.
Terrance came every day.
Most of the time, it was in the evening when he arrived, dusty and tired, and spoke to me for a
while.
I strongly resisted his intimate gestures, and Terrance did not insist either.
Lately, I have been dreaming about past events.
Back then, I used to have Terrance’s name on my lips all day long.
I said, “Terrance, you will definitely become rich and prosperous in the future.”
Terrance sighed silently, “What flavor of milk do you want today?”
“It was bananas.”
As a result, in order to buy me banana milk, the top student Terrance skipped class for the first time and was caught by the teacher.
Later, I went to college.
The school started spreading rumors about him and the school belle.
I took the subway for more than ten stops and sat crying outside the boys‘ dormitory.
Terrance got dressed in the middle of the night, hurriedly went downstairs, and gently wiped away my tears. “Don’t cry, if you want me, I am yours.”
“In the future, there will only be you.”
“It wasn’t like that for confession.”
He hesitated for a moment, then tightly embraced me, saying, “I love you.”
Back then, we probably couldn’t guess that this situation would be like this ten years later.
“Tomorrow, I was getting married.”
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The sun had not yet set outside the window, and its warmth still lingeren.
Terrance’s voice brought me back from my distant thoughts, “Is there something you want to tell me?”
I held a half–filled glass of milk and gazed at his face in a trance.
I suddenly understood why I had been having frequent dreams recently.
I bid farewell to the past Elliana and Terrance.
The news about him and Shirley was being broadcast on television every day.
The Golden Boy and the Jade Girl.
A match made in heaven.
That was once the future we had hoped for.
But the present Elliana, burdened with debts, what qualifications does she have?
“Congratulations,” I said, “You have given birth to a precious child.”
Terrance paused in his action of peeling the apple, and the blade grazed his fingertip, quickly oozing a deep red bloodstain.
He paused for a moment, took out a tissue, and pressed it against his nose, then lowered his head
and smiled.
“It’s okay, I was just going through the motions with her. Do you want children? I don’t mind.”
“Terrance, let’s just leave it at that, okay?” I suddenly felt exhausted. “Let’s all be a little more dignified.”
Terrance also stopped peeling the apple, threw the things back into the fruit basket, stared at the nest tightly, and showed a hint of mockery.
“Just like that?”
“Why?”
“It was you who started it first, and in the end, you said you were tired of playing and left without a care. What does that make me?”
“Was it a dog?”
I closed my eyes and dispelled the halo of sunlight shining in my eyes. “Then I’ll give it back to
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you.”
Terrance froze, “What did you say?”
I looked at the setting sun, “You don’t want me to be happy, I can go die.”
My chin was suddenly grabbed by someone, twisted to the side, and I met Terrance’s furious eyes.
“Elliana, were you sick?”
“Why did you not go die back then if you wanted to die so much?”
