- 7.
Frank stayed in his office until the end of the
day.
Finally, he opened my office, sat at my desk,
and looked at the picture of us, thinking
about our memories.
Nine years ago, Frank and I met for the first
time at a college debate.
I was fiery, arguing with conviction, and
silencing the opposition with a few sentences.
Unsurprisingly, Frank was another one of my
victims.
L
But he was different from the other guys.
After the debate, the other guys heard my
name and their first impression was that I was bossy, aggressive, and difficult.
But he said I was rational, intelligent, and
decisive.
After that, he started pursuing me.
It took us two years to go from acquaintances
to dating.
It took us another two years to get married.
He still remembered the proposal.
He remembered how excited he felt when I
く
nodded, better than signing a ten–million-
dollar contract.
But then, our relationship started to fall apart.
He wasn’t sure what went wrong.
He just felt like we were drifting further apart.
A lot of our old colleagues noticed the
00
change and tried to warn him.
But he was the head of the company, above
the employees, but below the board.
He didn’t listen to a word.
Now that he thought about it, if he had
listened to even one word, we wouldn’t be
where we are.
く
Nine years, just down the drain, who wouldn’t
be sad about it?
As he was lost in thought, his phone rang.
“We found the address, but are you sure you
want to go? You’ll have to fly.”
Frank’s parents had died in a plane crash, and
planes and the sky had been a nightmare for
him ever since.
Even for overseas business deals, he would
send me with contracts he’d signed in
advance.
“What’s going on? Why do you suddenly need
to go abroad?”
L
His friend pressed.
Frank paused, letting out a breath.
“Ashley’s gone…”
“Huh?” His friend sounded shocked, but
surprisingly, didn’t ask anything else.
“want to ask you something. Did you think I
was crossing the line with Jessica these last
three years? Did you think I was hurting
Ashley?”
His friend was silent.
Silence speaks volumes.
“I get it.”
L
The man said bitterly.
“I was wrong. Ever since Jessica showed up, I
was drawn to her without realizing it.”
“Sometimes, I thought she was like Ashley
was when she was younger, bright and bold.”
“I shouldn’t have confused them.”
“I used up all 99 of those ‘Doghouse Cards‘
she gave me.”
“I never wanted to break up with her, but now
she doesn’t want me.”
His voice dropped, choked with sobs.
After a long silence, his friend finally said.
L
The call ended, and a text popped up.
“The fax came from here. If you ask around,
you should be able to find out where she is.”
