Chapter 3

She was wearing my pajamas, carrying herself more like the woman of the house than I did.

"Nina, don't get the wrong idea. The heater in my dorm bathroom broke, so I just came over to take a shower."

The crease between Jason's brows eased. He picked up a towel and began drying her damp hair.

"You don't need to explain anything to her. I've told you before, this is your home too. Come over whenever you want."

The way he dried her hair was gentle and practiced, as if he'd done it for Yvonne countless times before.

But I distinctly remembered that Jason had never been the kind of man to do things like this.

He'd grown up with his grandfather, and the old-fashioned values he'd absorbed had shaped him into a rather rigid man. Drying his girlfriend's hair, wearing her hair tie around his wrist, publicly announcing a relationship on social media... he thought all of it was childish, the sort of thing only kids did.

When we were dating, I'd once coaxed him into drying my hair for me.

He'd only looked at me sternly and said, "I think you should be independent no matter what. Drying your hair may be a small thing, but little things like that can gradually make you dependent on me."

Yet now, the hair tie around his wrist belonged to Yvonne.

Everything I'd once wished he would do for me, he was doing for her instead.

Yvonne spoke timidly. "Nina's back. Maybe I should just go back and spend my birthday alone..."

"Absolutely not. I already promised you."

Jason immediately slipped an arm around her and looked at me coldly.

"Yvonne's celebrating her birthday here tonight. You can stay somewhere else."

Holding my cramping stomach, I looked around the home that was somehow both familiar and strange.

Happy Birthday balloons covered the wall, and an elegant gift box sat on the table. Yvonne's favorite stuffed toys and even her own dishes and utensils had taken over the place.

I came to the sudden realization that this wasn't my home anymore.

Curled against Jason, Yvonne looked at me with a challenge she couldn't quite hide.

"Then... sorry you have to put up with it for one night, Nina. Jason's been getting ready for my birthday for almost two months."

I hunched over against the pain as I got to my feet.

"Happy birthday. You two can have this place from now on."

Jason finally noticed how pale I was and took a couple of steps after me.

"Is your stomach acting up again? Take some medicine before you go..."

Before he could finish, Yvonne called out from behind him.

"Jason! I'm starving. When are we eating?"

His outstretched hand stopped in midair.

"Don't come back too early tomorrow. Yvonne has low blood sugar, so she needs to eat breakfast before she leaves. She'll be upset if she wakes up and sees you here."

I said nothing and left without another word.

I moved into the staff dorm and never went back.

A few days later, I went to the office to turn in some confidential project data and found Jason there too.

When he ran into me outside the office, he paused before asking, "Have you booked your flight? We're supposed to leave in three days."

I gave a quiet acknowledgment without telling him I planned to stay in the Northwest.

Then Jason suddenly caught my wrist and looked at the vegetation research data in my arms.

"Yvonne is missing some data on Northwest vegetation for her thesis. Since we already have it, she might as well use this."

I looked straight at him.

"Jason, it took me two years to produce this data. It's also the foundation for the Northwest's next development project.

"If we give it to Yvonne, what are we supposed to use for the next project?"

Jason answered impatiently, "We're leaving anyway. Why do you still care what happens here?

"Besides, I contributed to that data too. What's wrong with taking the part of the work that's mine?"