“Huh—” In the room, Ye Ye sat up and called out loudly. She had heard the entire conversation and understood it, but Dean was unaware of this, just as she was unaware that Dean understood Chinese! Her heart ached; this man was someone else’s husband.
Dean walked in quickly, looked at Ye Ye, sat down, and pulled her into his arms: “Did I wake you up?”
“Yes, I heard you on the phone!” Ye Ye glared at him angrily.
Dean’s heart skipped a beat; thankfully, he was speaking French, which Ye Ye shouldn’t understand. He then smiled at Ye Ye and said, “It’s an important client meeting scheduled for lunch; I can’t eat with you…”
Ye Ye sniffed; in fact, she heard everything, he was going back to see his wife. She pushed Dean away, lying back in bed forlornly, “Oh, you go, I want to sleep a bit more!” Covering herself with the blanket, her eyes suddenly felt a bit sore…
“Ye Ye—alright then, you sleep a while, the room key is on the table outside, I’ll come back to be with you tonight. If you miss me, call me…”
“Mm—” Ye Ye replied sullenly from under the covers.
Dean got up, put on his clothes, planted a kiss on Ye Ye’s forehead, and left the room.
[From Paris to Rome: Ten, Their Thoughts 1]
After Dean left, Ye Ye sat up, staring blankly at the empty presidential suite. Without Dean, the room seemed terrifyingly large… She suddenly realized she had developed a deep attachment to a married man she had known for less than 24 hours. She recalled the dinner last night, the passion in the bar, their seven-day pact, and his phone conversation in French earlier in the living room. She remembered him lying to her about meeting a client when he was actually going home to see his wife…
Was she really going to ruin someone else’s marriage because of her loneliness from a breakup and her rebellious thoughts? Was this petulance or willfulness? Should she really wait for him to come back tonight? She could only stay in Italy for about four months; was she willing to dive into a possibly condemned, twisted relationship just to feel the joy of love for those four months? Would she hurt another woman for her own happiness?
