The only thing that remained unchanged was his always timely response.

The scene in front of my eyes became blurry and distorted. I suppressed my bitterness and went to look for his dialog box.

But among all the work and personal chat boxes, my name had long been pushed to the bottom. 

I struggled to find it and opened it, but the screen was full of messages with no one responding, which finally made me burst into tears.

[Letha: I made chicken soup today. Would you like to come back and have some?]

[Letha: When will you be back? What do you want to eat tonight?]

[Letha: It's getting cold, keep warm outside.]

It turned out that the relationship was one-sided on my part from the beginning to the end.

Like a moth to a flame.

I and Richie met at a university lecture, where he gave a speech as an outstanding student. 

A white shirt and light-colored jeans easily outlined his extraordinary temperament. 

Elegant and superior facial features sparkled brightly under the spotlight, easily winning the hearts of many girls, including me.

From then on, I began to pursue Richie boldly.

I got up early to deliver food and deliberately created chance encounters to inquire about Richie's class schedule.

I tried my best to do everything I could think of, but he was like an iceberg that could not be melted.

It was not until that time that I accidentally learned that Richie was interning in the hospital and I bought some fruit to visit him.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I arrived at the hospital, I encountered a medical dispute.

The reason was that a patient developed an immune rejection reaction after undergoing a heart transplant operation and eventually died despite failed rescue efforts. 

The patient's family members were extreme in their belief that the doctor had deliberately harmed him.

They rushed into the hospital with a kitchen knife and wanted to kill the doctor who was performing the operation.

Richie was pushed to the front in the chaos. 

Seeing that the kitchen knife was about to chop him, I did not think twice, threw away the fruit and rushed over.

The kitchen knife hit my back and my eyes went dark due to the pain. Before I passed out, I saw that Richie, who was usually indifferent, changed his expression.

“Letha!”

“I…."

I wanted to smile at him, but soon lost consciousness.

By the time I regained consciousness, it was already the afternoon of the next day. 

Richie was standing by my bed, with a faint stubble on his chin and wrinkled clothes, looking in an indescribable state.

Complex emotions flashing in his dark eyes. After a moment, he suddenly held my hand.

“Letha, let's be together.”

I looked up in astonishment. The unbearable pain in my back disappeared instantly. It was as if fireworks exploded in my mind, making me dizzy.

As a result, Richie and I became boyfriend and girlfriend, but we did not become closer.

Most of the time, he was busy with various academic papers and internships. I was by his side, preparing everything for him. As long as I could get a look from him occasionally, I would be happy for a long time.

Sometimes I would feel unsatisfied, but I would quickly suppress the emotion.

After all, Richie had always been like that, cold and calm, indifferent to everything.

But it was not until a month ago that I realized that he just did not care.

No matter how calm and steady Richie was, he had fought and raced cars for that girl and resisted everything for her. 

In the end, when he was powerless, he even struggled by committing suicide.

What was funny was that I spent countless days and nights caressing the wound with heartache, secretly wondering what desperate thing he must have encountered that made him act without hesitation.

It turned out that it was for the lover in his heart that he loved but could not have.

A bitter feeling welled up in my nose.

Suddenly, my hands were empty. I turned around and saw Richie looking at me with a cold face. “Who allowed you to touch my phone without permission?”

I felt a slight pain in my heart. I pursed her lips and suddenly had an impulse, “I'm your girlfriend, can't I even look at your phone?”

Richie looked impatient, “There is some confidential information in it, which cannot be disclosed at will.”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

My questioning made Richie's expression pause slightly.

“That's enough. If you have time to guess here, why don't you go out for a walk?” He suddenly said angrily, “I'm very busy. I do not have time to play detective games with you.”

“I have something to do tonight, so I won't go back to my room to sleep.”

After Richie finished speaking, he left quickly.

My heart trembled and he reflexively followed out to explain.

But when I was about to reach the door of the study, I suddenly stopped. 

Through the crack in the door, I saw Richie sitting at the desk, looking at his mobile phone intently, with a faint smile on his eyes and eyebrows.

This smile turned into a sharp blade, piercing into my chest, causing me to tremble with pain.

It turned out that he could also smile so gently, but the object was someone else.

...

I returned to the room and sent a WhatsApp message to Richie, [5.]

That was not the first time I had sent out a number. It started with ‘100,’ and then the number decreased with every disappointment and hurt I felt.

Richie asked me what I meant and I smiled and leaned on his shoulder, saying half-truthfully.

“I will remember every time you hurt me, Richie. When you have used up all your chances, I promise that the Letha who loves you will be gone. Since I do not want you anymore.”

