Arriving at the seaside restaurant Dashawn had reserved in advance, after ordering our meal, I slowly asked, "Why did you do that just now?"
Dashawn paused, lowered his head without saying a word, looking much like a puppy waiting to be scolded for misbehaving.
"So that's why you hugged me so tightly after coming out from the cocktail party. Because you knew Edgar was watching from the floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs."
Dashawn nodded lightly and quickly explained, "I just wanted to let him know that you belong to me."
"These past few days, he's been investigating who your boyfriend is. I knew he still harbored feelings for you, so I wanted him to give up completely."
Seeing my serious expression, Dashawn's heart panicked for the first time.
All strategies and business tactics were forgotten.
He simply looked at me with a pale face, worried that I might come to dislike him because of this.
I sighed, sat beside him, cupped his face, and kissed him on the lips. "Don't do it again."
Dashawn was dazed for a while before he reacted, hugging me tightly with excitement.
I knew Dashawn acted this way because he lacked security.
I understood this feeling all too well.
So I could understand everything he did, and I was even a little secretly happy deep down.
Because these were all proofs of his love for me.
And I seemed to have fallen in love with him slowly, so I wanted to give him a sense of security.
I reached out to hug Dashawn back and whispered softly into his ear, "Dashawn, I like you too."
Dashawn looked at me in surprise. "What did you say?"
I smiled and repeated it a second, third, and fourth time in his ear…
As long as he wanted to hear it, I would say it for him.
Finally, my voice faded away as he kissed me on the lips.
In that instant, fireworks burst into the sky.
"Sweetie, happy birthday."
Sometime during all this, a ruby necklace was placed around my neck.
Dashawn told me it was a family heirloom of the his family, passed down only to the daughter-in-law.
I didn't refuse and accepted it happily.
That night, Dashawn lit up the entire city with fireworks for me.
The next morning, Dashawn dropped me off at home and saw Edgar downstairs.
He seemed to have waited all night, with cigarette butts scattered around his feet.
Dashawn couldn't help but comment, "Damn, this guy doesn't play fair, using such a pitiful ploy."
Then he rolled down the car window, "Sir, protecting the environment is everyone's responsibility. This won't work, my girlfriend doesn't inhale secondhand smoke, and she doesn't use secondhand people either."
Edgar ignored Dashawn and walked straight toward me.
"Sweetie, I'd like to talk to you alone."
After thinking it over, I agreed.
Dashawn stood nearby, waiting for us.
"Say what you need to say. My boyfriend is waiting for me."
Edgar took out a gift box and handed it to me. "This is your birthday present."
I didn't accept it.
He opened it himself.
"Do you remember? In college, I asked you to make a gold bracelet and pretend it was from me to give to the campus beauty. "Your hands were full of wounds back then."
"This time, I made one myself and realized how hard you must have worked back then."
Edgar took the gold bracelet out of the box.
"Can I put it on you?"
I turned my hand away. "No, thank you. I don't need it."
"The scars are gone, and so is the Maren from back then. Edgar, I've moved on, and I hope you can too."
Edgar's hand trembled as he looked at me in disbelief. Edgar's hand trembled. "No, Maren, I've broken up. During the time you weren't with me, I've been thinking about you."
"Until I saw you kissing Dashawn, I was so jealous that I wanted to crash my car and take Dashawn with me. That's when I realized that I've been in love with you all along."
"In the past, I didn't see my own feelings clearly. Will you come back? Let's start over. This time, I'll love you properly."
I rejected him without hesitation. "Impossible. I don't love you anymore. I love Dashawn now."
Edgar suddenly grabbed my shoulders. "How is that possible? You loved me so much. How could you fall in love with someone else so quickly?"
"Maren, you must be lying to me, right?"
Before I could struggle, I was pulled into a familiar embrace.
Dashawn punched Edgar in the face hard, knocking him to the ground.
