Tenant's Secret Love

Chapter 167: Be good

In the night, Brittany and I almost stopped communicating. It wasn't until I had the urge to smoke again that I said to her, "Lend me a light."

"Don't smoke,"

I didn't say anything, looked up at the sky, and Brittany looked at the sky with me, somewhat puzzled. I took the opportunity to take the lighter from her hand, calmly lit the cigarette, smoked leisurely, and then spat out the messy emotions in my heart along with the smoke.

Brittany didn't argue with me either. She crossed her arms around her knees and asked me after a long while, "Lucas, do you remember how we met?"

"I remember..." I said, taking another heavy drag on my cigarette. Then the image of that first meeting also appeared in my mind, but now that I recalled it, it only seemed like a long-ago dream.

Brittany, however, smiled and said to me, "It seems like it happened just yesterday."

I looked at Brittany in surprise. Why did the two people who had experienced love together have such different perceptions of time? To clear up this confusion, I asked Brittany, 'When we were together, what was the most memorable thing for you?"

Without thinking, Brittany replied, 'When we held the campus Top Ten Singers competition, you played guitar for me...and you?"

"Every weekend, your father picked you up in his Mercedes at the school gate." My answer came just as quickly, as if I had been feeling uncomfortable since that time. But when I was at school, I never magnified those negative emotions. I just felt that as long as we were happy together, that was all that mattered. But now that I think about it, the differences between those times and Brittany's are precisely what have left the deepest impression on me. Of course there are also beautiful memories, but to me at this moment, they are just a distant dream!

Brittany was silent in response to my words, and it was a long time before she said to me, "It's late, I should go back."

"Well, drive carefully."

"I'm not driving, I live close by now," Brittany said, and she had already started walking up the steps towards the riverbank.

I looked at her back, and I always felt like there was something I wanted to say, but I didn't know what it was, and I felt a little annoyed.

At this time, Brittany stopped again and turned back to me and said, "Lucas, if the bar is busy on New Year's Eve, call me, I'll help...the phone number hasn't changed!"

I just looked at her, and the scene of asking for her phone number when we first met came to mind. Even though she said the number hadn't changed, it wasn't the number I could recite from memory anymore.

...

When I got home, I took a shower in the cold, and then, as usual, I lay down on the bed and smoked, thinking about how to do a good job of warm marketing at the bar on New Year's Eve. The more I thought about it, the more my thoughts wandered, and I became excited. Then I lost sleep, until 4 o'clock in the morning.

I was lying in bed, bored out of my mind, so I opened WeChat and browsed through the conversation history between myself and Renee, because for me this was a way to pass the time.

Suddenly I noticed that Renee's WeChat profile picture had been changed to the guitar I had given her. She had also updated her personal status, which included several photos of the guitar and the following text: "Thank you, I love it!"

I smiled, because it seemed that she really liked it, as that was the only update in her WeChat.

Looking back at our hundreds of pages of conversation, I realized that we had really known each other for a long time, but the first time we met seemed like it was only yesterday.

I gradually grew a little tired, and the phone slipped from my hands, but it vibrated again. In the middle of the night, I received a WeChat message, which immediately made me lose all sleep, because it was from Renee.

"Lucas, I'm here!"

"You're here!"

Renee replied with a shocked expression: "It's almost dawn in China, aren't you asleep yet?"

"You know it's dawn, and you still sent me a message! Are you doing it on purpose to disturb me?"

"What if it's not on purpose? I just got off the plane."

"So you wanted to let me know you were safe as soon as possible?"

"So you weren't worried about me?"

"What's there to worry about? After all, planes are supposedly the safest mode of transport in the world... Welcome home, American!"

Although I said I wasn't worried, Renee didn't seem angry and sent back a smiling emoticon: "Get up and have a glass of milk, and go to sleep quickly."

My mood suddenly changed subtly. At that moment, the care she gave me was just like that of a girlfriend. I couldn't help but wonder: when she returns from the United States, will we really start a relationship?

I really got up quickly, made a cup of milk with warm water, drank it all in one go, and then sent a message to Renee: "I'm done!"

"Take a picture and send it to me."

I didn't feel like it was a bother at all, so I took a picture of the empty cup and sent it to her.

Renee quickly replied with a satisfied expression: "Good boy, go to sleep quickly!"

"You're the good boy!"

"You're still the good boy."

"I'm not as good as you."

"You're the best!"

And so we began this boring conversation from more than 10,000 kilometers away...

Wait, is it boring?

No, at least in my heart, I long for her to be a good girl, so that I don't have to worry too much. And her? I hope she wants the same for me.

...

I woke up the next day at noon. After a quick lunch, I received a text message from CC. She told me that she was already with Robben and Violetta. I was very envious. After all, they were all with someone or accompanying someone else, while I had to spend New Year's Eve alone in Suzhou.

Throughout the afternoon, I remained bored at home, making plans for New Year's Eve activities, until Brittany called.

I answered the phone with some surprise: "Hello, is there something wrong?"

"If you're free now, can you go with me to buy some office equipment for the company?"

I didn't respond immediately, just feeling that something seemed a bit off.

Brittany added, "You should be free during the day, right? If you help me during the day, I'll go to the bar to help you in the evening, wouldn't that be more efficient?"

I thought about it for a while, and didn't refuse Brittany, because since CC left, the bar was in urgent need of someone to sing. If Brittany was willing, she could completely fill CC's vacancy. In this way, it really seemed like a mutually beneficial situation.

...

Shortly after the call ended, I met Brittany in a local square, and then divided up the work. I went to the computer market to buy some office equipment such as computers and projectors, while Brittany went to the furniture market to buy office tables and chairs.

When we met again, it was already dusk. We chose a fast food restaurant by the road and had a light meal, and then I shared the results of my afternoon shopping with her.

After listening to my story, Brittany said to me with a relaxed expression on her face, "Lucas, thank you. With your help, this is much more efficient. It's really tiring to run all over Suzhou these days!"

I laughed and said, "Don't thank me. We have an exchange. You have to perform at the bar tonight."

"That's easy... Oh, and you have to accompany me on guitar tonight..."

Brittany's words didn't finish, and I was dumbfounded. The guitar she gave me had already been exchanged with A-ji for another guitar, which I had given to Renee...