“I’m fine.” I lowered my eyes and looked at the wound on my hand. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My heart hurt. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So I couldn’t even feel the pain in my fingers. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ming took a band aid out of his pocket and put it on me. He accused me, “you’re a designer. The designer’s hand is as important as the face.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I looked down slightly. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ming seemed to realize my frustration. He patted me on the head. “Can’t you forget him?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I didn’t speak. I didn’t even change my face. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But my heart couldn’t fool me. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ming held me in his arms and patted me on the back. “I know I’m not him, and I can’t be him, but I will do my best to you. There will never be a third person between us.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This was the best promise for me. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There would never be a third person between us. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It was like a sarcastic remark about Sean and me. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There was always a third person between him and me. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So our relationship was so crowded and awkward. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ming could always find a good point and let me persuade myself to let go. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I was in his arms. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The warmth of Ming was like the sunshine at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. It was warm but it didn’t burn me. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Maybe this was the best. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I made up my mind and hugged him, “give me time. I will certainly forget him.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Take your time.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
With that, I felt a kiss fall on my head. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It was very light. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I shivered a little, but I didn’t refuse. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When Ming was cleaning up the debris underground, I looked at the black coffee cup. I thought about it for a while and decided to put it aside on the cupboard. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In case Sean came back, then… <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Oh, he said he would not come again. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My hand holding the cup was hanging in the air. I didn’t know whether to pick it up or to put it down. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Is this Sean’s cup? I’ll take it back to him when I have time.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ming came up and took the cup in my hand and put it back in the original box. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He always seemed to know what I was thinking. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I saw his face swollen. I thought Sean just hit him. I walked quickly and put my hand less than a centimeter from his face. I asked him with concern, “does it hurt? Let me help you with some ice.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The refrigerator in the studio had ice making function. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I took some ice out of the fridge, and then I took Ming’s handkerchief and laid it for him. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He sat on the sofa and I sat by. I applied the ice carefully. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He frowned slightly and I quickly took it away. “I’m sorry. I’ll be gentle.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“No, I just want to see if you care about me.” Ming looked at me. His eyes were soft and clear through the lenses. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I blushed a little. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I slowly put the ice on for him. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But because it was summer, the ice soon melted and soaked the handkerchief, and the cold water drops came down from it. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I’ll change some.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I got up and went to the sink. I pour out the ice in my handkerchief. Then I went to the fridge and decided to get some more ice. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ming suddenly came up and put his hands around my body. He put his chin on my shoulder. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Ming…” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I was stunned and stopped. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
His voice came from my ear, “I used to humour Sean, but I will not humour him about you from now on.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
His voice was as soft as ever. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But it was firm. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I hesitated and said, “OK, Ming.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It was time for me to forget the past and embrace the future. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Happy broken pupa, gorgeous new impulse…” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As he held me, my cell phone rang. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Only Murray would call this mobile number except Ming. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He was here. It must be Murray. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Was something wrong with Lester? <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I nervously broke away from his arms and went to pick up my cell phone. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Mom.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I heard Lester’s childish voice as soon as the phone was connected. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Lester? Why don’t you go to class?” Today was Thursday. Lester was supposed to go to kindergarten. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lester said unhappily, “I have a little cough today. Grandpa Moore asked for leave for me.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He pretended to cough twice. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I knew he didn’t want to go to kindergarten and Murray doted on him, so he helped him cheat. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I frowned and said, “if you really have a cold, just…” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Mom, when are you coming back? I miss you so much.” Lester, of course, knew I was going to teach him a lesson. His voice was a bit weepy. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I knew he was pretending, but he must be a little sincere. After all, I had never been away from him so long. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I frowned and said, “Mom will be back in two or three weeks at the latest.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Two or three weeks. Mom, did you abandon me?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lester was crying on the phone. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Mom…” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Let me talk to him.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When I wanted to talk to Lester, Ming reached out and pressed the handsfree button. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He said to the phone, “Lester, your mother is with Uncle Jessop now. Shall we go back to see you in a few weeks?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Uncle Jessop?” Lester stopped crying as soon as he heard Ming’s voice. He was silent for a while before he said, “well, Uncle Jessop, I’ll give you my mother.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Well, don’t worry.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Then you should remember our agreement.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Don’t worry.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
They talked for a while and then hung up. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
After he hung up, I looked at Ming suspiciously, “what’s the agreement?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Nothing. It’s just an agreement between two men.” Ming looked at me. There were some secret smiles in his gentle eyes. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He raised his hand and patted me on the head. “I’ll go back first. You can work. I’ll go back to see Lester with you in a while.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“OK.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I didn’t ask about Ming’s face. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There were many ways to deal with it when he returned to the hospital. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I sat down and turned on the computer. He stood by me and said, “don’t stay up late, or I will come to see you every night.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“…” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Before I could speak, Ming added, “or do you want me to come and see you every night?” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This sentence made my face completely red, “no, I will go to bed on time.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He sighed and patted me on the head. “OK, I’ll go first.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
With that, he left. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I looked at Ming’s back and had a little ripple in my heart. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If I decided to be with Ming, we would have a further relationship. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I couldn’t help but feel a little flustered when I thought of this. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“I’m fine.” I lowered my eyes and looked at the wound on my hand. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My heart hurt. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So I couldn’t even feel the pain in my fingers. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ming took a band aid out of his pocket and put it on me. He accused me, “you’re a designer. The designer’s hand is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extnovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}