Back home, I stood at the window, looking at the greenery outside.
I thought of the first time I met Dana Gilbert.
I'd gone down to buy coffee near my office, and he bumped into me by accident.
The coffee spilled all over me. He added me on WeChat and sent me money for dry cleaning, then asked me to dinner to apologize.
I told him it wasn't necessary.
But he showed up outside my office building holding flowers.
His expression was apologetic and earnest.
"Miss Ellison, I'm sorry. I bumped into you on purpose that day. I'm just a clumsy person, and I didn't know what other way I had to reach out to you properly."
Looking at that handsome face of his, my heart skipped half a beat for the first time, against my own will.
Dana didn't know I'd recognized him long before that.
He was two years ahead of me at school, one of its most talked-about figures.
I'd had a crush on him for a long time. I thought I would keep that feeling buried in my heart forever, and never imagined we'd get the chance to meet again.
Later, it felt only natural when we got together.
After that, Bella White told me, all mysterious.
"Pamela, there's a friend of mine I want you to meet."
When I saw it was Dana, I was stunned, but inside I was overjoyed.
I thought, what a coincidence, that my boyfriend turned out to be my best friend's friend.
Only now do I understand that all of it had signs from the very start.
When I went to the hospital to pick up my mother's medicine, I heard Bella's voice by the stairwell.
"Dana, Pamela already knows about us. What do we do? Will she still marry you?"
"And if she won't, then what happens to us?"
Dana's voice was low.
"She will. I'll make sure she wants to."
"Pamela's simple and naive. A little sweet-talking and she'll come around."
Bella's voice choked, but there was a thread of hope in it.
"Dana, why don't you just break up with Pamela? Let's get married. As long as I can be with you, I'm not afraid of anything."
Dana rejected the idea at once.
"No. Let me marry Pamela first. My mother won't accept her, and when the time is right I'll divorce her. Then we can be together in the open."
"Your background is far better than Pamela's. Once my mother has ground her down enough, you'll walk in the door and she won't give you any trouble."
"I can't bear to see you suffer even a little. Let Pamela take the brunt first. Once my mother's had her fill of it, your days in our family will be so much easier."
I stood frozen where I was, as if all the blood in my body were turning to ice.
So this was the truth.
Bella rose onto her toes and softly kissed Dana.
She spoke as if with a sigh.
"Dana, you really are good to me. You think of everything for my sake."
Dana held Bella close, as if he wished he could fold her into his very bones.
A long while passed before the two of them reluctantly drew apart.
Dana spoke, earnest and unyielding.
"Bella, you know I love you."
"With Pamela, it was always just an act. Everything I've done, I did for you."
I stood there and suddenly laughed out loud.
Dana finally saw me.
His face changed in an instant.
"Pamela."
I clutched the plastic bag in my hand, turned, and walked away.
