By noon, I was still at work.
I'd arranged to meet a real estate agent to look at apartments. The moment I stepped into the elevator, I ran straight into Rodney and Amelia.
Amelia's hair was loose and tangled, and Rodney was tying it back into a ponytail for her.
The instant she spotted me, Amelia planted her hands on her hips, stuck out her lower lip, and started tattling.
“Minnie, you're just in time. Look at Rodney, would you?
He pulls my hair all day long, like some little boy who never grew up. He's such a pain.”
Before I could say a word, Rodney pinched the tip of Amelia's nose, all flirty teasing.
“Careful, kiddo. Your nose grows when you tell fibs.”
Once he'd teased the color into Amelia's cheeks, the man finally deigned to glance my way.
“Minnie, it's not often we run into each other. Come grab lunch with us.”
Same building, different companies, for five years.
Rodney had never once asked me to lunch on a break.
And yet every single day, Minnie used to post on social media about every lunch Rodney had ever shared with her.
The memory surfaced, and I gave a small smile.
“You two go ahead. I've got things to do.”
He hadn't expected me to refuse. The displeasure had barely crossed his face when the elevator lurched hard and plunged into darkness.
I switched on my phone flashlight and saw Rodney with his arm around Amelia, murmuring softly to calm her.
Before long, the elevator came back to life.
When we reached the ground floor, Rodney offered to give me a ride.
Before I could answer, Amelia suddenly fainted.
At that, the man shoved past me without a second thought, hauled Amelia onto his back, and rushed her off to the hospital.
I quietly picked up my shattered phone, hailed a cab, and went to look at apartments.
That evening, Rodney personally delivered a box of dessert to my desk.
Half an hour earlier, I'd seen Amelia's latest post.
【Loving someone is like keeping flowers. Baby can't finish it all, just can't finish it】
The photo showed an entire table of French pastries.
I thanked him and left the dessert box unopened.
A flicker of confusion crossed Rodney's eyes.
“Minnie, why are you being so polite with me?”
I didn't answer him directly. I only said,
“If there's nothing else, I need to go print some documents.”
By the time I came back with my printed resignation letter, Rodney was already gone.
He'd left a sticky note.
Telling me to come find him upstairs once I'd wrapped up.
I peeled off the note and tossed it out along with the dessert.
I walked into my boss's office and handed in my resignation.
He tried to talk me out of it for a long while, but seeing that my mind was made up, he finally accepted the letter.
By procedure, once I finished out the week, I'd be free to go.
At ten that night, Rodney called me while I was out at a dinner.
A male coworker picked up by mistake.
When the phone was passed to me, Rodney's voice was terrifyingly cold.
“Minnie, where the hell are you this late at night?”
I answered him, “Out.”
“Send me your location. I'm coming to get you now.”
With that, he hung up on me.
I sent the location and stayed until the place closed for the night.
Rodney never showed.
I opened Amelia's feed, and sure enough, there it was: a post about her being sick and hooked up to an IV.
I took a cab home alone, washed up, and went to bed.
A little after three in the morning, Rodney came in worn and travel-stained and shook me awake, hard.
He said to me coldly,
“Minnie, I'm hungry. Make me a bowl of wontons.”
He didn't like shepherd's purse, and he hated wontons even more.
I knew the one who wanted them was Amelia.
I went to pry Rodney's hand off, and my fingers brushed the scar on the back of it.
The year the school auditorium caught fire, if it hadn't been for Rodney, I'd probably be a corpse by now.
Trading a life debt for one bowl of wontons. If anything, I was the one coming out ahead.
Seeing me change my clothes without a word and get ready to head out, Rodney grabbed my arm.
His voice carried a rare hint of unease.
“Actually, maybe just wait till morning to make it. It's not like……”
I cut him off and asked quietly,
“Besides the wontons, is there anything else she wants to eat?”
He was silent for a moment, then let go of my hand.
He said, “No.”
