I Am a Scorpio(1)

Author：Ni Hai

Mark Yeager sent my private photos to his buddy.

[Doesn't my girlfriend have a good figure?] The words were followed by two smug-looking emojis.

His buddy replied: [I prefer women with flat chests.]

I felt disgusted reading the message.

Mark shrugged indifferently. "You are all women. Why are you afraid of her seeing your photo?"

Yes, his buddy was a woman.

"Aren't you afraid that she will send the photo to others or do something with it?" I tossed the phone aside and did not want to look at it again.

In the past two years, I argued with Mark countless times because of his buddy.

I had done and said everything I could think of.

In the end, they were still as close as ever. They talked about everything and were inseparable.

I felt like an unreasonable and resentful woman.

I had had enough. It was not something a Scorpio like me would do.

This time, I did not want to put up with them anymore.

1

Mark was napping on the couch that afternoon when I came out of the bedroom with a suitcase.

"Mark, let's break up."

Mark said with his eyes closed, "Are you still angry? I won't send her your photo in the future."

I smiled and did not say a word. After taking a final look at the house I had tidied up patiently and enthusiastically for the past two years, I closed the door and walked out.

It was strange that I did not feel like crying when I bid goodbye to such a dear lover.

I even felt that the weather was glorious that day. The sun was shining brightly, and the clouds were fluffy. It seemed like the air was fresher than before.

For the time being, I stayed in a hotel near my company. I decided to look for a house while I worked.

Mark called me for the first time on the third day after I moved out. "Are you done throwing a tantrum? When are you coming back?"

I was stunned for a moment but not angry. Instead, all I could feel was exhaustion as I responded to him patiently, "We've broken up."

At that, he cursed in a low voice, "Damn it. Don't come back if you dare."

He hung up immediately after that.

I began to have doubts about myself as I looked at the empty screen.

Why did I fall in love with him that year when I turned twenty?

In what way was he a good man? I pursued him for a year and stayed with him for another two years.

2

With the help of a kind-hearted colleague, I moved into the house next to him.

He helped me save a huge amount of referral fees.

The next day after moving in, I invited my colleague to a meal to thank him. However, we bumped into Mark and his buddy, Xenia Reed, in the restaurant.

"Angeline, why are you here?" Xenia waved at me enthusiastically with a wide smile. She was wearing a white dress that accentuated her exquisite figure.

I suddenly remembered that Xenia said she preferred women with flat chests. I could not help but take a second look at her.

Her chest wasn't flat either. So why did she wear such a revealing dress if she preferred flat chests?

I asked my colleague to find a table while I walked over to greet them. "Xenia, I've already broken up with Mark."

Mark gave a snort before pulling Xenia to sit down. He said to me sarcastically, "Have you been cheating on me all this while?"

I glanced at my colleague and said, "Mark, why have you still not learned how to respect me? Don't contact me in the future."

After saying that, I went to my colleague and brought him to another restaurant.

My colleague hesitated before asking, "Did you break up with him?"

I smiled and replied, "We broke up a while ago. It feels rather good."

I did not bother about the incident until I got home that night. I chanced upon Mark's post on Instagram. There was a picture of wine bottles with the words: [In the end, I had to bear it all alone. Take it that I've wasted my youth.]

Xenia commented: [Buddy, I'll always be with you.]

I had never wanted to curse anyone so much.

I tried to send Mark a text and found that he had blacklisted me a minute ago.

I was choking on my rage. I should have deleted his account before he blacklisted me.

3

The next morning, I received many messages from our common friends, asking if I was fine.

All of them spoke up for Mark.

They said he was family-oriented, considerate, and worked hard to earn money. Some even said he was an honest man.

It sounded so ridiculous. If he was such a good man, why wouldn't he know how to keep his distance from the opposite sex?

How could he not provide his girlfriend with a sense of security?

Why did he make weird statements even after we had broken up?

Anger welled up in my chest. I did not want to bother with the messages anymore. I got dressed and went to work, spraying perfume all over my body lavishly.

The receptionist saw me and said in jest, "Angel, you look so beautiful. Is there anything worth celebrating?"

