Only Ten Years - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

She was his “fix up“-someone his family had set him up with. They’d been seeing each other for about three months, and only officially started dating a month ago. They even adopted a stray cat together.

She’d send him photos of food, songs, even a random cloud, and he’d engage with her. He’d snap a photo of dinner, making sure I wasn’t in the shot, and then send it to her.

Meanwhile, my texts with Liam were all business. Just work, work, work. It was only late at night, when we were in bed, that he’d murmur “babe” in my ear.

A term of endearment, maybe. For me, it was a treasure I’d held close for ten years. I laughed. I pulled out Liam’s pack of smokes from the drawer. I guess it had been a while, because I choked on the first puff, coughing until my eyes teared up.

My coworker, Sarah, texted me:

“Hey, did you know that Liam’s dating someone?”

Liam and I always acted professionally in front of others, often arguing over work stuff. No one would ever imagine him holding me on his lap, purring into my ear, “What am I gonna do? I’m stuck with you!”

Such a completely absurd thing for him to do. And today, Liam had added the girl to the company’s group chat.

“Hi everyone, I’m Liam’s new assistant, Ashley, nice to meet you all!” 

Her group chat tag: “Liam’s Sweet Pea.”

Some things don’t need to be spelled out. I don’t know what Liam said to explain away the phone call I took, but all I know is Ashley added everyone at the office. A systematic check.

Sarah sent me an eye–roll emoji.

“Like, work isn’t bad enough, now we’re in this whole soap opera.”

A few minutes later, Ashley posted a picture of a green tea on her Instagram.

Caption: “Don’t touch other people’s phones, it’s rude!”

Liam liked it.

My face was blank as I picked up a baseball bat, and started smashing up the apartment. It was a mess, and I smiled at the chaos.

The cleaning crew arrived while I was staring into space on the only couch that hadn’t been ruined.

Not because it was precious, but because I was just too damn tired. So tired.

“Ms. Jiang, are you okay?”

The cleaning lady asked, probably because I looked so lost. Liam’s chat was still open, but it had been two hours since he’d been online. I nodded slowly, giving her a genuine smile.

“Take all of my things out of here,” I said.