Tenant’s Secret Love

Chapter 4: A weekend with a curse

It was almost 2 pm when I returned to my original place of residence. After paying the taxi fare, I walked towards my building, not feeling anxious at all. After all, it was the weekend, and I could be a little late. However, I had a headache from the 4,016 yuan I owed her. Even if she sold me right then, she still wouldn't get that much money.

When I arrived at the building where I live, I was dumbfounded, and then my anger made my lungs ache. My luggage had been moved to the hallway of the building, and some of the luggage that couldn't fit in the hallway had been soaked by the rain, including a pair of black leather shoes that Brittany had given me a long time ago.

I threw away my umbrella, felt for the keys in my pocket, and ran up the stairs.

The key unsnapped the door lock, and I kicked the door open. Standing in the living room, I angrily shouted, “b***h, get the f**k out here.”

I cursed three times, but there was no response. I kicked open the door to the room she was in, but it was empty.

Looking at the immaculately tidy room, and thinking about my luggage out in the rain, the fire in my heart flared up even more. I lifted my hand and threw the quilt on her bed to the ground, and in my anger, I even overturned the mattress, scattering pillows and blankets all over the floor.

...

After the hysteria, I stood in Renee's room and lit a cigarette to ease my anger.

Renee didn't know when she stood in the doorway of the room, holding a mop and a plastic bag with a lot of daily necessities in her hand. She must have just gone to the supermarket.

She glared at me, and I grabbed her clothes at the chest and dragged her into the room. The force was so strong that she dropped the bag and mop in her hand, and the things were scattered all over the floor again. The room, which was just spotless, was instantly a mess because of my anger.

I dragged her to the window and opened it, making her look at the luggage soaking in the rain. I cursed and said, “Are you f*****g crazy? Why did you leave my luggage in the rain?”

Renee broke free from me and said coldly, “You didn't show up at 1 pm, so I asked someone to help you move it out. Is there a problem?”

“I was delayed by other things. What's wrong with being a little late?”

“Promises are promises,” Renee said with unyielding eyes.

“You're f*****g unbelievable!” I was even more angry, and raised my hand as if to slap her.

I thought she would instinctively move out of the way or close her eyes, but she just looked at me coldly, without even blinking.

I lowered my hand and said to her with narrowed eyes, ”You bring everything back up here exactly as it was, and I'll pretend this never happened.”

“I'm not going,” Renee said to me with tears in her beautiful eyes, but with determination.

I nodded, ‘You're not going, are you?...’

As soon as I finished speaking, I threw the quilts and blankets on the floor out the window with all the pleasure of venting and taking revenge.

In the rain and wind, the falling quilts and blankets looked so desolate and innocent, and also like a series of deep and shallow scars ruthlessly revealed. I looked a little lost and a little regretful. I shouldn't have been so impulsive, and I shouldn't have treated this stubborn woman in front of me like this. Perhaps it was the black leather shoes that fell in the rain that stimulated me. My heart twitched. In the afterimage of the rain falling on the black leather shoes, I seemed to see my own and Brittany's dead love.

...

The quilt and blankets finally landed on the ground in an alternating pattern. I said to Renee with some trepidation, “Now we're even!”

After I said this, tears fell from Renee's fair face. She looked at me while biting her lip.

Looking at the devastated house, a sense of guilt suddenly filled my heart, but I still stared at Renee and said, “I know you are unhappy with me and look down on me. Yes, I am poor and unpromising, but that is definitely not a reason for you to disrespect me and my luggage. You are a woman, so today I will demonstrate some gentlemanly manners with you. The blankets and quilts you threw away were mine, and next time I will throw you down with them!”

After saying that, I took out the bank card she gave me yesterday from my wallet and placed it on the table, saying, “I have withdrawn a total of 4,016 yuan from the card. Now I don't have the money to pay you back, but I will definitely find a way to pay you back as soon as possible.”

Tears were welling up in Renee's eyes. “Bastards, all of you are bastards who don't keep your promises...”