Richie did not believe it and thought I was talking nonsense again.

After all, I loved him to my core, so how could I leave?

On the other side, Richie looked at the number that suddenly popped up, his eyes full of annoyance. He casually set the dialog box to not disturb and never opened it again.

**

The next day, I got up early, changed into a smoky pink halter dress, a white knitted cardigan and put on some light makeup to cover my slightly haggard face.

While preparing breakfast, Richie also got up and went downstairs.

Perhaps because of the quarrel last night, he did not say a word and just sat at the table to eat. Apart from the occasional sound of dishes and chopsticks colliding, there was only endless silence on the table.

The sound of a cell phone notification broke the silence. Richie glanced at it casually and a smile suddenly broke out on his gentle face. He picked up his coat and prepared to leave.

I asked anxiously, “Where are you going?”

Richie glanced sideways, my brows revealing the most common annoyance I had recently. “Of course I'm going to the hospital to work. Can you stop asking nonsense questions?”

He left after saying that.

Only me was left sitting at the table, staring at the table full of food in a trance.

Not long ago, when Richie returned home, he was in a rare good mood and proposed to take me to ride a hot air balloon and said that he had already switched shifts with his colleagues.

After hearing that, I was overjoyed and made various plans early, just waiting for that day's trip.

Unfortunately, it seemed to be just a casual promise on his part and he did not take it to heart.

Just like our relationship.

Silent silence surrounded me from all directions. I sat there for an unknown amount of time, my gaze slowly falling on a shelf nearby.

There was the invitation letter from the orchestra and the documents I needed to apply for a visa to work abroad.

I stood up and went out with the information. I thought it was time to let go and fulfill my wish.

The visa process was simpler than I thought and it was all done in less than half a day.

On the way back, a friend request popped up on my phone. The avatar looked familiar, a kitten with flowers on its head and the verification message came with a note, “Tiffany.”

The two photos in Richie's WhatsApp flashed through my mind. I tapped her fingertips and accepted the friend request.

But there was no rush to send the message, as if it was just added casually, or like a silent show-off of the winner, which made me feel embarrassed.

I lowered my eyes and accidentally discovered that there was an update in my social media.

I realized something and clicked on it. Sure enough, I saw that Tiffany had posted a photo in her recent updates.

A caption read, [Today is a fairy tale world.] 

In the accompanying picture, the protagonist was smiling brightly at the camera, with countless hot air balloons floating in the air behind her and a man with his back to the camera.

Even through the screen, I could still recognize that it was Richie, the one who should have been in the hospital.

I stared at the familiar figure for a long time, tears streaming down my face.

I clenched my phone so tightly that my fingertips turned white.

It turned out that Richie had not forgotten that day's appointment, he just had someone else to fulfill his promise to.

My heart seemed to be unable to bear the burden and emitted a sharp beeping sound, which reached my mind and made me not know what to do. 

In the end, she opened her profile in a self-mutilating manner and scrolled through it frantically.

Finally, I saw the day Tiffany returned to the US a month ago.

She was wearing a moon-white dress, holding a bright rose and standing next to Richie. The photo had the caption that read, [Someone insisted on picking me up, so I had to be merciful and give him this honor.]

The memory was suddenly pulled back to that day, when I had a fever because I went to deliver documents to him in the rain. 

I called Richie in distress, wanting him to come back and accompany me, but he scolded me, “Don't be pretentious.”

It turned out that it was not that I was being pretentious, but that I did not deserve it.

Not wanting to cry out loud, I took a deep breath, trying to suppress the sob in his throat and sent a number to Richie: [4.]

I still did not receive a reply on my phone until I got home. I guessed Richie wass busy accompanying that girl on the hot air balloon ride.

I sat tiredly on the sofa, looking at the cute pillow beside me, the doll ornaments on the coffee table and the childlike and warm decorations in every corner.

At first, I disliked that house because it was too rigid and felt like a hotel that one could leave at any time.

So, I pestered Richie for a few days before he finally gave in. But then, the home I had decorated with great anticipation seemed to be gone.

I found a cardboard box and slowly put the things he had bought into it. He would figure out how to deal with them when the time came.

After cleaning up, I looked at those things with regret.

Each and every one of them was carefully selected by me, but unfortunately Richie did not like them, nor did the owners who bought them.

Suddenly the entrance door opened. It was Richie coming back.

He looked at what was in my hand, frowned slightly and then said in a light tone, “If you want to clean up, remember not to touch my things.”

As I heard that, I Found it ridiculous. His first reaction was to ask me not to touch his things.