Tenant’s Secret Love

Chapter 96: Only marry two people

CC informed me that Renee had just left, which gave me a very strange feeling. But still, with a carefree smile, I said, “CC, let's not talk about Renee. I want to see you, hear your songs, and eat the Sichuan food from Empty City.”

“Really?” CC smiled and left my embrace.

“Of course. Bring me a glass of draft beer, and I'll listen to you sing and have a good time tonight,”

CC said cheerfully, “No problem.” After that, she snapped her fingers, and soon the waiter brought me a large glass of draft beer and a few simple snacks. So I drank the beer and listened to CC's singing under the warm air from the air conditioner, enjoying the first night back in Suzhou.

About half an hour later, I finished eating dinner, and CC was tired from singing, so she also ordered a small glass of draft beer and sat down across from me.

After we clinked glasses, she asked me, “Lucas, I knew Violetta would go to you and you would definitely come back.”

I looked at CC and suddenly felt that the ‘come back’ she mentioned was so heavy, as if it had dragged me from one world to another. Then I thought of Daphne's gentleness and thoughtfulness, and my heart was filled with the pain of loss.

My mood suddenly dropped, and for a moment I didn't know how to respond to CC.

CC asked carefully, “Lucas, when you came back this time, your girlfriend in Xuzhou...”

I interrupted CC and said, ‘CC, it's stuffy in the store, I want to go sit outside.”

After I got up, CC got up with me and said, ’Wait, I'll keep you company.”

...

The cold wind outside was still blowing, and my depression finally froze in the cold wind. It was a long time before I forced a smile and said, “It's over between Daphne and me... She couldn't accept that I quit my job and returned to Suzhou, and she could never accept that I did it for a woman.”

CC looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. I avoided the wind and lit a cigarette for myself, but in the smoke I saw Daphne's figure leaving last night. I also remembered what my mother said: when there is no word from my son, my heart seems to pale in an instant, and so my eyes became warm. I kind of wanted to cry, but I couldn't. After all, I was a man of steel who had never liked to cry since he was a child.

CC gently put his arm around my shoulders, sighed, then smiled reassuringly and said, “Lucas, as friends for so long, I know you. Your love is too complicated. Maybe a simple woman like Daphne, who represents life, is not right for you. So take it easy.”

I looked at CC and asked after a long while, ”What about your love? Do you expect your love to be simple or complicated?”

CC smiled and said, “Me? My love is very simple. I just want to marry Robben. If Robben doesn't want me, I'll marry the man who left 100,000 yuan in the store.”

I looked at CC in surprise and asked, ‘Do you know who left the money?”

CC shook her head and said, ’No.”

“Then how do you know it will definitely be a man?” I asked, a little amused.

“Intuition, a woman's intuition.”

“What if it's a terrible old man?”

CC smiled and said, “I'll marry an old man too. I love a person's soul, not their body...” After a moment, she added, “Of course, that's only

I laughed along with CC. It seems that her love is really simple, and she even saves herself the trouble of making a choice. If Robben doesn't want her, she will marry that man with no name and no whereabouts.

My suppressed emotions finally calmed down a little during my chat with CC. It's about time. After all, I've already returned to Suzhou, and the two months I spent in Xuzhou are already in the past. The most pressing task is to help Violetta solve all the problems caused by opening the bar.

...

Leaving CC's Empty City restaurant, I dragged my suitcase along the streets of Suzhou that I had not seen in a long time. Tonight I would not stay at a hotel or hostel, I would walk to the old house, because she had said that as long as I came back, she would let me have the old house. So I felt that I finally did not have to worry about not having a place to live in this city. I just wondered if Renee had gone to bed by now, and what expression she would have on her face and what mood she would be in if she suddenly saw me standing in front of the door.

Maybe she'll be happy, or maybe she'll just say a few words to me in the same indifferent way as when we first met.

After smoking two cigarettes and drinking a can of beer, I wandered down three streets in the light of the street lamps before finally arriving at the housing estate.

It was winter, but the dilapidated buildings, clustered together, still looked so lonely and in need of comfort. I realised that nothing had really changed, only the seasons and people's hearts.

I stuffed another cigarette in my mouth, dragged my suitcase closer to the building, and then walked around the empty lot on the opposite side of the street, as usual. Sure enough, I saw Renee's Q7 parked in the middle of the lot. I smiled, dragged my suitcase, and walked towards the building.

...

I stood at the door, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell. There was no response for a while, but I was sure Renee was inside. Maybe she had already gone to bed and didn't hear me.

I started pounding on the door with my hands, making a lot of noise, and after a while I heard the familiar voice: “Who's there?”

My boredom kicked in again, and instead of answering Renee, I knocked on the door a few more times.

“Speak, who are you?”

I said in a falsetto voice, ‘It's me.”

Renee didn't seem to recognize my voice, and said warily, ’Stand where I can see you through the peephole, let me see who you are.”

Finally, I stopped joking with Renee and said in a normal voice, “I'm Lucas.”

“Lucas? Stand in the doorway and show yourself to me.”

“Can't you tell from the voice?” I said impatiently.

“Who told you to speak in a falsetto just now? If I don't see someone at this hour, how can I be assured to open the door!”

“What a hassle!” I grumbled, then straightened my clothes and stood steadily in a place visible from the peephole.

Renee had confirmed that it was me, and finally opened the door for me, so we looked at each other in the hazy light of the corridor.

She was wearing a woollen nightdress and was as beautiful as ever. I smiled and greeted her, “Hi, good evening!”

“Why have you suddenly returned to Suzhou?”

“It's a long story! Can you let me in first?”

Renee didn't show any sign of moving aside, and said to me, ”No!”

“Why? You said last time that I could stay here when I came back. Now I'm back, are you going to renege on your promise?”

“Of course I'm not going to renege on my promise. I did say that, but only that one time, and unfortunately you didn't come back with me that time.”

I suddenly looked down, and said, “What's the difference? Anyway, I'm back, and you have to let me stay in the house.”

“Of course there is a difference, because you didn't come back for me,” Renee said, and then, as I wasn't looking, she slammed the door behind her in an emotional manner.

I stood dumbfounded outside the door, at a loss.

Finally, I shouted, ”Are you crazy? It's so cold, and you won't let me stay. Where am I going to go... If you don't open the door, I'll just sit here outside and not move. If you're so capable, just watch me freeze to death!”