I tilted my head and smiled cheekily at her, "Yes, I have broken up. It's something we should celebrate. I'll treat all of you to coffee this afternoon."

The receptionist was shocked. Coincidentally, a delivery man was standing on one side. He grinned. "It's good that you've broken up. I've never seen such a melodramatic man. He forgot to bring his charger and made his girlfriend send him a charger using same-day delivery. Why can't he think of a way himself? It's so strange."

If he had not mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about this matter.

That day, Mark was playing games at Xenia's home when his phone was out of battery. As Xenia did not have an extra charger in her house, Mark asked me to help him. He did not want to go out to buy a charger or trouble Xenia to do so.

I found a same-day delivery man and had he sent my charger to Xenia's house.

When I got home that night, I could not find my charger in his bag. I asked him about it, and he said he had left it at Xenia's house. That way, his phone would not run out of battery the next time he was there.

I was hurt by his last few words and started kicking up a big fuss.

He said impatiently, "Don't be so petty. You can use my charger. Xenia is not as narrow-minded as you."

"If Xenia is such a good girl, why are you not with her? What are you doing with me?" I was so overwhelmed with anger and resentment that I lost all sense of reasoning.

"Xenia is my buddy. I've never treated her like a girl. What nonsense are you talking about?"

We quarreled for nearly an hour. Finally, he locked himself in the bedroom after saying in exasperation. "Think whatever you want."

Left all alone in the living room, I cried like a lunatic.

4

I found out that Mark had slept with Xenia on the tenth day we broke up.

Xenia was the one who told me about it.

She sent me an aggrieved-sounding message on WhatsApp. [Angel, Mark was in a bad mood after he quarreled with you in the restaurant that day. I had some drinks with him. I did not expect this to happen...]

Why did she not complete her sentence?

What did she mean by that?

Why did Xenia address me as Angel? She used to call me Angeline.

[Did you sleep with him before that day?] I asked.

She never replied to my question.

Holding my phone, I started having all kinds of thoughts. I felt so sick that I wanted to throw up.

Just as I was letting my thoughts run wild, I heard someone knocking on the door.

It was my colleague who lived next door.

Today, he was dressed casually and looked younger. He normally wore a suit at work.

His hair looked casually styled, and his eyes seemed bright. He had double eyelids, and his eyes curved upward slightly. His pupils were slightly amber. He would usually look at a person with a gentle gaze.

He was so tall that the top of my head only reached his shoulders. When I stood in front of him, I could see a small mole on his collarbone.

"Joel, why are you here?" I asked.

Joel Walker hesitated for a moment, and his ears slowly turned crimson. "Um... Angeline, I remember you are good at science subjects. I wonder if you can help my cousin with his Further Mathematics."

As I needed something to occupy my mind, I agreed to help without giving it much thought.

5

I followed Joel home and started tutoring his cousin in the study.

For some reason, Joel was very enthusiastic. He brought out freshly-cut fruits and several packets of snacks.

At one point, I caught him looking at me when I happened to look up after solving a problem.

After looking at each other for a second, he turned away nervously. The redness at the tip of his ears spread to his ears and neck.

I started to feel suspicious. We did not seem to know each other very well.

Before he helped me to find a house, we were only friends on Instagram who liked each other's posts.

After helping me to find a house, we had a meal together.

What was the matter with him?

Joel's chest heaved as he looked at me. "Let's have dinner together tonight. Didn't you say you wanted to have stew the day before yesterday?"

I had mentioned that casually in the group chat with my colleagues that day. I did not expect him to remember what I said.

"Okay. We can go to dinner after your cousin finishes his homework."

Joel blurted out, "He has eaten his dinner."

How could that be?

It was only three o'clock in the afternoon. How could his cousin have had his dinner?

His cousin was trying to control his laughter. He glanced at Joel before saying to me. "Angeline, I have already had my dinner."

"Let's go together. You can eat more," I smiled.

6

Dylan insisted that he had eaten and did not come with us.

After arriving at the mall, Joel and I took the sightseeing elevator to the eighth floor.

The elevator stopped when it passed by the third floor.

The door slowly opened to both sides. I saw Mark and Xenia standing and holding each other's hands. They were talking and laughing.

They looked completely in love.

