I currently have no intention of breaking up with Jalen.”
His actions stopped. I continued, “Our behavior only belongs to a one–night stand, that’s our consensus, right?” As soon as the words left my mouth.
Jalen’s message came in instantly.
I just realized that due to Darion’s interruption, I didn’t see Jalen bombarding me with messages.
The latest one is the voice message that was just sent.
“Natasha, I seem to remember something, I miss you a lot right now, I’m almost at your house.”
The voice was unstable, even somewhat hurried.
It seems that my neglect made him suspicious.
The alarm bells rang loudly in my heart.
Dragging Darion’s arm, “You need to leave now, Jalen is coming back, and he will definitely suspect that I am also seeing someone.‘
People who are guilty are most afraid of others doing the same thing to them.
He was disloyal, yet demanded me to be pure and flawless.
Darion stated coldly, “You were looking for a man.”
I choked. I didn’t want to argue with him too much.
I placed both of my hands on his back and pushed him forward.
The doorbell rang abruptly.
Jalen came.
Darion scoffed lightly.
I simply opened the wardrobe and stuffed Darion’s 1.85–meter–tall figure inside.
Darion acted like a boneless person.
The wardrobe was cramped, with Darion’s long legs bent, he looked up at me.
“You were not allowed to make a sound, understand?”
Darion smiled, “I don’t know.”
I had an inexplicable confidence in him.
When I was about to close the cabinet door, Darion grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside.
The sound of the password lock opening faded away as the cabinet door closed, completely isolating It from the dark space outside.
At one time.
In the cramped space, there was only the faint sound of our intertwined breaths, Darion’s and mine.
But I was very nervous.
Jalen came in directly.
1
I could even hear his footsteps not far away.
“Natasha?“!
“Where did you go?”
I took the phone.
Reply to his message.
“I was just trying on clothes.” Then I selected an old photo from the album and sent it to him.
“How was this piece of clothing?”
It was a photo of a backless dress, with hair pinned up and pearls adorning the hairline, giving a pure and alluring appearance.
My current posture was with crossed legs, kneeling on Darion’s lap.
The atmosphere was heavy, and he was clearly displeased.
Jalen, who was just a door away, clearly believed it and left the bedroom calmly. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Nice.” He replied to me.
“I am not at home now. I will attend a banquet tonight. Can we meet tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
Although I could only see the outline of Darion, I could clearly sense his displeasure.
My attention was instantly focused on Darion, ignoring the sound of Jalen walking away.
Suddenly, Darion bent his knee and with a slight force, he spread my calf apart, securing it against the wall.
I looked at him in surprise.
Attempted to grab his wrist.
It was not successful.
Darion bit my earlobe.
“Is Jalen better than me at taking care of you?”
I crumbled under his fingertips.
But he sobbed silently, refusing to make a sound.
“What is there to like about such a terrible person?” He was extremely aggressive.
“Natasha, try me, I wouldn’t betray you.”
He disrupted both my thoughts and my body.
However, the unexpected verdict was upheld.
“It was just a hormonal accident, Darion. Can’t you handle it?”
My breathing was unstable.
Darion’s ambiguous actions came to a halt.
Darion and Natasha were desk mates, and he thought Natasha was very strange.
He clearly looked so thin as if he had suffered from malnutrition.
But when passing by the abandoned building, I saw the rain–soaked kittens and could tear off a large portion of the bread in my hand to give to them.
As far as he knew, Natasha lived alone and had only a sum of money left by her mother to sustain her precarious life.
When Darion placed the warm milk in her arms on the table.
She calculated the price and gave the money to Darion.
Stubborn and clever.
The grades still ranked among the top.
Darion thought he was extremely handsome, but it seemed like Natasha couldn’t see it.
I actually developed a liking for that guy Jalen instead.
Darion never disliked anyone, including his former friend Jalen, who was always by Natasha’s side whenever they took photos together.
He felt jealous and despised someone for the first time. He even thought about using a needle to
prick a voodoo doll, a very ancient curse. However, he didn’t do it. He didn’t allow himself to do so
because if one day his hand trembled and he accidentally pricked Natasha, it would not be worth it.
Natasha used to think that he liked documenting life and had asked him for photos before.
“I wanted a photo of me and Jalen.”
Her eyes were peach blossom eyes, and when she smiled, they curved.
But Darion felt annoyed and even wanted to snap at her. Who do you think you are, demanding photos from me? Do I not have any dignity? And are you so sure that I let him be a part of the painting? Am I just a behind–the–scenes photographer for your sweet love story? Do you even know how much my recent sold artwork was priced at? I’m afraid to even say it, fearing that you would
just kick Jalen and me out.
But these were all Darion’s imaginations.
Natasha was not interested in other people’s money.
So he was just a tired and lazy voice, with a hint of sharpness that made her give up.
1/3
“One hundred thousand for one.”
“So expensive.”
“It was a friendly price.”
Later.
His parents had their own lives, partners, and children. On the day after the college entrance examination, no one picked him up.
Because his mother had to go for a prenatal check–up, his father was busy continuing to look for a mistress.
Darion was tired of that kind of life.
He wished so much to hug Natasha and tell her, “Happy graduation.‘
11
Natasha was holding a bottle of water and smiling as she watched Jalen play basketball.
Darion was a coward.
After all, everyone around was very happy.
After all.
In that summer, only Darion was abandoned.
Darion always believed that he was good at delaying gratification, but when he saw the hidden photos of Natasha and the notes on Natasha’s test papers.
He also didn’t know why he had to travel across the ocean with five years of high school entrance examination and three years of mock exams.
Every time I see those bold strokes of handwriting, I can’t help but wonder, if he hadn’t had a fever that day, if he had confessed earlier, would the outcome have been different?
A bitterness welled up in his throat, almost causing him pain.
After returning to the country, I heard about Jalen pretending to have amnesia.
Darion sneered in his heart, what a bad thing.
Natasha didn’t know where she found Darion’s phone number, maybe it was in an old classmate directory.
She asked him, “Will you sell a photo for 100,000?”
Sold.”
Darion quietly observed her profile, as if the whole person was shrouded in sadness.
2/3
1
Darion had to carefully search through his old memory cards in order to barely find a group photo, which gave him more time spent with her.
Just as Jalen was on WhatsApp, he messaged Darion: “Darion, can I borrow your swimming pool?
There are a lot of hot girls here.”
Darion became slower.
Raise an eyebrow lightly. “Alright, come on.”
He thought, it was time for Jalen to leave.
