Ice-Melting(3)

6

I got out of Alfredo's car and went home red-faced.

When I got home, I got a call from Ryan.

"Tomorrow's the weekend. You should be free at noon, Mia.

"I found a good restaurant. How about we get together for lunch tomorrow?" he said in a firm tone.

"I think I've made myself clear." I took a deep breath and tried to hold back my anger. "We broke up!"

"I know I was wrong, Mia."

Ryan added softly, "It was my fault. I didn't think about your feelings. But Mia, I like you, and you've liked me for so long. Are you willing to give up our relationship?"

I would give up resisting and do what he said when he used to talk to me in that tone.

But now, all that came to my mind was an absurdity.

Did he think I was stupid enough to continue to be his backup after everything I had been through just because of his sweet talk?

"I don't like you anymore. No, I hate you. I'm sick of seeing you."

I finished the sentence in one breath and added before hanging up, "Oh, and just so you know, I love spicy food, and I hate bland food the most."

I dropped the phone on the desk, threw myself on the bed, and buried my face in the covers.

I was surprised to find that what Ryan said didn't have much of an impact on me.

Soon, I couldn't even remember what he had just said to me.

It was what Alfredo said when we got back to school during the day that kept coming back to me.

I felt like we were in chemistry. No sooner had I thought of it than he called me.

When I picked up the phone, I heard him calling me in a soft voice.

"Mmm."

"Are you available now? Is it OK for you to go out?" His voice broke slightly.

I froze. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just downstairs, ready to take you out for a late-night snack. You don't have to put on makeup. Just come down."

There were many all-night restaurants not far from my place.

As soon as I got downstairs, I saw Alfredo standing not far away.

The simplest white loose T-shirt and slacks still showed his elegant temperament.

I hurried over and looked up at him.

Alfredo smiled and said, "Let's go."

He took me to McDonald's where I had a hamburger, pizza, cold Coke, and French fries.

"I haven't eaten this much in a long time," I said embarrassedly, wiping my mouth with a tissue.

Because Ryan had called me fat a few times before, I rarely ate dinner, let alone a midnight snack.

"It's okay. I'm glad to see you're full."

Alfredo smiled and pushed the spicy chicken wings toward me. "I thought you must be hungry because you didn't eat much at dinner."

Sheepishly, I picked up one of the wings, then put it down.

Alfredo smiled at my action. "Go ahead. You're not fat."

"Why do you... like me?" I seemed to have finally plucked up the courage to ask.

"Because you're a wonderful and beautiful girl."

Alfredo rested his chin on his hand and looked at me.

"Can you believe it? Actually, when I saw you at the talk, I kind of liked you, and then I looked through your resume. Unfortunately, we haven't seen each other in the last two years. I didn't expect to see you again because of our collaboration."

He paused for a moment.

"You are a very good girl with excellent work ability. Why can't I like you?"

I raised my hand and pressed my cold Coke cup against my slightly hot cheek.

There was suddenly tenderness in the way Alfredo looked at me. "So, Mia, maybe you should consider being with me, someone who likes you."

I heard the chatter of the diners and also motorcycle horns mixed with bicycle bells on the sidewalk not far away.

...

I tried to hold back my racing heart and nodded slightly, blushing. "OK."

When I got home, I found that Alfredo had changed his handle to "Taken".

I stared at the phone screen for a few seconds before I broke into a smile.

7

A few days later, Valentine's Day came.

During the day, I was working on my plan, and suddenly Olivia texted me. "Have you heard anything?"

"What?"

"A project at Ryan's company had failed, and personnel changes were inevitable. He was fired because he was the worst performer among his colleagues." Olivia sent me a smiling emoji. "It serves him right!"

I found that I was surprisingly calm when I heard the news.

I didn't know when I began to ignore anything related to Ryan.

"He's never worked hard. As I paid rent and daily expenses, he wasn't serious at work and did a bad job. It's only a matter of time before he gets fired."

At the end of last year, Ryan's company had an urgent project to work on.

That was when Samantha wanted a limited-edition bag from a certain brand for Christmas.

So Ryan called in sick from work and waited in line at a downtown mall all afternoon to get the last one.

But when he paid for it, he ran right into the boss' wife, who failed to get one.

His boss had been giving him a hard time about it.

Olivia said a few words to me and then went to work.

But what I didn't expect was to see Samantha in the underground parking lot after work.

She was talking on the phone with her back to me and did not notice me.

"Give it back? It's a gift for me. How can I return it?"

Samantha suddenly raised her voice to the person on the other end of the line. "Ryan Clark, I always thought you were a nice guy, but I didn't expect you to be so stingy! If you want it back, don't give it to me in the first place. What do I have to do with you losing your job? Don't come to me again!"

She hung up. When she turned around and saw me, her face darkened.

She said through gritted teeth, "Mia Lawson, you approached Alfredo because I liked him, didn't you? Ryan liked me, so you wanted to get back at me, didn't you?"

"Does it have anything to do with you? Here's my advice to you. You'd better return Ryan's gift as soon as possible. It's not so easy to take a simp's gift. Be careful not to get hurt," I said calmly.

...

I could tell by her expression that she didn't take my words seriously.

...

She was the prettiest girl in the department and had more than one B-plans. God knows how many gifts she received.

Ryan was just one of the B-plans.

But I didn't expect him to take out a large loan to buy her a present.

He couldn't repay the loan, and she refused to give him the bag back, so he waited downstairs in her office building and asked her to do it in front of everyone.

Embarrassed, she emptied the bag and threw the empty bag at him in a fit of rage. "Here you are!"

He took the bag and pleaded helplessly, "Don't get mad, Samantha. I'll find a way to pay back the loan first. When I get a new job, I'll buy you a better one."

Even then he wouldn't give up trying to please her.

"Get lost!" she said through gritted teeth.

I was sitting in Alfredo's car when I saw this.

I couldn't help but say, "How could I have liked this guy before?"

Alfredo smiled and stroked my head.

"Love is blind. It's a good thing you see through him."

On the day the project was delivered, Alfredo and I shared our relationship on Twitter, along with a photo taken together at my favorite restaurant.

After tweeting, I put down my phone and said hesitantly, "Actually, I approached you because..."

"Because you noticed Samantha likes me?"

Alfredo continued with a smile, "Actually, she told me about it, but I didn't think it was a big deal. Mia, I'm so glad you chose to get close to me and gave me a chance to get to know you and run after you!"

I watched him smiling at me, and finally, I plucked up the courage to lunge at him and kiss him on the cheek.

So what if I started out ill-intentionally?

Luckily, this story had the most romantic ending, even though it didn't have a romantic beginning.