“You’re so annoying.”
A flush of red crept up Rea's cheeks as she playfully collapsed into Ian's arms. Their faces drew closer until their lips met and their kiss deepened with every passing second.
Clara clenched her teeth and forced herself to stay silent. Her heart had already died, so why did it still hurt?
The three of them headed upstairs together.
As soon as Rea sat down on the sofa, her gaze landed on a peculiar clock. Curious, she reached out to touch it.
“This clock is so strange," she said. "Why does it only have six markers left?”
“Don’t touch it!” Clara yelled. She couldn’t hold back her panic. She lunged forward and snatched the clock into her arms.
Her reaction was so extreme that Ian instinctively frowned, his expression darkened with irritation as he scolded, "It’s just a clock. If Rea likes it, let her have it. You can always buy another one.”
However, this clock represented her remaining days in the world. Each mark was a day of her life ticking away and this was not something she could explain easily. So, all she could give was some random excuses, "It was a gift for winning a speech competition from my school. It has sentimental value for me."
“I’ve never seen you care about silly trinkets before,” Ian scoffed, his tone dripping with disdain as he frowned.
“Alright, if Clara doesn’t want me to touch it, I won’t.” She turned to Ian with a sweet smile. “Ian, do you have time to show me your room?”
Rea immediately changed the subject and changed Ian's attention.
"It's just like you spoil her rotten. It's just some stupid broken clock and isn’t worth this much fuss. I’ll take you shopping tomorrow and buy you whatever jewelry you want.”
Clara stood frozen in place, her heart sank into a pool of bitterness. In the past, she was the one Ian had spoiled, now he reserved that tenderness to someone else.
Taking a shaky breath, she pulled out the clock and turned the dial down by another mark.
It did not matter anyway. She was already dead. So, when she truly left this world, Ian wouldn’t grieve for long. Rea would be there to comfort him.
The next morning, Clara went to her university to finalize her withdrawal papers. Just as she was about to leave, she ran into her best friend, Sally Hansen.
She excitedly came over and bumped Clara's shoulder.
“So?” Sally grinned. “How’s it going with that guy? Did you two finally get together?”
“He has a girlfriend. Don’t bring him up again.” I said calmly.
Sally was dumbfounded. She asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
When she saw Clara was holding a withdrawal application form in her hand, her eyes widened. "Wait, what? Don't tell me you are dropping out of school because of this?"
Taking a deep breath, Clara forced herself to smile and said, “What are you thinking? My IELTS results came out. My family decided to send me abroad. I’m leaving in five days.”
"That's too sudden!"
Before Sally could say anything else, Clara suddenly reached forward and hugged her tightly. “Thank you for everything,” she whispered. “We’ll see each other again someday.”
When Sally heard the shaky word that Clara said, unexpectedly Sally felt tears start to gather in her eyes. Sniffing, she muttered, “Ugh, what are you saying? You make it sound like we’re never going to meet again.”
She added, “Just you wait. As soon as I finish my exams, I’m coming to find you! You’re stuck with me for life!”
For life, huh?
Clara froze for a moment before she abruptly turned away to hide her tears that were about to fall and waved dismissively. With a nonchalant manner, she said disdainfully, "Forget it! I don't want to be stuck with you."
Please, Sally… forget about me. Just enjoy your life.
After finishing the paperwork, Clara returned home. She didn’t expect to find Ian waiting in the living room with a package in his hand and a frosty expression on his face.
