Cosset You Forever

Someone said, "Oh my God! It's Arvin! Look! Arvin's coming! Woah..." Her excitement was so fervent that she couldn't help letting out a scream.

Another woman said, "Yes! It's really him. Look at him, he's taking off his sunglasses! Oh, wow. Isn't he a dreamboat? I'm actually short of breath. I like him so much! I don't know what to do. My heart is racing..."

Why all this doe-eyed fawning, Angela thought with irritation, rubbing her ears. Why, over nobody but Arvin? Women always found him attractive.

Angela was faced with beautiful things every day, like flowers. Her emotional repertoire was already at its limit. She couldn't imagine herself going crazy like this over some handsome guy. These girls were so insane, so immature.

Besides, Angela had an amiable friendship with him. Ordinarily, Angela would whistle to Arvin, or joke around with him in the corridors. But now, she didn't want to face him... However, Arvin called her name with a unadulterated look of anger.

Nancy started. She glanced at him, then Angela, then back to him. She thought they wanted to have a talk, so she released Angela and said, "Er...I better go. See you two later." Arvin merely nodded to Nancy, and turned to Angela about to say something.

But Angela was too quick. She yanked Nancy back, ostensibly overcome. Nancy spun around and faced Angela who whispered, "Nancy, don't go just yet. Please."

Nancy, understanding the fullness of the situation, swiftly returned to Angela's side out of concern.

Arvin didn't care either way, and asked Angela what he had meant to ask in the first place. "What did my mother say to you?"

"She said the coffee in Les Cafés De La Rive Gauche is pretty good," said Angela with a blank look on her face. "And that it will be cold tomorrow, so I better wear more clothes...that's all."

The more she rambled, the more she gave herself away. Arvin glowered at her, growing more disdainful with every word. "Angela Si!" He yelled. At last, here was the hate-filled voice she dreaded. Angela and Nancy stood stock-still as his yell boomed, trying not to look at their shoes in fear.

But Angela's heart was emboldened by it. She glared at Arvin and shouted spitefully to match his volume. "Why don't you ask your mother what she said? Why do you ask me? I didn't say anything, okay? Why are you mad at me?"

'Oh my god!' thought Nancy. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Nancy never thought Angela could work herself up so much. She tugged her sleeve and said, "Angela, calm down, calm down..." Arvin stared at her and said, placidly, "I am not mad at you."

All he'd wished to know was what his mother had told her, which made her not want to live with him. But he never thought Angela could lie to him. He felt like his throat was closing up, he was so helpless. "Whatever!" Angela shrieked. "I'm leaving!" Angela pulled Nancy away, but felt compelled to stay again when she heard Arvin's voice behind her.

"You should do what you promised you'd do at seven o'clock tomorrow night! Don't forget it!"

Angela's back was still turned, but Arvin could see her ruminating from the way she stood. All right, she thought, 'I'll go to his apartment tomorrow night.' There, she decided she would ask Arvin who he liked best. If he desired another woman, she would rip him from her life!

She turned around and replied, "All right. Mr. Gu, I will go. See you at seven." And they left in a hurry after that.

In Shengfeng Mansion

Arvin was seated on the sofa and untied his tie. It was quiet in the living room. But, it seemed like he could smell the Angela's lovely fragrance.

Only two days. She had only lived here for two days, but he felt so passionately upset when she was not around...

In the bedroom, he had a computer on the table. However, his table was occupied by Angela's skin care products. And there was a toy besides the table, which Angela had held against her last night. If he concentrated, he could watch an impression of his memory enacting itself out for him.

In his cloakroom, piles of Angela's clothes overflowed the tote bags stuffed in irregularly on the shelves.

Arvin craned his neck up, and caught one of the tote bags. He wrenched it open and started digging out clothes. Amidst the disorder, he discovered a toy...

Around ten clock in the evening, Angela was surfing the web out of boredom. Her phone suddenly rang. Angela never thought someone would call her at night. It pierced her consciousness with fearsome sound.

