Main character: Lo(M) & Qian (F)
Past ten at night, Qian sat on the living room sofa. The TV was on, but she wasn’t really watching. Her phone lay on the coffee table, its screen lighting up a few times—food delivery ads, group chats—but not the one message she was waiting for.
She knew Lo was out tonight, having supper with Yang.
He had said, “Just a gathering with old friends.”
She smiled and nodded. “Go on. Don’t eat too much fried stuff.”
They had been together for five years.
From the early days of shy dating, to the awkward adjustments of moving in together, to now—grocery runs, debating over bed sheet colors, bickering over everyday expenses…
She had grown used to this routine. The plain, steady, everyday kind of love.
But still, every now and then, she thought of that white dress she had seen twice in a shop window—one she never stepped inside to try on, a dress she didn’t feel she had the right to buy.
She had smiled at Lo through the glass, asking, “When do you think I’ll get to wear something like this?”
Lo had paused for a second and simply said, “Someday.”
She’d nodded, but in her heart, something faint and hollow sank a little.
She knew it wasn’t because he didn’t love her. It was just that Lo always avoided talking about “the future.”
He didn’t bring it up, and she didn’t ask.
But Qian felt that love, sometimes, needs a “way out”—a promise you already know the answer to, but still want to hear spoken out loud.
A few months ago, when she heard a friend announce over the phone that she was getting married, Qian had cried her eyes out. Her friend had laughed, saying she was being overly dramatic.
But only Qian knew—every time someone said, “You two have been together so long. When’s it your turn?”
She would smile and reply, “No rush. When he’s ready.”
Then, after hanging up, while washing the dishes, she’d glance at Lo’s back and silently ask herself: So… when will he be ready?
She didn’t mind waiting. She just wanted to know if she was the one—the person he wanted to grow old with.
Qian let out a soft sigh.
Just then, her phone buzzed.
A message from Lo, “All done. Heading home now. Wait for me, babe!”
Qian opened the message and typed back, “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”
To be continued...
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and then Add to home screen.