Mr Carlos Huo, She's Your Wife

"Who is the 'old man' you referred to?" Hayden asked as he was surprised by Debbie's response when she answered his call.

"Never mind, I was referring to no one in particular," Debbie replied casually. "What made you call?"

"I've been in Y City for a couple of days now. I have no plans tonight, so I'm thinking maybe we can have dinner together."

"Oh, sorry. I'm out of town. I'm on a trip."

Hayden hadn't expected her response. For a moment, he was in a daze but soon realized that Debbie was such a travel gal. He remembered how much she enjoyed going to places. She had visited different tourist destinations, more than he ever had. He envied her determination and her free spirit.

"Oh! I see. It's okay. Anyways, my schedule will be cleared out early next month. How about I take you to England for a vacation then?"

"No, thanks." Debbie turned him down immediately. "I've been busy lately. I have all these different classes every day. I had to make time for this trip."

Debbie was telling the truth. When her trip was over, she would once again be occupied with dance, yoga, English, and other classes.

"Debbie, don't lie to me. I know you. You always hate studying. You're just trying to blow me off by making up those classes."

"No, I'm not. That's the old me. People change. Now I have yoga, dance, English, Advanced Mathematics, and so on, but I don't learn martial arts anymore."

For a moment, there was only silence at the other end of the line. "You used to say you will never quit martial arts. My mom and I once asked you to quit, but you refused. Why now?"

Hayden knew how much she used to hate those classes she just mentioned.

Debbie smiled and said, "Because I don't have to protect you anymore." One of the reasons why she had worked hard on martial arts was to protect Hayden and his sister, Portia Gu, who was frail like a willow leaf.

days before her 18th birthday, for some unknown reasons they broke up. During those two years, being his girlfriend, Debbie was the

by Hayden himself. "You are not womanly at all," Hayden had

reply on the phone made his heart tighten. "I'm sorry, Deb. I didn't treat you well before. I didn't treasure what we had. I've regretted it. I've missed you

after Debbie had left him, but none of them truly

thoughtful in a way that, even though she didn't know how to cook, to make sure he ate well, she used to bring takeouts to his

She was perky, but when she learned that Hayden's mom liked quiet girls, she had always reminded herself to be quiet in

lot, or sometimes into some other kinds of trouble. All those times, Debbie tried her best to protect him, no

to get drunk easily, but every time Hayden had to drink at a dinner party, she drank his alcohol for him, just because drinking was bad for his health and she wanted him to stay healthy. Thus, at first she could only handle 50 grams of alcohol, but gradually, she could handle more than 1 kilogram of alcohol.

so many

had loved him like a fool. Now he was back, and he wanted her back. He promised himself

too late." Every time Debbie mentioned his name, it hurt. She was the one who gave and gave in their relationship, but in the

when she reminisced about their past, but she was over him now. She had moved on. Except for the pain, she didn't have other

attention. There was cake, icy pudding, and multi-layer steamed bread. Durian flavor was her favorite. She remembered how Hayden hated it. Every time Debbie ate a durian snack in front of him, he would say it smelled disgusting and that

snack with her even though he despised it. She knew by the look on his face that he was just forcing himself to eat the durian snack.

cakes and durian pancakes for Debbie the other day when they were eating on the fifth

several years older than Debbie, Carlos was thoughtful in many things. He would ask Julie to make durian dishes

but he never busted her. To think about

thunder and lightning. She had come to Portia

that night, suddenly thunder roared and lightning flashed. She was too scared to sleep. But she couldn't go to Hayden's room. That would be inappropriate. So she knocked on the door of Portia Gu's room and

of her room impatiently and locked the door. "Don't interrupt my sleep again!" she had warned her. She remembered how scared she was that night.

missed Carlos, that overbearing,

missed call from Carlos. She made up her mind that if he called again,

days had passed. Carlos