Mark did not intend to enter the elevator after he noticed me, but Xenia gently pulled him, and he obeyed her.

"What a coincidence, Angel. Is this really your boyfriend?" Xenia turned to look back at me with a mischievous smile on her face.

Every movements and words from Xenia were so natural and beyond my reach.

I would not be as shameless as her in my life.

The meaning in Xenia's words was obvious. Mark had mocked me when I treated Joel to dinner last time, and now Xenia was affirming it.

I did not even bother to smile. I just ignored her.

The elevator went up steadily, and there was silence in the narrow and enclosed space. I stood in the corner and focused on Mark and Xenia's hands. I felt my blood flowing backward. My hands and feet were cold.

Rationality told me that ignoring was the cruelest revenge for a person.

But emotionally, I could not help but guess that they used their relationship as friends as a cover and hid in the corner to see my stupidity. The feelings I took good care of had been damaged. I was the tool they used for entertainment from the beginning and the end of this game.

A strong hatred rushed into my chest. I didn't even notice that my fingernails were pinched deep into my palm.

"Angeline," Joel bent down and whispered in my ear.

I suddenly came back to my senses and looked at him with a puzzled face.

He looked straight at me, and his gaze was so intense as if there was a fire in it that almost melted me. "Angeline, I have loved you for a long time. Can I pursue you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the elevator door opened. We reached the floor where Mark pressed the button.

Nonetheless, Mark seemed to have not noticed it. His back was stiff, and he was waiting for something with his head slanting aside.

Xenia pulled him angrily several times before he realized it. Mark gave me a deep look and left with Xenia when the elevator door was about to close.

7

Only Joel and I were left in the elevator.

I sneered, "You're trying to make Mark angry, aren't you?"

I thought that reason was more convincing than Joel liking me.

Joel's cheeks were slightly reddish, and there was sweat at his temples. He seemed to be very nervous and held his breath.

After a while, he seemed to have made up his mind. "No..."

As soon as Joel spoke the first word, he suddenly lost his courage and changed into a casual tone. "Angeline, do you feel relieved? What else can I help you with?"

I smiled gratefully at him. The elevator door opened in time, and I walked out of the elevator first. The topic went unresolved.

After dinner, Joel sent me home.

The night breeze blew from the corridor, and the light in the aisle was dim and ambiguous.

Joel looked down at me with clear and bright eyes. It seemed that he seldom ate stew. His mouth was red and swollen, and his white T-shirt was stained with oils, vaguely exuding the smell of the stew.

"Distant relatives are not as good as neighbors. Don't be so polite to me. Just call me when you need help. I'll be right there."

"Okay, neighbor," I smiled.

When I got home, I was bored and played with my tablet. Suddenly, a stranger added me as a friend.

I did not think much and accepted the friend request.

Soon, the person sent me a message: [What are you doing?]

[Who are you?] I asked.

Half an hour later, the person replied: [Your ex-boyfriend.]

Then, the person sent several messages.

[Where do you live now?]

[My mother knows we broke up. She wants to talk to you.]

[Actually, we can still be friends after breaking up. Don't be so heartless.]

I felt a strong disgust in my heart as I was looking at the phone screen. I went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of iced beer. I felt a little better after taking a big gulp.

Mark's mother, Eva Yeager, liked me very much, but that was because I was very good at taking care of Mark and I was financially independent and would not spend Mark's money. Eva also liked me because I was also sophisticated. During the festivals, I would send gifts and monetary gifts to the elders.

I heard Eva say to Mark before. "She's a good wife."

Then, Mark replied smugly, "If not, why would I be with her? I like her because of this."

All my disappointments accumulated from trivial matters. I did not know when I started to wait. I waited for the time when I completely lost my expectations; when my patience and love were exhausted; when I finally regained my senses; and when I did not leave regrets.

[We did not separate in a good way. I hate you. Please don't show up in my life anymore. I don't want a friend like you.]

I kept deleting the sentence and finally typed this line before I sent it to Mark. Then, I blocked him.

Whether he was being emotional late at night or had other intentions, it was not worth wasting my time.

I sincerely hope that we could disappear from each other's lives forever, without blessing, denigrating, or entangling.