“No matter how much attitude I have, it’s nothing compared to CEO Ou’s.” Helplessly, I stood up to close the door. “Please knock next time before entering.”
Swinging her wavy long hair, she lightly laughed, “OK, got it.”
As if in her office, she draped her small suit jacket on the chair in front of her desk, unbuttoning the top two buttons of her white shirt, slightly revealing her chest, rolling up her sleeves, and leaning back in the chair. Sunlight spread across her smooth face, making her look like a lazy, sexy cat.
Every time I saw her figure, I couldn’t help but compare it to my own, sighing at the unfairness of it all.
Time passed as she spoke, lit cigarette after lit cigarette. Smoke swirled around her fingertips, rising into the air and blurring her gaze.
The cigarette butts, stained with her lipstick, lay scattered in the ashtray. When the last cigarette in her pack was finished, her story concluded. She seemed to have exhausted her energy, slumping into the chair.
Although she never mentioned whose story it was, I knew she was telling her own, a narrative rooted in reality.
She picked up her cup and drank the cold instant coffee in one gulp, neither furrowing her brow nor complaining about its taste.
I watched her quietly. “What about the ending?” She had told me so much but had not revealed it.
Her long eyelashes cast shadows over her dim eyes. “There’s no ending yet, so I hope you can give this story an ending.”
A faint expectation returned to her eyes.
“You’ve met again, haven’t you?” I said with certainty.
I always felt she must have encountered that man again, prompting her to unleash the emotions she had buried for eight years, wanting to give her story an ending in reality, even if it was not perfect.
She was momentarily stunned, then laughed brightly. “Kiddo, didn’t I say you have a keen heart? Yes, we met,” her smile melting like ice, “but he didn’t recognize me.” A hint of melancholy wrapped around her voice.
I didn’t know how to comfort her. “So what do you want to do next?”
She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “What else can I do? Continue being a stranger by his side.”
