"Four years, you're twenty-six now. You should be more mature than before."
"We're adults. I'm not obligated to soothe your emotions, do you understand? Slowly, I pulled my wrist from his hand:"
"You say you can't forget me, that you're suffering so much... these are your emotions, and you need to deal with them yourself."
"Thaddeus, we have nothing between us anymore. We're not a couple anymore, we can even be called enemies. I won't care about your attitude or your feelings."
"To put it bluntly, if you're sick or die, it has nothing to do with me. Do you understand?"
Trapped in his embrace, my back pressed against the cold car window, I struggled to break free. "Let me go..."
"There are some methods I don't want to use on you."
He suddenly spoke, "Irene, don't force me."
How am I forcing him?
What have I done to force him?
I lost my parents. I left my hometown and started over. I compromised and gave up. I'm the one who wants to leave, to get away, but in the end, I'm the one forcing him?
I stared coldly at him: "Right now, you're like a cockroach that refuses to die. You're disgusting, do you know that?"
"I know you hate me..."
"No... you don't know."
I interrupted his words: "You have no idea how much I hate you."
"Four years... I've finally managed to have a stable life again, and now you're here to destroy it all... Are you cursed to ruin my life?"
"Irene—"
"Shut up!"
I cursed at him fiercely: "Get out! I never want to see you again."
"Don't think you can use my uncles to control me. I can forget the enemies who killed my parents, what do they even count as?"
"Thanks to your father, I have nothing left. I really want to see what methods you think you have to use against me."
I straightened up and told him: "You come, I'm waiting."
---
The wind blew fiercely, tousling Thaddeus's scarf around his neck.
He calmly said, "You have a friend, named Xavier, right?"
"Irene, you've been in this circle, so you should understand. There are always some underhanded ways to handle certain matters."
"I won't touch you, but I really can't stand him... Do you understand?"
I slapped him in disbelief. "Do you have no shame? He's just an innocent person who helped me..."
"That Christmas four years ago, when he held your hand to release the balloons, you were very happy, weren't you?" His voice was flat. "Irene, at that time, I was standing behind you."
"You cried in front of him... In that moment, I thought, you had only known him for a few months, and yet you could expose your vulnerability to him. But with me, you couldn't even bother to say a word."
"I won't accept that."
He lifted his hand, caressing my cheek. "In the future, I will accompany you on every Christmas. I will help you release many balloons... and make you forget about him."
"In the future, it will only be me, only me, to absorb your emotions and be with you through all of life."
I wanted to hit him again, but he tightly held my wrist.
He repeated, "Irene, don't force me."
