Seven Ear Piercings(1)

Author: Ni Hai

I had a secret relationship with my stepmother's son.

When we broke up, it became particularly unpleasant.

One day, he got drunk and intercepted me in the bathroom. He said, "I'm a masochist. We'll torment each other until our hair turns grey. What can you do to me?"

1

It was almost New Year. I delayed things for as long as I could, but in the end, under my father's alternating intimidation and bribery, I bought a plane ticket home.

On the day I got home, Jeremy came to pick me up.

It was the first time we met after breaking up.

After half a year, he had changed a great deal. He only wore light-colored clothes in the past, but now, he was dressed in a tailored black suit. He had a slender waist and long legs. Coupled with his profound outline and indifferent expression, he looked cold and unapproachable.

"Brother..." I called him awkwardly.

He glanced at me coldly and said, "Call me by my name. I don't want to be your brother."

If we broke up, couldn't we be siblings again?

I didn't respond and instead followed him home in silence.

Sitting at the same table and waiting for dinner to begin, Jeremy suddenly reached out to brush aside the hair by my ear. He looked at the row of shiny earrings and chuckled.

"Seven ear piercings. You're really not afraid of pain."

I pursed my lips, and tears welled up in my eyes. I tried to cover it up and took a sip of my drink, but I choked. I burst into tears and coughed non-stop.

It was really retribution.

Jeremy stared intensely at me quietly the whole time. His eyes were as deep as a lake.

There was nowhere to hide my mess.

I didn't know if I was too sensitive, but I saw contempt in his eyes.

The food at the reunion dinner tasted like ashes in my throat.

I had a feeling that something was wrong.

It wasn't until that night when Jeremy knocked on my door and didn't hide the gloominess in his eyes that I realized the problem. He also hated me. He was overly aggressive with me.

"Madison, are you having a hard time?" he asked.

"You're mistaken. I've never been happier, and my boyfriend is very good to me," I replied.

"You have a boyfriend again." Jeremy's eyes darkened. He paused for a moment and said, "Who is it? Bring him back sometime. I'll check him out for you. You've always had bad taste and can't distinguish good from bad."

"If I bring him back, he'll meet our parents. Are you so desperate to see me get married and move out of this house?"

After staring at each other for a long time, Jeremy stepped back. "Well, we can meet somewhere else. When can you arrange it?"

"My boyfriend is very busy. I'll let you know after I discuss it with him."

My tone was extremely arrogant. In front of Jeremy, I was used to acting fearlessly.

But he wouldn't spoil me as much as before. He snorted and said coldly, "Well, my ex-girlfriend, I'd like to see how I'm inferior to your current boyfriend."

2

When I was very young, I stubbornly came to a conclusion.

When a mother departed, so would a family.

As such, when I was 12, I didn't feel disgusted at all when Jeremy and his mother showed up. I was even glad the day had come so early, and I didn't have to worry anymore.

Even if it weren't them, there would be others.

One day, my father would become someone else's husband and someone else's father.

I didn't know if I was too precocious or just too passive to figure it out so early.

Anyway, I got it.

I also knew Jeremy was good-looking. If I built a good relationship with him, not only would I look good, but my girlfriends infatuated with him would also follow me wholeheartedly.

Jeremy was three years older than me. He was silent, reserved, and poor with words.

After becoming my brother, he never seemed happy.

When I was in my teens, my rebellious instincts became particularly violent, and I stirred up trouble from time to time.

Every day, I either went to help my best friend teach a lesson to her rival in love or to support some good friend.

Jeremy was afraid someone would take advantage of me, so he always went with me.

When my side couldn't beat our rivals, he would join us. He would stay by the side and do his homework if we could.

Once, after a fight, I went home with Jeremy with a bloody nose and a swollen face. My dad was a little tipsy after drinking too much. When he saw me in this state, his first thought was Jeremy had beaten me up.

However, he didn't know Jeremy was also injured, but the wounds were all under his clothes.

That day, my dad hit him very hard to avenge me.

Not only wasn't Jeremy angry, but he also comforted me, saying, "Your father will always be your father. You'll always be the person he loves the most."

Yes, when my father misread the situation, I came up with the idea on the spur of the moment. I deliberately didn't help Jeremy explain because I wanted to test what my father would do.

But I didn't expect Jeremy would see through my despicable plan.

I was shocked and ashamed. I rolled my eyes at him and cursed him for stealing my father. "Your father is dead, so you want to take mine. Now you know that you've lost, right? In this family, you'll always be an outsider."

He promptly turned around and ignored me.

It took me a long time to realize how vicious I was.

Since then, my feelings for Jeremy had undergone a subtle change.

In the past, no matter how good he was to me, I felt indifferent.

Because my dad was always good to his mom, I felt his kindness to me was just to repay my dad's kindness. He wasn't worthy of my gratitude.

But I forgot that if my father was very kind to his mother, it meant I could be excluded from their family of three at any time.

When I was 20 years old, I had a hasty relationship in college. In just 10 days when we were together, the boy cuckolded me three times.

It was incredible.

In the middle of the night, I couldn't bear the grief and indignation in my heart. I called Jeremy and told him about it. In the end, I cursed and fell asleep.

When I awoke again, my roommate told me my brother was waiting for me downstairs.

As soon as I ran out of the dormitory building, I saw the slender figure in the dazzling sunlight.

When I wanted to take his arm, he took advantage of his height, 5 feet 11 inches, and put his hand against my forehead to prevent me from approaching.

He asked, "What makes you think you can have a boyfriend?"

I said, "Everyone in my dorm has one, so I want one too."

