Ethan paused, “I don’t know why, I just felt
like I needed to come here. You said your
family wanted you to get married, I…”
“What about you? Do you want to marry me?
Ethan, it’s impossible.”
The one who never looked back, was actually
- me.
く
I’ve always been stubborn.
Once I decide on something, I will do it.
Letting someone go is the same.
He looked at me, his eyes starting to turn red.
After a long time, he shrugged and smiled,
and said, “Mia, I’m hungry, and I don’t have
any money.”
I bought him a bowl of noodles.
Eighteen dollars, no meat, a lot of vegetables.
It was steamy, and we sat across from each
other, our faces blurry.
He ate slowly, but he finished it.
く
After, he went back to his normal self, took a
tissue and wiped his mouth, and said, “This is
the worst noodles I’ve ever had.”
After that, I went back to the city.
Ethan and I, never met again.
We’re from different worlds. It was rare to
even hear from him.
The first year after graduation, I dated again.
It was a director from a partner company. He
was calm, and nice, but we were always
lukewarm. We broke up after a month.
The second spring, it was raining.
く
I
I was leaving the company and ran into Luke.
He was still holding his suitcase in his left
hand, standing in front of me, “Long time no
see.”
That fall, we started dating.
He did everything I wanted to do with me.
His friends called me their sister–in–law, and
they always looked after me.
We never talked about breaking up.
We went to tie a wish on a tree, and wrote
both of our names on a tag.
After we finished, he carefully wrote, [May we
never forget each other.]
<
He held my hand as we walked back.
He smiled, “This is great.”
I said, “Yeah.”
I suddenly remembered one year.
I knelt down to make wishes, and had so
many wishes, that I counted them one by one,
making sure not to miss one.
He was just standing there looking at me. In
the end, he helped me up, and said casually,
“If you want something, just ask me, it’s
faster.”
He never believed in these things.
But after we left the temple, far away from the incense, he sighed and said something.
I remembered that line for years. He said, meeting me was his greatest blessing.