The caller ID read, "Arvin".

Her hands quivered at the thought of speaking to him. But she steeled her resolve, and answered. "What's... What's up?"

"I'm downstairs. Come down."

"What do you want?"

"If you want to know, just come down." After saying that, he hung up the phone, which gave Angela no chance to refuse.

Angela went to the window and saw Arvin standing under a street lamp. She took the elevator down and stepped out into the cold, clutching either side of her for warmth.

He crossed the road to approach her.

Angela hadn't changed out of her pajamas. But she wasn't embarrassed. Arvin had seen her like this before.

Arvin smirked, and asked, "Going to bed?"

She nodded.

Arvin held out his hand to her. She almost took it before she noticed he was holding one of her belongings. The tote bag. Angela took the bag with puzzlement. She undid the hasp and found her skin care products inside.

Angela couldn't discern the cold from her nerves, but she was visibly shaking. "Actually... I can use Nancy's... You didn't have to bring me these."

She studied his enigmatic face, trying to decode the meaning of this delivery. Was this his way of telling her, it was over? He no longer wanted to live with her, so he was returning her share of items, was that

it?

Thinking of this possibility filled Angela with such melancholy that she stifled a sob from breaking out.

Arvin looked up her room and said, "Girls like you can't live without your moisturizers and stuff, right?"

Lulu was like that.

She would take her skin care products with her wherever she went. She could not be without them even for one night.

Angela cast about for words. There were none.

After a while, Arvin sighed. "My mother doesn't speak for me. Whatever she said to you, you can ask me."

Angela lowered her head and looked at the contents of her tote bag, the different bottles. They seemed like a regrettable joke now. Would she ask him? Of course she could, but how? She bolstered herself with a deep intake of cold air. But it dissipated again with the turbulence the question promised. How could she ask, directly, 'Arvin, do you like Nita? Will you have a birthday party tomorrow? Why don't you invite me?'

No, that was not what she wanted at all. How cruel these words perished on her lips! Instead she said, "Well, your mother and I just had a chat. All right... Will you have a birthday party tomorrow night?"

She cringed. Just have a chat? Chat about what? Why did she feel unhappy after this chat? Why did she say nothing to him? Her mind became an ocean of criticisms in which she felt herself get thrown about. She could not save herself from these depths.

Arvin kept silent for a while before saying, "No, I won't."

There it was. At last, he replied. Angela felt the ocean pour darkly over her.

Her hands were trembling, but she firmly grasped the bag. Why? she wondered. Why was he lying?

Or was it his mother? How was she to tell?

All right, she said inwardly, she would know the answer for sure tomorrow night. It would all become clear with one more day.

Angela didn't raise her head. She bit her lower lip and said, "Thank you. I'm leaving."

With her cosmetics in her frigid hands, she turned and faced the door.

"Angela!" he called. He looked forlorn in the pool of light thrown by the streetlamp.

"What?" She half-turned, because she could feel the sobs mounting in her chest, but she didn't want him to see her like this...

Arvin didn't reply immediately. He just stared at her back. He had sought to see her face, and he knew now the skin care products were an excuse. He wanted to see her. He missed her.

But, it seemed like she didn't want to see him.

"Go back and have a good rest," he cried to the wall that was her back. "Don't forget your promise. Tomorrow, I will wait for you at home."

Angela smiled and spoke to him in a relaxed tone. "I know it and I won't forget! You'd better go now! It's cold!"

After saying that, Angela pushed past the glass door.

She kept walking deeper into the building until Arvin was out of sight, and then she got into the elevator. Angela leaned against the wall and dared herself to wave.

But streams of tears ran down her cheeks uncontrollably.

Angela could not fathom her own heart. Arvin did nothing to her, so why was she crying?

The next evening, Angela asked for time off. She was in a bad mood. Arvin wanted her to take only one hour off, but she insisted on taking two.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