Love for One Night

Ch 1: The Night I Can't Forget (3)

The door lock clicked and rattled. April shifted her gaze from the computer screen and pushed her glasses up her nose as she looked toward the door.

"Sasa, you're back," April said, lowering the foot she had propped on the computer chair and shaking her numb leg. She noticed her roommate's unusual way of walking and asked, "What happened to your legs?" Could numbness be contagious?

Sandra tossed her bag onto the sofa, kept her head down, and walked into her bedroom, letting herself collapse onto the bed.

"Ouch." Something hard pressed against her stomach. Sandra reached in and pulled out a small box wrapped in pink paper.

April hobbled to the doorway and tilted her head to look at Sandra, who was sprawled on the bed. "It's the birthday present for your twentieth birthday. If I hadn't set a reminder on my computer, I might have forgotten. I meant to give it to you in person yesterday... By the way, did you and your boyfriend finally...you know, last night?"

Sandra's temples throbbed. She grabbed a pillow and pressed it over her head, her voice muffled. "Don't mention him again."

"What happened?" April asked cautiously as she sat on the edge of the bed. "He's... not up to it?"

Sandra grumbled impatiently, "I don't know." If April really wanted to know, she should ask that woman. How would she know if she had never tried it with him?

"You don't know... So that means not yet." April swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "He must have some serious problem. Spending the night with a beauty like you and nothing happened."

Sandra buried her head under the pillow, keeping silent.

April squinted at her, wondering if Sandra might suffocate herself. She tugged at Sandra's pillow and asked, " What did your boyfriend get you for your birthday?"

"I told you not to mention him again! What's wrong with you?" Sandra threw the pillow aside and yelled at her roommate.

Startled, April instinctively adjusted her glasses. She wanted to ask more but hesitated, intimidated by Sandra's fierce expression and the thought of becoming her punching bag. Raising her hands in surrender, April backed away and even closed the bedroom door behind her as she left.

What gift? The most unforgettable birthday gift in her twenty years. A huge birthday surprise. No, it should be called a shock.

Sandra had planned to meet her boyfriend for dinner. When her afternoon class was canceled due to her professor's family emergency, she decided to use the extra time to surprise him with an unexpected visit.

Experience and history had shown that such surprises often ended poorly. But Sandra, ever the optimist, chose to look on the bright side. And so, the cliché played out once again.

The man has given Sandra his apartment key a while ago. They had been dating for over six months, and she had never used it. She wasn't particularly conservative, but the fact that they hadn't progressed to that stage in six months was definitely unusual.

Everything was great with him, but when it came to intimate moments, there should always be some feeling involved. Every time he got close to her, it felt... strange. There had been opportunities, but she had 'ingeniously' managed to ruin them.

They say you can't help it when you're in love. Did that mean she didn't love him at all?

Sandra couldn't blame him. In his early twenties, expecting him to remain ascetic wasn't exactly reasonable. She had spent quite some time mentally preparing herself for that moment, convincing herself it was normal to feel afraid or awkward the first time and that it might get better afterward. Unfortunately, he never gave her the chance to get past it.

Not entirely unfortunate, though—she did get past it, but with a stranger. It turned out to be much easier than she had imagined.

In that moment, she simply said, 'Sorry to disturb' to her boyfriend and the woman, then turned to leave. Looking back, she wondered if her exit had been graceful enough. She recalled that she might have even had a smile on her lips.

"So, you just left like that?" April asked incredulously, her eyes wide open as her glasses slid down her nose, almost falling off.

Sandra shrugged, spreading her hands and nodding with a dismissive pout as she casually stirred the boba tea in front of her.

"You just let those two cheaters off so easily?" April pushed up her glasses, gritting her teeth and squeezing the silicone wrist rest in her hand. "If it were me, I wouldn't let them off without knocking their teeth out."

Sandra's straw made a squeaky sound as she sipped. "Anyone who takes a jerk seriously is bound to lose. Besides, I haven't lost anything."

April looked at Sandra, then down at the wrist rest in her hand, and back at Sandra. Tilting her head, she seemed to seriously consider Sandra's words, then nodded. "That's true."

Sandra secretly took a deep breath. Those who see themselves as tragic heroes will inevitably meet a tragic end. But those who see themselves as strong, invincible superwomen—are they truly unbreakable? Had she really lost nothing? Probably only April believed that.

Sandra grabbed the sky-blue hair tie with a cartoon dog from the gift box, gathered her long, straight black hair atop her head, twisted it into a bun, and swept her bangs to the side. She smiled at April. "How do I look?"

April clapped her hands like a child and nodded vigorously. "I knew it would suit you perfectly when I saw it on the Korean shopping site."

With a cheerful smile, Sandra waved her hand. "Come on, let's play Just Dance together."