- me.
Seeing the panic in his eyes, I responded with a smile.
He stared blankly for a moment, then abruptly let go.
1:05
<
Chloe, caught off guard, fell off his back.
She angrily slapped Zachary, her tone reproachful: “What are you doing? You almost made me fall.”
As she looked up, she seemed to notice me for the first time and said in surprise: “Oh, Olivia’s here too! Um, I was just joking around with Zachary. We used to do this as a forfeit when we lost games. You don’t mind, do you, Olivia?”
“I don’t mind at all. You can play however you want. Don’t worry about me. I’ll just watch TV,‘ I said as I picked up the remote control and started browsing channels intently.
“By the way, Olivia, did you know that Zachary is amazing? He can do over a dozen push–ups while carrying me on his back!” Chloe boasted.
“Is that so? I’ve never seen it. Why don’t you two show me now? I’d love to see it,” I put down the remote and looked at them curiously.
“I’ll go help Mike in the kitchen,” Zachary suddenly stood up and walked towards the kitchen, his face expressionless.
The rest of us were left sitting in the living room, looking at each other awkwardly.
During the hotpot dinner, I sat to Zachary’s left, while Chloe sat to his right.
“Oh no, how did I pick up a piece of lamb?” Chloe said, tossing the piece of lamb into Zachary’s bowl.
They often did such boundary–crossing things in the past, but now, faced with this behavior, I didn’t feel any emotional fluctuation
at all.
Mike was a good cook. I just focused on eating, and before I knew it, I was stuffed.
After dinner, Chloe suggested playing games. I was thinking about how I hadn’t reviewed my studies yet and wanted to go home
first.
“You guys play. I’ll head back first,” I stood up.
“Let’s go together,” Zachary also stood up.
“No need. You guys play. I can take a cab by myself,” I genuinely meant it.
But somehow this seemed to upset Zachary. His face darkened, and he said in a hard tone: “Let’s go home. We’re leaving now.”
“Then, I’ll leave too. I’ll catch a ride with Zachary,” Chloe said.
When we got to the car, I directly opened the back door and got in.
As soon as I got in the car, I took out my phone and started doing practice questions.
Before the certification exam, I had set a plan for myself to study two hours every day.
Work had been too busy today, and I hadn’t studied even for a minute yet, so I had to make use of this time.
I thought I could use this half–hour car ride to do some practice questions, and then I would only need to study for another hour and a half when I got home.
After concentrating on a few questions, I realized that the atmosphere in the car today was unusually quiet.
“Zachary, I was talking to you earlier, but you were so dismissive, just replying with ‘mm and ‘oh: If you keep this up, I’m going to get angry!” Chloe broke the silence.
1:05 PM
<
*
000
Zachary: “I’m tired today, Chloe. Don’t distract me while I’m driving.”
“Hmph!” Chloe fell silent too.
When getting out of the car, she slammed the door hard to express her dissatisfaction.
After returning home, I went straight to the study.
When I came out an hour and a half later, Zachary had already gone to the guest room.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Since our falling out, we had been sleeping in separate rooms.
Zachary had always been proud, and if I didn’t make the first move to reconcile, he wouldn’t take the initiative to come over.
This was fine with me.
In the morning, when I came out of the bedroom, I found that Zachary was already up.
“Go ahead and freshen up. No need to rush. I’ll drive you later,” he said, sitting on the sofa.
“No need. I’m carpooling with a colleague.”
As I was leaving, he followed behind me.
“Just ride with me. It’s not good to trouble others.”
“It’s not trouble. I’m paying for it.”
When Zachary first bought his car, he did pick me up and drop me off for a while.
Later, he found it troublesome.
Because my workplace wasn’t entirely on the way to his office, it required a detour, and he felt it was a waste of time.
“From now on, you should just take the subway yourself. I want to sleep in a bit in the mornings,” he had told me,
With that sentence, he never drove me to work again.
He had even more excuses for not picking me up after work: working overtime, dining with colleagues, hanging out with friends- basically, he could never make it in time for when I got off work.
Later, a colleague asked in the group chat if anyone lived nearby and wanted to carpool, though they would have to pay.
It happened to be on my way, so I started carpooling with him to work every day. It was more cost–effective than taking the subway and saved time.
As for going home after work in the evening, if I took his car every day, it would cost an extra two hundred dollars a month.
I felt that there was no rush in the evening, so I chose to take the subway home to save some money.
Zachary drove me to the entrance of the apartment complex and watched as I got into my colleague’s car.
Just as I arrived at the office, I received a message from him.
1:05 PM
<
“Is it just you carpooling with that colleague of yours?”
I replied: “Yes, we’re the only two from the company who live in the same direction.”
“From now on, let me drive you. Young men and women going to work together every day… other colleagues will gossip.”
“No one’s gossiping. Besides, didn’t you say you wanted to sleep in a bit in the mornings?”
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll get up with you every day.”
“Let’s talk about it next month. I’ve already paid the other person for this month.”
There was no reply from the other end.