He took a deep breath and said, "If you want one, tell me."

"What's the point of that ?"

Before I could say that, he held me tightly in his arms.

Something suddenly made sense. I listened to my beating heart, and my face became hotter.

At that time, I was so thickheaded that I didn't realize Jeremy also liked me. I just knew I wanted to do naughty things to him.

It was just a hug, but I already imagined getting married and having children with him.

How could a young and energetic girl control such illicit thoughts?

Afterward, I comforted myself in my mind.

It was only after three months of good mornings and good nights that Jeremy finally made the move and acknowledged our relationship.

"We can't let our parents discover it, but your colleagues and friends must know I'm your girlfriend."

That day, I gave him serious instructions.

In the two years that I had been with him, he had been very considerate of me. He listened to everything I said and agreed with me on everything.

He had a good sense of ritual and liked to share things with me. He had done an excellent job on the details that girls cared about.

But I just felt restless, feeling I couldn't go on because of a particular possibility in the future.

One day, I ran into Jeremy's rich and pretty female colleague, confessing her love for him.

Only then did I surrender.

That evening, I walked barefoot by the river and decided to forget. "It's over, Madison. Don't ruin his expectations for love. A narrow-minded, ugly, and irritable girl like you isn't suitable for him. Don't forget that you're also his sister in name. You have no future with him."

I didn't understand what I was thinking. Why didn't I break up with him properly? Why did I slander our relationship, tear apart the beautiful memory, and say vicious and unpleasant words to hurt him?

"Madison, please don't leave me. I can quit this job and find another one. In this way, I won't meet that girl again."

The hysterical look on Jeremy's face made me feel so ashamed that I couldn't make a sound.

I'm such an annoying person.

I thought desperately, but I refused to show any weakness on my face.

After we broke up, I gave myself a row of ear piercings.

It hurt a lot. After a while, the piercings were infected and became more painful.

However, I felt that pain was a way to heal my wounds.

Sometimes, I would even deliberately look for pain so I wouldn't be lonely or miss him.

Jeremy didn't know any of that.

"Seven ear piercings. Aren't you afraid of pain?"

Jeremy, am I really unafraid of pain?

3

I didn't sleep well on the first night I got home. I dreamed of many chaotic and painful scenes.

I seemed to be very clear-headed, but I couldn't wake up no matter how hard I struggled.

I slept for over 10 hours, but I still felt exhausted.

My stepmother asked me if I wasn't feeling well.

I nodded. "I feel nauseous."

As soon as I said that, Jeremy shot me a sharp look.

"Throw up?" He gritted his teeth and repeated those words. He strode toward me with a severe expression, as if he wanted to eat me alive. "Any other symptoms?"

My stomach churned. I didn't have time to answer and rushed into the bathroom.

When I emerged, Jeremy was gone.

My stepmother gave me a glass of warm water and tentatively asked, "Madison, did you have an argument with Jeremy?"

"I don't think so," I replied.

More than 10 minutes later, Jeremy ran in, panting heavily. He dragged me to his room while his mother watched and closed the door behind him.

My heart was beating fast, and I growled, "Are you crazy?"

Jeremy stuffed something into my arms and said in an irrefutable tone, "Do the test."

I took a closer look and found it to be a pregnancy test kit. I was both angry and amused.

Did he think I was pregnant?

Why would he care about that?

Out of expectation, I tried to test him. "Why bother using it? If I'm pregnant, I'll just have the baby."

"Madison, how did you become like this?" Jeremy sized me up carefully, his eyes full of disappointment.

I had known him for many years and was acquainted with all his expressions, but I had never seen him look at anyone in such a helpless and disappointed fashion.

This uniqueness made me feel a little satisfied, but it also made me feel humble.

The sound of a key turning the lock came from outside the door. The next moment, the door was opened.

"Are you pregnant?" My dad rushed in with a red face, followed by my stepmother, looking worried.

Subconsciously, I wanted to hide the pregnancy test kit in my hand, but in my father's eyes, it was more like an admission of guilt.

He glared at me and raised his hand high. Just as he was about to hit me, Jeremy grabbed his wrist.

"I won't let you hit her."

Those words made my father and stepmother gasp.

"Jeremy! How can you talk to your father like that?" My stepmother looked at him in shock.

Jeremy let go of my father's hand and stood in front of me silently and firmly.

"Don't be angry. If anything happens, the whole family will gossip about it. Madison, please, talk to your father. Calm him down." My stepmother tried to soothe things over in a soft voice.

The whole family?

From the looks of it, they looked like a family of three, while I was just an antagonist who ruined their harmonious atmosphere.

"If Madison was half as sensible as Jeremy, I wouldn't have to worry so much. I had to beg her to come back and spend New Year's Eve with us. What did I do to deserve this? After serving her mother for most of my life, I have to try to please her now. I'm so fed up."

I accidentally heard that when I passed by the study last night, and those words rang in my ears again.

I smiled and threw away the pregnancy test kit in my hand. I stood behind Jeremy and said, "I'm not pregnant. I won't embarrass you. Believe it or not."

After that, I walked out without looking back. I didn't want to see any of their faces again.

"Madison, what kind of attitude is that?" My dad is shouting behind me, "What do you mean you won't embarrass me? If you get pregnant before marriage, don't bother coming back home!"

My father seemed to pay special attention to his masculinity in front of my stepmother. He wouldn't allow his pride as the head of the family to be undermined.

As a child, I didn't understand this and was beaten countless times.

But now, I wasn't afraid anymore.

When I made sure someone wasn't worth my attention, I stopped caring about the result.