I looked at her unexpectedly, unable to describe the feeling in my heart. After a long while, I said, “I'm leaving. I will definitely pay you back the money I owe you. Although I'm late in fulfilling my promise, it's not as if I don't keep my promises as you think.”

Renee didn't respond to me, still looking at me with resentment.

...

I left. I don't know if Renee was still crying, but I know it must have been very uncomfortable for her to stay in the house I had made such a mess of.

But just as she had scolded me before, I really am a scumbag, and Violetta was right to call me an animal. I'm as unwilling as an animal to control my emotions, and as reckless as a scumbag!

I hailed a taxi and moved my luggage to a roadside pavilion where I could take shelter from the rain. For a while, I didn't know where to go. The money I had left wasn't enough to rent a place, and staying in a hotel wasn't a long-term solution. Harlan, the only person I was willing to borrow money from, had temporarily refused to contact me because of my disobedience yesterday and his bad temper.

Yes, over the years I have only ever asked Harlan for money. I consider him a close friend and never minded showing him my distress and destitution, but I would never do that with anyone else.

It's as if I've suddenly been abandoned by the world!

...

I lit a cigarette and sat on the stone bench in the gazebo, watching the cars come and go as I lost myself in thought.

This is not how my life should be, but for the past two years I have been living a life as lonely and helpless as the silent buildings in this city. It all started with that woman. I know that I will never have the chance to hold her hand again in this life, but I am still stubbornly unable to escape from her tenderness.

The wind is blowing and I am getting a little cold. I take out a scarf from the knitting bag and tie it around myself, finally blocking some of the cold wind that keeps blowing onto my chest.

For the next hour, I sat in the gazebo, repeating the insignificant little tasks of daydreaming and smoking, until it grew dark and I really felt the desire to be rescued.

The sudden ringing of the phone startled me, and I wiped my face before taking my phone out of my pocket. The phone call was from “Stubborn-father”.

“Stubborn-father” is my father. He is a square, awkward man who has worked in the procurement department of a small state-owned enterprise for 15 years. He was the deputy section chief in the first year he was there. 15 years have passed, and he has surprisingly failed to get rid of the word ‘deputy’. That's not the worst of it. What's even more impressive is that although the procurement department is a department where one can reap a department where one can reap the benefits and take kickbacks, and yet in 15 years he has never once been seen to have accepted a gift or taken a single penny in kickbacks. This ironclad integrity has led his colleagues to privately and respectfully refer to him as the 'Stubborn-chief'. He has finally shaken off the title of deputy section chief, so I also changed my name to 'Stubborn-father' in keeping with the times when I was 17 years old.

When I answered the phone, I heard the wooden, emotionless voice of “Stubborn-father” say to me, “Lucas, I'll be in Suzhou soon. I have to attend a trade fair tomorrow morning, so I'll stay at your place tonight.”

I felt miserable. This weekend was really unlucky. I was afraid of something bad happening, and it did. I couldn't let “Stubborn-father” know that I was penniless and homeless! Although he was old-fashioned, it didn't mean he didn't have a temper.

My thoughts turned quickly: “Dad, can you find a hotel near the station to stay in? I'm having dinner with a colleague tonight, and it's definitely not going to be a short time.”

“You eat your food. Don't you always leave the key under the doorframe? I can get in.”

“There have been a lot of thieves lately, so I haven't put it there.”

Stubborn-father said relentlessly, “Then I'll wait for you. Don't go crazy after dinner and come back early.”

“Dad, you've been on the bus for a long time, I think you're exhausted. You can find a hotel nearby. You're reluctant to take a taxi when you come to my place, and it's rush hour again, the bus won't be able to accommodate your arms and legs!"

I tried every excuse I could think of, but Stubborn-father was not in a hurry. Finally, he said, ‘Your mother knitted you a sweater. I'll bring it to you.’

...

After listening to the dial tone, I froze for a moment, and then immediately reacted. I ran to the roadside, carrying a duffel bag on my shoulders and dragging a suitcase in my hands, looking around for a taxi. I had to stay that night in the house that now belonged to Renee.

Whether she wanted to or not, I had to stay. If Stubborn-father knew what had happened to me, he would be furious.