I didn't really understand why he was taking me to the supermarket, but I didn't feel like arguing with him.
He pushed the cart ahead, and I followed silently, my gaze brushing past a doll set, before quickly averting it.
Arthur noticed.
The cart stopped, and he bent down to pick up the set, asking, "Do you want to play with this?"
I shook my head.
"Why look at it if you don't want it?"
He put the pink set into the cart.
I quickly stopped him, helplessly saying, "I was just reminded of some unpleasant memories."
"What unpleasant memories?"
"...Do you really want me to tell you?"
Arthur stood still, giving me a terse command: "Tell me."
I kicked him lightly.
Looking at the set he'd placed in the cart, I still spoke irritably:
"There was one time when my mom promised me that if I ranked all A in my exams, I could get a gift. I worked so hard to get there, and I chose this. But my mom scolded me for a long time in the supermarket."
"She yelled in front of all the sales staff, saying I didn't know how to care for my parents, that I was wasting money... After that, whenever I saw this, I remembered the scene where my mom scolded me."
And then there was me, crying, lost, left in the supermarket, with the intercom calling for a long time and no one came for me.
It wasn't until the store was about to close that my mom appeared, her face dark, and she took me away.
On the way home, she told me: "If you ever waste money and make me angry again, I'll never want you anymore..."
I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to push those memories out of my mind. I poked Arthur's shoulder and said, "Put the set back."
He looked at me deeply before calling over a sales assistant. Pointing to the entire shelf of dolls, he said:
"I'll take all of these pink sets. Can you deliver them to my place?"
"Of course! No problem!" The sales assistant agreed immediately.
She was happy—she'd get a commission.
Arthur then proceeded to add four pink boxes into the cart.
"What are you doing?!" I glared at him.
"Buying things, can't you see?"
"You—You!" I was at a loss for words.
The sales assistants overheard and gathered around, their eyes on Arthur, looking at him like he was crazy. He smiled, his voice louder as he asked me:
"What else do you like? I can help you clear out the whole shelf."
At that moment, every sales assistant's gaze turned to me, as though they were looking at a cash cow. I couldn't help but pinch him, irritated, and snapped:
"What exactly are you doing?!"
"Feeling better now?" he suddenly asked me.
"From now on, when you see these, you won't just think of your mother, but also of me, the sucker who bought out the whole shelf, right?"
"Memories can't be changed, but they can be covered. Even if most of it is your mother, as long as a little bit of it is me, it won't be so painful, will it?"
The words I had wanted to ask got stuck in my throat.
So, this was his purpose... "Why are you doing all of this?!" I asked, grabbing my fingers, feeling lost.
Arthur ignored me.
He raised his hand, poked the tip of my nose, and said:
"If you don't leave now, the sales assistants will see right through you."
I instantly abandoned my confusion:
"It's all because of you!"
"Exactly!"
He smiled and looked at me gently.
"It's all because of me. So, go ahead and pick whatever you like, I'll cover it today."
---
Other guys might clear out luxury stores when chasing after a girl, but Arthur? He took me to clear out the supermarket.
Toys, children's books, phone watches, potato chips... when he pointed to the shelf for the sixth time and said, "Wrap it all up," I finally begged him.
"Stop buying."
I tugged at his sleeve: "Hey, I'm begging you, if you buy any more, we won't even have space at home."
"Not calling me 'The third' anymore?"...This guy really held grudges.
"I'm sorry."
I quickly apologized: "Let's go, Arthur."
I was afraid that if we didn't leave soon, the sales assistants' stares would pierce me. He smiled and asked: "Where do you want to go next?"
I want to go home and sleep.
He poked my forehead:
"The Ferris wheel looks beautiful at night. Want to go?"
"I..."
"You don't want to go? Then we'll keep buying, I've got money."
---
I was fuming as Arthur led me to the Ferris wheel.
He bought me a bucket of popcorn, and like a real couple, held my cold hand and mumbled to himself:
"Next time, remember to wear gloves."
As we boarded the Ferris wheel, he asked:
"Have you ever been on a Ferris wheel before?"
"I have."
I said, "With my ex-boyfriend. We took one that turned for exactly 419 seconds, and after that, we broke up."
"Who brought it up?"
"He did."
"Why?"
"He said I didn't love him enough." I shrugged:
"You men are so troublesome. Even when I did my best—bringing him breakfast, attending class with him... he still thought I didn't love him enough."
Arthur smiled, but his emotions were hard to read. He looked out the window.
The Ferris wheel started moving.
He asked:"Have you ever thought about your future?" I shook my head.
"So you're going to stay stuck in those memories forever, never moving forward?"
"I've been moving forward."
I said, "I just don't want to think too much about it. I take it step by step."
"Is that so?"
The smile faded slightly from his face.
The Ferris wheel was very quiet, so quiet that I could hear the ropes creaking above us. I looked at the dazzling nightscape outside the window and suddenly said:
"If I have a child, I'd never raise her to be like me."
I wouldn't let her think of sadness when she saw anything.
Arthur looked at me quietly for a long time: "Do you want to hear the truth?"
"What truth?"
"About how I feel about your current state." He repeated, "Do you want to hear the truth?"
I nodded.
"You have no connection to this world."
"You have a job, but you're not invested in it; you have friends, but you're not close; you have parents, but they might as well not be there. The only connection you have to this world is that you're standing on this land... In other words, even if you left one day, there wouldn't be any regret."
He looked at me seriously and told me:
"Lily, you have no attachments in this world."
No attachments, so it would be easy to leave... Wanting to die?
"Do you still think I want to die?"
I furrowed my brow: "Arthur, what exactly are you..."
"Do you want to create an attachment for yourself?" He suddenly asked me:
"How about trying, having a child with me?"
