Perhaps because he had not received my response expressing surprise for a long time, Calix finally called me after a month.

After five or six unanswered phone calls, he began to grow impatient.

I stared at his furrowed brows, feeling lonely in my heart.

A few years ago, Calix Reitman, who called me ninety-nine times on New Year's Eve just to say Happy New Year, was finally gone.

A date reminder suddenly popped up in the information bar, indicating today as the day of my menstrual period.

Calix set up a reminder because every time I had menstrual cramps, I would almost faint from the pain.

In the past, every few days of the month, he would always take care of me no matter how busy he was.

I did not have any special physique, it was just that I sufferred from unbearable menstrual cramps because of Calix.

After starting the business, our first fireworks show failed due to lack of experience. The response was terrible and we also used up all our savings.

Calix could not bear the blow and walked into the sea in the snowy winter.

In order to stop him, I was knocked down by the waves again and again in the freezing sea water.

Even so, I still tried to open my trembling lips and encourage him not to give up.

At that time, the two of us were like rootless duckweed, enduring the harsh blow of society while trying hard to stay in this city.

After suffering from menstrual cramps, Calix would always have tears in his eyes every time I broke out in a cold sweat.

He racked his brains and did everything he could to make me feel better.

But after Serena came back, everything changed.

I had very few opportunities to sit at the same table with him to just eat together, let alone care about my menstrual cramps.

Now his concern for me was probably only this forgotten reminder of my menstrual period.

I laughed at myself, realizing that even a marriage that had gone through so much hardship could not escape the seven-year itch, but I found that Calix had clicked on the chat box with me again.

At this moment, I could not help approaching him.

I was lost in my thoughts. On this day ... would he still care about me?

"Why didn't you reply to my messages or answer my calls?"

"You were quite busy when I wasn't around."

"Buy some painting tools and send them to the studio tomorrow. You know more about that."

I tried hard to see some hint of concern between the lines.

The loud sound of fireworks exploding filled my ears.

Every word Serena spoke was clear and dealt me ​​a heavy blow.

"Calix, is it too late for me to start learning painting now?"

"Daphne's good at painting and designing, and she's also a good drinker. Meanwhile I'm not in good health, so I'm really not as good as her at anything."

"A woman like her who is good at everything is worthy of you."

The words came out of Serena's mouth showed praise for me, but the look in her eyes showed cruelty.

In just a moment, she pretended to look pitiful and immediately aroused Calix's desire to protect her.

The man looked at her affectionately, as devoutly as when he said "I do" at a wedding ceremony.

"I will unconditionally support anything you want to do."

"Also, it's not good for a woman to drink alcohol. You'd better drink milk or something healthy."

I woke up instantly from my self-deceiving reverie.

Looking at the man's face so close at hand, I wanted to see if he still looked the same as the old days.

He never said that before.

In the early days of the business, the studio was short of staff.

I did the accounting, design, purchasing, reception and even secretarial and logistical work all by myself.

In order to attract sponsorships and negotiate business, I practiced my alcohol tolerance at endless drinking tables, just because Calix had an allergy to alcohol and a stomachache after drinking.

I never knew that he actually hated women drinking when I was throwing up in the bathroom.

Looking at the vast and boundless sea, I regretted saving him for the first time.

That day, I should have let him die in the sea.

Calix and Serena were clinking glasses in a restaurant when a warehouse worker suddenly called.

He reported that the fireworks factory exploded.

The roof was on fire, but luckily it was overnight and no workers were injured.

Calix suddenly stood up from his chair, knocking over the bottle of red wine and attracting everyone's attention.

Seeing his reaction, I burst out laughing.

The reason why blue fireworks were expensive was not only because of the high production costs but also because of the harsh storage conditions.

It required special materials with poor stability, so compared to other fireworks, blue fireworks were more difficult to store, were extremely easy to burn, and had certain dangers.

I had advised Calix hundred times that our warehouse was not yet capable of storing blue fireworks.

Large-scale production and storage were bound to cause problems.

Unexpectedly, what I said came true.

As soon as he arrived at the warehouse, he was squinted by the black smoke filling the sky.

Crackling bursts and shouts were endless.

He dealt with the fire on site for three days and three nights before it was finally completely extinguished.

One by one, the firefighters were too tired to stand up straight.

What awaits Calix was a thick stack of loss settlement and compensation issues for surrounding businesses.

The anxious Calix ignored the dozens of calls from Serena and clicked on the chat box to which I still had no reply.

"Daphne, we are husband and wife. If you can help me through this crisis, I will reconsider our marriage."

Still not getting a reply from me, Calix repeatedly typed and deleted his message, then he decided going to our house to find me.

After all, he could not afford that much money alone.

As soon as he got to our house, he could not find me and then, went to my apartment.

Knocking on the door over and over again, but the door in front of him never opened.

Instead, the door of apartment next door was opened a crack and an auntie stopped him from knocking on the door again.

"Stop knocking, there's no one in the house."

"She is dead ... a week ago."

Calix frowned, as if he had heard some joke.

"What nonsense are you talking about! My wife lives in this house! How could I not know if she is dead?"

The auntie also raised her voice. "I recognize the woman next to me. I saw her with my own eyes in the hospital. So, how could I be wrong?"

"And you keep calling her your wife? You don't even know the partner in your life is dead. What a joke!"

"I'm afraid she has already turned into ashes! You can't recognize her even if you want to!"

Hearing the word "ash" come out of the auntie's mouth, Calix seemed to have thought of something, and his face suddenly turns white.

He was breathing heavily, knocking on doors and trying passwords randomly.

A few second later, he successfully opened the door with his birth date.

The darkness in the room made the man's voice even more flustered.

"Daphne, suicide won't stop me, you're starting to play disappear with me again, aren't you?"

He casually turned on the light and stumbled open the door of each room while calling my name.

Calix stopped in my bedroom and opened my bedside table with ease.

There was a safe hidden inside.

The password was known only to me.

After multiple failed attempts, Calix, in a fit of anger, found the toolbox and exerted great force to open the safe.

There was no doubt about the security in my community. I bought a safe for psychological comfort, so the quality was average.

However, what Calix did not expect was, there was only a thin risk notification letter in the cold iron cabinet.

It clearly listed the precautions for producing blue fireworks. I showed it to him repeatedly but he always rejected it.

Seeing how persistent he was, I decided to just turn a blind eye to it and locked it in the cabinet.

Calix held the paper in his hand, veins bulging on his forehead and he sat on the ground dejectedly.

"Daphne, as you wish, the warehouse exploded. So, come out and see my joke."

Only after a long time did he stagger to his feet and open the last room.

There were unforgettable scenes inside that he would never forget.