When I Never Think of You Again(1)

Author: Bai Kuang Liang Tai Zi

The tattoo on the back of Mason's neck was the initials of his ex-girlfriend's name.

He noticed me in the crowd because I had similar eyebrows and eyes to hers.

1

It was raining heavily in Riverville for the past few days. When Mason got home, the rain was dripping down the umbrella.

As always, I had a dry towel for him.

He lowered his head and stared at me with his starry eyes.

"Did you miss me?" he asked gently.

The towel rested on his short black hair, and once again I unintentionally glanced at that tattoo when I dried his hair.

It was a tiny tattoo. And It was dotted on his neck like an abrupt ink blot on a piece of white paper.

Mason was always a good student growing up. Normally, he would not have anything to do with tattoos.

"Let's wash it off someday," I pointed at the tattoo.

It took him a while to react. He touched it softly with his fingers, and his eyes were watery.

"Okay," he answered, rather lightly.

He changed the subject, "So did you miss me, honey?"

"No,” I finally responded.

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me to kiss me on the forehead.

Then he went to the bathroom with the towel on his shoulder.

I stared blankly at his back, thinking about what his old classmate told me that afternoon.

Mason's ex-girlfriend attempted suicide once for him.

2

"What are you thinking about?"

Surrounded by warm breath, my earlobe was nibbled slightly by him.

"Are you a puppy?"

My words became indistinguishable over the sudden sound of a hair dryer.

Without his top on, Mason was looking at me with a raised eyebrow in triumph.

I couldn't help but look at that tattoo. I stared at it for a moment before I asked him, "When did you get that tattoo?"

The hair dryer sounded loud, but he must have heard me. He glanced toward me but didn't answer.

I asked him again in a louder voice.

This time, he turned the hair dryer off and walked over to the couch to get his T-shirt.

His answer was still vague, "Do your parents mind this? I'll wash it off sometime this weekend."

Well, Mason and I had reached the stage of meeting both parents to discuss marriage. But this was not what I wanted to hear.

"You're acting weird today."

He hugged me from behind across the couch. I could smell the lemon-scented shampoo, which masked the faint smell of cigarettes on him.

He never smoked in my presence because I didn't like the smell.

We were silent for a while and then I raised my head first.

I liked his eyes. They looked like obsidian and black ink. I saw myself clearly in his eyes, and then he lowered his head to kiss me.

Our breaths mingled and intimate air floated through the room.

Suddenly, the phone rang and interrupted our kiss.

It was his phone that kept ringing, but he turned it off without even checking it. He pushed me to the couch and was about to do the next move.

The phone rang again.

"You'd better answer the phone."

I was worried it was a business call.

He clicked his tongue slightly and pinched my chin for a kiss reluctantly. Then, he picked up the phone.

It was strange but sometimes a woman's intuition was indeed surprisingly accurate.

The moment he picked up the phone, I could feel that the person calling him was special to him.

At that moment, he became cold and wore a mocking expression I had never seen before.

The person on the other end seemed to keep droning on and on, but he just told her to fuck off after he listened to her quietly.

With that, he hung up the phone and dropped his head. I just didn't know what to say the second he became silent.

"Have an early night," he said in dismay.

He rubbed my head and walked toward the balcony.

He probably went to smoke.

And he probably didn't know that after that, I watched him through the glass door of the balcony for a long time.

The scarlet cigarette butt flickered, while he leaned on the railing, looking slender.

The city lights were ablaze in the distance. Guessing that he was almost done with a box of cigarettes, I turned back to the bedroom.

After a while, he came in.

I opened my eyes to look at him as I felt him approaching.

He was very close to me. The warm yellow light of the bedside lamp softened the angles of his face, and his amber eyes looked like sunset at dusk in the light.

"You're not asleep yet?"

His voice was a little hoarse and sounded sexier than before.

"You smell of cigarettes, Mason."

"Does it smell bad?"

I thought I saw him shrug his nose. Then he got up to keep away from me.

I nodded, and he looked down at me quietly.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"

It was strange. Usually, he never asked questions like that.

I tried my best to attribute it all to his worry about me minding the smell of him.

But there was another suspicion screaming in the depths of my mind, which put me on sharp alert.

I ventured, "No."

There was just a long silence.

"Okay," he finally answered, tenderly and with restraint.

I couldn't understand the emotion in his words but felt so much empty in my heart.

Without hesitation, he turned off the light. The room fell into darkness, and my heart fell with his steps.

Finally, he came to the door.

As he closed the door, he took away my only light.

3

Everything seemed to be the same as usual when we woke up the next day.

The only difference was probably that I got up early although I was used to sleeping late, and he came back from his morning run without bringing any breakfast.

In a daze, he didn't notice me right away. After a few seconds, he rubbed my hair.

"Why are you up so early?" he asked.

"I can't fall asleep." I looked up at him.

He still had the morning dew on him, and his eyes were limpid and peaceful as he looked down at me.

"What would you like to eat?" he asked.

"Noodles. With an egg."

Yes, everything was fine. He even pinched my face when he went to the kitchen, but I didn't understand what the fear that rose in me was.

His phone kept vibrating on the table.

I wanted to call him, but when I saw the screen, I froze.

My memory wasn't that good, but I just felt it was the same number as yesterday.

To isolate the smell of cooking fumes, he closed the kitchen door. After glancing at the screen a few times, I pressed the answer button.

"Mason, how could you hang up on me?"

Her sweet and arrogant voice was so infectious that I was stunned for a moment.

Aleyna gave me such a proud and elegant first impression, and that never changed.

"I'm his girlfriend."

I tried my best to sound as confident as possible.

"Huh?" She responded in an extremely dramatic, questioning voice.

"Who do you think you are?"

Then there was a giggle on the phone.

I could tell that she looked down on me heartily.

She continued, "That's ridiculous! Haha, you said you're his girlfriend? Then did you know that he and I..."

I didn't hear the rest.

Because before that, a hand reached out from behind me and hung up the phone.

Mason had always walked quietly.

There was another long silence until he spoke in a low and hoarse voice, "What did you hear?"

I didn't know how to answer him, nor did I know what kind of memories he used to have with her.

But somehow, I managed to ask him, "Your tattoo is her initials, right?"

It was like he was stunned immediately.

I hated seeing him fall into a daze. That meant he remembered something that stirred up his emotions.

He turned toward the door.

"Where are you going?" I chased after him.

I admitted I panicked. I always felt that one day I would lose him even though he was so good to me.

The light outside the door slanted down on him.

"I'm going to wash off the tattoo."

His voice sounded deep and disappointed.

"You don't like it."