- 6.
I choked back tears and hugged Dad.
In the car, I told him everything that
happened.
く
At first, Dad was furious, even wanted to fly
back and give Mark a piece of his mind.
But then he calmed down and just sighed.
“Mark’s an idiot. He’ll regret this, you know.”
So I stayed with Dad.
At first, I had nightmares. In them, Mark was
yelling at me, insulting me.
But after a while, the cheating stuff faded.
With Dad’s help, I opened a flower shop.
Being around those beautiful flowers really
cheered me up.
One day, Dad insisted on taking me to meet a
“He’s new here, doesn’t know anyone. You
can come with me and keep his son
company.”
Dad sounded casual, so I didn’t argue.
We got there, and I burst out laughing when I
saw who it was.
It was my high school classmate, Mike Chang!
Back in the day, he was the most popular guy
in school: tall, cute, and smart.
Girls were crazy about him. His locker was
always stuffed with love letters.
But I was too busy studying to even notice.
Dad must have slipped out because it was
just me and Mike.
We were both awkward, but he broke the ice,
asking if I remembered high school.
“You know, I had a crush on you back then.”
I looked up surprised, but he was serious.
“I knew everything about you. Teenage
crushes are the purest.”
He started listing things I liked. My favorite
color was white, my favorite music was
classical, my favorite author was…
I was shocked. I could barely say anything.
We ended up having
く
We ended up having a great conversation.
We started hanging out, grabbing coffee,
window shopping, and before I knew it, it was
winter.
One day, a woman came into the flower shop.
She stared at me for a long time, then asked,
“Are you Jen?”
It had been a while since I’d heard that name,
and I didn’t know what to say.
“I used to work for you. I didn’t stay there
long. You probably don’t remembér me.”
From her, I heard what happened after I left.
Mark wont nuto trving to find n
Mark went nuts trying to find me. He stopped
going to work.
Several deals fell through, and investors
pulled out.
Everyone was stressed out, and people were
quitting left and right.
A few days later, Mark came back and
slapped Amy across the face.
He fired her that day and told all his friends
not to hire her.
“Mark used to love Amy. He took her
everywhere. I don’t know what she did to him,
but he was ruthless.”
く
I smirked. He was just mad he got caught.
Even if he blamed it all on Amy, he still
cheated on me.
I’d never forgive that.
After the customer left, I remembered I was
supposed to meet Mike for dinner.
I closed up and headed over, but then I got
into a car accident.
- 6.
I woke up three days later.
Dad was there, looking worried and old.
After Mom died, I didn’t spend enough time
<
with Dad.
Now he was taking care of me.
I felt terrible.
A few minutes later, the door opened.
A tall guy came in with a water bottle.
Dad smiled and said he was going home to
cook me something nice. He’d bring it over
later.
After Dad left, Mike sat down next to me. He
looked at the tubes and wires and said, “It’s
my fault. If I had picked you up, this wouldn’t
have happened.”
I smiled. “Accidents happen. It’s not your
We were quiet for a minute, then we looked
at each other and smiled.
I didn’t mention Mark.
Mike knew I’d been divorced, but he didn’t
know the details, and he never asked.
We’d been spending time together, but we
hadn’t talked about being a couple.
I wasn’t ready.
But seeing him standing there with a water
bottle, looking so worried, made me melt.
Mike was by my side every day.
One day, he was so tired he fell asleep in the
chair.
<
Watching him, I thought about Mark and me.
We were poor back then, but we were happy.
If one of us got sick, the other would stay up
all night taking care of them.
But after we made money, we could just pay
people to do that. It wasn’t the same.
I got discharged in the middle of a
snowstorm.
Dad saw me looking out the window and said,
“It’s almost Christmas. Mike’s probably with
his family. And with all this snow, he probably
can’t make it.”
But he said he’d be here.
<
I started to feel down. I shouldn’t have
expected anything.
Just then, the door flew open.
Mike was red–faced, covered in snow. “I’m
sorry I’m late! The snow was crazy!”
I couldn’t hold back. I ran into his arms.
I never thought I’d find love again after my
divorce.
Maybe true love was always there. I couldn’t
let my past bad luck ruin it.
“Jen…”
His voice woke me up.
<
I hesitated for a moment, then said, “Mike, I’m
divorced. But I’m not broken. If you want to
be with me, can you promise to treat me like
gold?”
Mike looked at me, his eyes red.
He nodded. “Yes! I promise!”
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