Tiffany paused at the door, hesitated, then
turned back and smiled. “Are you lonely? We
can go shopping more, get more clothes, a
new watch.” She turned to the door again. “I’ll
be back soon, honey.” I watched the door
close and lowered my head. I didn’t know how.
I felt. We had moved from being in college to
our working years. Tiffany had called me
<
“babe” and now, she had moved to “honey.” I
did have different feelings for her. I looked at
the credit card on the coffee table, I left it
there.
A few days later, Tiffany returned. The photo
of me was gone from her Instagram. Her
friend called to ask why she had removed it.
Tiffany didn’t care, “Oh, it was just a guy on
the street. Thought he looked good so I took
a picture of him: Deleted it so that you
wouldn’t get the wrong idea.”
That time, I was holding her, and she was
snuggling close to me. When she finished the
call she had kissed my ear, “You are so well-
behaved, honey.” She thought for a second
and then put my photo back on her
Instagram, only it was for her eyes only.
Tiffany brushed against my chest, “My honey
<
is so handsome, I don’t want others to see
him.”
Looking at her face, I just smiled, no emotion.
Just like the credit card sitting there in the
drawer.
Back then, I had never complained. But now
Tiffany was so full of resentment. “Tao,
answer me! Am I your substitute?”
I sighed, I needed to lay it all out there, “What
about me, Tiffany? What about the last six
years? I never complained once. You’re acting
like you can’t handle this after only a few
days.”
Tiffany was breathing heavily. I sighed again,
and hung up. I blocked her from my phone.
That was it, a goodbye to the past six years.
く
8.
Sarah and I got our marriage license, had our
ceremony. We went all out, I gave Sarah the
wedding of her dreams. I wasn’t alone
anymore, I had a family, a home. But at the
wedding, Mike told me Tiffany had booked a
last minute flight and was coming back. I
didn’t really believe him, since her and Chad
were finally together. I was sure she wouldn’t
be that crazy to come back and leave Chad
hanging.
But I was so wrong. I thought of Tiffany as
this gorgeous, sophisticated girl, full of class.
But here she was, pale as a ghost, holding a
jewelry box, just staring at Sarah and I. Or
more like, she was staring at Sarah.
I had to do something. Tiffany just beckoned
<
me with a finger. Sarah had just gone to greet
some of our friends, I didn’t want Tiffany to
cause trouble. I went to her and said softly,
“Please, don’t make a scene, this wedding is
really important to me. Don’t mess it up.”
Tiffany’s face darkened. I was pleading, but
somehow I had made her mad. She looked at
Sarah and back at me, “Tao, which one of us
is more like a substitute?” She called me
“honey” like we were still together. She had
only called me that when she was in a good
mood, and her good moods were always
because of Chad. I would have rather her call
me Tao.