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.

reasons they broke up. During those two years, being his girlfriend, Debbie was the

got ridiculed by Hayden himself. "You are not womanly at

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

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

learned that Hayden's mom liked quiet girls, she had always reminded herself to be quiet in front of his mom, just to get

kinds of trouble. All those times, Debbie tried her best to protect him, no matter how dangerous the situation

was bad for his health and she wanted

many things for him.

it was over. Hayden had lost her, that girl who had loved him like a fool. Now he was back, and he wanted

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

she reminisced about their past, but she was over him now. She had moved on. Except for the

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 she would get fat from eating too many snacks. He had even told her not to eat durian snacks in

snack with her even though he despised it.

Debbie the other day when they were eating

things. He would ask Julie to make durian dishes or

immediately. After that, she had tried to sneak into his room again, but he never busted her. To think about it, Debbie thought maybe it was not that he didn't know that she was

afraid of thunder and lightning. She had come to Portia Gu's bedroom in the

alone in the guest room that night, suddenly thunder roared and lightning flashed. She was too scared to sleep. But she couldn't go to Hayden's room.

her out of her room impatiently and locked the door. "Don't interrupt my sleep again!" she had warned her. She

Debbie missed

phone screen. There was one missed call from Carlos. She made up her mind that if he called again, she would pick up

days had passed. Carlos