Gemma and I meet in high school. Back then, she was like a tomboy, with her short hair and a brisk, no-nonsense attitude. Many of our classmates nicknamed her "Macho Girl." We weren’t particularly close at first. I was the top student in our class but often got bullied by some troublemakers at school.
One day I was cornered in an alley, being extorted for money again by the troublemakers when Gemma walked by. She didn’t stop to help, only glanced at me and mouthed a word, “Coward.”
That one word hit a nerve. It spurred me to fight back the bullies.
Of course, the outcome was predictable. I got beaten up by the three of them, but not before I managed to stare one of them dead in his face, knock out three of their teeth and break his nose.
The incident caused quite a stir. The bullies’ parents came storming to the school and threatened to call the police.
I was so scare at that time and hid behind Gemma. She deliberately stood in front of the parents' bully and looked them firmly." Go ahead and call the police. I dare you,” she said calmly.
“Your son has been bullying and extorting classmates," she told them. "Let’s investigate everything he’s done and see who really ends up in trouble. He might not go to jail, but expulsion is a sure thing.”
Her words left them terrified.
Then she turned to me and said, “Like father, like son. Don’t bother reasoning with people like this. Don’t offer them a single cent. If they want a fight, we’ll give them one.”
I stared at her, dumbfounded. She was just a girl, but she had more guts than anyone I’d ever known. Then she dragged me back to the classroom and I spent the rest of the day in a haze of anxiety.
In the end, the bully received a formal reprimand and I was merely called into the office to recount what had happened. The parents did not dare ask for compensation. To thank her, I treated Gemma to a meal. She didn’t hold back and I had to spend half a month’s worth of my allowance.
From that moment on, I enjoyed being around her.
When college entrance exams rolled around, I deliberately chose a school and major just to be with her, even though it meant lowering my standards.
When she found out, she confronted me directly. “Do you like me?”
I nodded without hesitation.
She smiled. “So, instead of chasing the class beauty, you’re after me? You’ve got good taste!”
After we started dating, she began to embrace her femininity. Her hair grew long over her shoulders, softening her once-boyish appearance and making her features more striking. No one mocked her as a tomboy anymore.
Later, she got pregnant. We were both young and overwhelmed, unsure of what to do. When we went to the hospital, we discovered it was an ectopic pregnancy. We were terrified.
That’s when I met her father and learned the truth that Gemma was the heiress of a wealthy family.
In the hospital room, her father stood there with a cold expression. He was pondering how to handle the situation.
However, Gemma grabbed my hand and declared, “Dad, I’m going to marry him. If you don’t agree, I won’t have the surgery.”
Her father was stunned. “Have you thought this through?”
She clutched my hand tighter. “I’ve never been more certain.”
At that moment, she was my everything. She was my world.
By our third year of marriage, she held me tightly one night, crying. “What if I can never have a child? Will you hate me?”
Without hesitation, I replied, “I’ll love you for the rest of my life.”
For a time being, we were blissfully happy.
It was when her father fell ill and she inherited the family business and became the CEO, she started to grow distant. I chalked it up to her stepping into her father’s shoes and thought perhaps aloofness was just in her nature.
Then she reconnected with her ex-boyfriend. When I saw the warmth that she showed toward him it made me realize her coldness was not genetic, it was just reserved for me. After seven years of marriage, everything had changed.
She no longer needed me or cared about my feelings and, perhaps, I didn’t need her anymore either. We were becoming strangers and letting go of each other bit by bit.
It was just like now, as we slept in separate rooms, without one lay beside the other and things seemed better this way.
