Post-90s Sad Love Story
My acquaintance with Mei was due to Tan. At that time, Tan and I had just started dating, and during our conversations, he mentioned his high school desk mate, Mei. From this, I learned that Mei had had a secret crush on Tan for many years. However, because she was not particularly attractive, Tan only treated her as a buddy.
Since they had been desk mates for three years in high school, they ended up working in the same city after college and even, by chance, rented apartments in the same neighborhood, one above the other. Sometimes, they would rely on each other for various trivial matters.
Hence, Tan continued to interact with Mei as a classmate. After he and I fell in love, he called our mutual classmates to invite them to dinner and casually informed Mei, asking her to check out his new girlfriend.
The first time I saw Mei, my woman’s intuition told me that she had gone through a painful struggle before coming; moreover, she subconsciously regarded me as a rival, her face as gloomy as the sky before a storm. She merely nodded at me lightly and then started chatting with another girl in a dialect I couldn’t understand. Several times during the meal, I tried to offer her some food, but she refused.
Mei’s reaction made Tan a bit angry. When I tried to offer her food again, he stopped my hand with his chopsticks and ate it himself, annoyed. I patted Tan’s hand under the table, signaling him not to be so impulsive. Only then did Tan suppress his anger and, acting as if nothing had happened, encouraged Mei to eat more.
After dinner, the three of us walked back to the neighborhood in the night. At first, it was awkward; Tan and I were holding hands, while Mei walked silently a meter away, head down. On a dark, isolated path without streetlights, there was a puddle on the ground. I naturally linked arms with Mei and gently said, “Mei, be careful not to step in the puddle.”
This casual remark made Mei’s resentment towards me disappear instantly. I habitually never let go of Mei’s arm again. Thus, the three of us walked hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, chatting about trivial matters, slowly making our way home under the moonlight.
I remember that as we were nearing the neighborhood, Mei suddenly said something to Tan in their dialect. I thought they were just chatting and didn’t pay much attention, but I saw a flash of sadness on Mei’s face and a moment of silence from Tan under the dim streetlight.
Mei lived on the third floor, and we lived on the fifth. After saying goodbye, we were about to continue upstairs when Mei opened her door and let out a sharp scream. Tan and I quickly turned around and walked to her door, where we saw a bunch of cockroaches scurrying around under the bright fluorescent light.
Tan swiftly got rid of the cockroaches and swept them into the garbage downstairs. Mei and I stood in the somewhat empty house, both trying to find something to say. Finally, looking at the remnants of the cockroaches, Mei joked, “I always thought I was living alone in this old house, but it turns out I have so many cockroach companions.”
It was a joke, and I should have laughed along, but for some reason, I felt like crying in front of Mei, who had always been secretly in love because she couldn’t find a man to love. As a woman walking alone, I happened to be more beautiful, had a stable job, and a naturally gentle personality, so I could find the love I hoped for. Mei, because she was not born beautiful, had always walked a path of loneliness and solitude that I could not understand.
The hallway was very dark, and Mei brought a flashlight to light our way. While Tan opened the door, I stood at the stairwell, talking to Mei, who was one step below me. Mei said she was about to change jobs and would be renting a new place. I tried to persuade her to stay, saying, “Isn’t this fine? We can look out for each other.” Mei smiled and said, “The lease is almost up. Maybe moving to a new place will bring a new mood and a good omen for the year.”
In the darkness, I saw a glimmer of hope in Mei’s eyes and suddenly wanted to step down and give this rough-looking, unfashionable woman a solid hug. But in the end, I just smiled, said goodbye, and turned into my apartment.
Mei quickly moved out of the neighborhood while Tan and I were so immersed in our passionate love that we almost forgot about her on the third floor. It was only when I learned she had moved out that I heard from Tan that Mei’s workplace was far from this neighborhood. The only reason she rode her bike from the east of the city to the west every day was so she could be close to Tan, even though Tan sometimes couldn’t be bothered to greet her.
Tan never mentioned what Mei said to him in dialect that night when the three of us walked home together. Perhaps she confessed her long-held love to Tan. Perhaps, because of the warmth I had shown her, she asked Tan to take good care of me. Or perhaps, she said nothing, only wanting to have a final conversation with Tan in a language I couldn’t understand, just like many years ago when she was a girl, happily chatting with Tan as desk mates.
I know that this final conversation was like a blue curtain slowly falling, marking the end of Mei’s unrequited love for Tan.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
