Chapter 10

When I was young, I had many wishes and wanted to visit many places.

I tried hard to recall, and visited each place I once dreamed of going.

Those landscapes were indeed as beautiful as described in the textbooks, but people’s hearts changed, expectations changed, so I only felt that it was just beautiful scenery.

That’s all.

As the saying goes online, one cannot possess both youth and the understanding of youth simultaneously.

So, exactly one month after leaving John, I sent him an email.

It was a formal way to put an end to the past between us.

Marriage requires two people.

But breaking up, one person is enough.

I closed the computer and quietly listened to the waves crashing against the coastline in the night.

That night, I slept exceptionally well.

The next morning, I awoke to a long-lost sense of hunger.

I flipped through the menu on the bedside table, and just as I ordered room service, the doorbell rang.

I was surprised at how quickly the hotel responded, but when I opened the door, I found Henry standing outside.

Beside his feet was a small suitcase, travel-worn, yet he had the leisure to raise his hand and greet me, “Hi, long time no see.”

I raised an eyebrow, hand on the doorknob, “How did you find me?”

“When you sent John the email last night, didn’t you think we could track the IP address?”

I nodded, “I thought about it, but I sent the email to John, why are you here?”

“Back then, John got ahead once, can’t let him get ahead a second time.”

I paused for two seconds, realizing Henry was referring to the time when John came to the hometown after our mother’s death.

Henry had asked me more than once if things would have been different between John and me if he had been the first to appear at the funeral.

But I never believed in Henry’s feelings for me, nor did I ever consider the “what ifs” between us.

Henry placed his suitcase next to mine and then lay down on the balcony sofa.

“You really are ruthless, leaving without a trace,” Henry drawled lazily, “Do you know John has been looking for you for a month, almost going crazy?”

I poured him a glass of water, “You look like you’re about to go crazy too.”

He must have dressed up before coming, but the red veins in his eyes were impossible to hide.

“It’s really unfair, John wronged you, so you dumped him. But I’ve been sticking by you for years, always doing what you asked, diligently being your loyal follower, and you don’t even contact me.”

He said it so confidently that I couldn’t help but wonder if I had really lost a part of my memory.

He was my loyal follower? How come I don’t remember?

Seeing my silence, Henry sat up slightly, resting his chin on his hand, still with that casual tone, “You seem serious about breaking up with John this time. So, really not considering me?”

“Why should I jump from one pit into another?”

“And how do you know I’m a pit?”

I’m in a good mood now and don’t want to discuss such matters with Henry, “If you came all this way just to talk about this, then I can only ask you to leave.”

Henry immediately zipped his lips shut, saying nothing more.

I lowered my head and flipped through a magazine for a while, noticing the person beside me hadn’t made a sound, and turned my head in curiosity.

I saw Henry half-nestled on the sofa, head slightly drooping, sleeping soundly.

I can understand the years of entanglement between John and me, but I can’t understand why Henry is always so persistent with me.

Perhaps it’s the eternal unrest of what cannot be obtained, but Henry, as one of John’s closest brothers, witnessed the ups and downs between John and me from start to finish.

A woman in love is sometimes gentle, sometimes detestable.

He knows very well what kind of woman I am and shouldn’t still have illusions about me.