Chapter 2
When I got home, Alden still did not come back. A night had passed. I clicked on Instagram and found that the members of the ski team had posted Instagram at the same time. Nanette’s Instagram was at the top, “To celebrate the award of my senior Alden, I will pay for everyone to go on vacation in Sanya! Ps: It is also to thank him for taking care of me all night last night. Woohoo, my alcohol tolerance is really too bad (blushing).” It seemed that Alden would not be able to come back in the next few days. I did not know when he would postpone the wedding as he said. I held back the nausea that was coming up again and checked my email. I had received replies from many companies to my nutritionist resume that I sent not long ago. I replied to a large Swiss food manufacturer. Because Alden seldom went abroad, after I went to Switzerland, the possibility of us meeting would be almost zero. Only in this way could I let time slowly heal my pain. After making the decision, I started to pack my things. As soon as I opened the suitcase, Alden came back. He was wearing a sweatshirt with cute pictures printed on it. He always disliked such clothes for being childish. At that time, it seemed that he did not dislike the clothes for being childish, but because I was the one who bought the clothes. He was a little surprised to see me open the suitcase, so he asked, “Have you seen Nanette’s Instagram?” So, Alden thought I wanted to help him pack his luggage. How innocent he was. “Nanette got drunk last night and I stayed up all night taking care of her. She said she’d treat me to a meal to thank me, but she doesn’t have much money, so I didn’t plan on bringing you along. Let’s just hold the wedding after I get back.” I paused. I did not expect Alden to report his whereabouts to me. Since our relationship entered the later stage, he no longer reported his whereabouts to me like he did when we first started dating. I did not say whether I agreed to pack his luggage or not. I just told him that the meal was in the pot. I wanted to have a good talk with him about the breakup during the meal, but Alden came back just to confirm that I, a pregnant woman, was not angry. He went into the house, picked up two pieces of clothes and left, “I won’t eat. There’s nothing to bring to Sanya. I’m leaving first as I’m running out of time.” He hurriedly answered a phone call and walked out. The moment he closed the door, the Lego that we had built together when we first got together broke into pieces. I stared at the pieces on the ground. We had built this Lego for a long, long time. Alden said that he would do many, many things with me that required two people to complete together until he was old and could not do it anymore. But he broke his promise. Since Nanette came, the people who played two-player games with him had become other people. My relationship with Alden had long been broken like this Lego. I got up, gathered the shattered pieces and tossed them into the trash can, along with the last bit of my reluctance. Once I started, there was no stopping. I tore through the house like a storm, smashing and discarding our wedding photos and couple portraits from the wall, cutting up our matching outfits and tossing them without a second glance. Even the gifts he once gave me, the dolls we had won together, they all met the same fate, swept into oblivion along with the memories. When I packed up and dealt with everything, I realized that most of the things related to Alden were related to the time when we just fell in love. And in the past two years, after Nanette came, I had very few memories of Alden and me. Because of the severe pregnancy reaction, I was so tired that I stopped halfway through packing. I touched my belly and could not help feeling sad, since I would go to the hospital to get rid of this child tomorrow. “Baby, you are torturing your mother like this, probably because you don’t want your mother to make mistakes anymore, right?” I muttered silently When I was still thinking of my mother, my mother suddenly called me, “Katherine, what does Alden mean? I saw that his Instagram is on the hot search. Why is he hugging another girl?” My mother’s tone was cautious. She must have been struggling for a long time before calling me. “Are you going to have your wedding or not? Why is he so confused!” I comforted my mother and opened Instagram after that. She was right, Alden and Nanette were on the hot search. They were athletes and had a certain degree of popularity on the Internet. The moment they embraced under the shimmering seaside fireworks was captured by a passing netizen. The photo quickly spread online, with many expressing admiration for their love, openly saying they were deeply moved by the heartfelt scene. Nanette also posted a message saying that they were celebrating her birthday and the fireworks were a surprise from his senior Alden. It turned out that that day was Nanette’s birthday. But that day was also the anniversary of our seven-year relationship. It was just that Alden had forgotten the anniversary for two years and I was almost forgetting about it too. “Mom, Alden and I are not going to have a wedding. I plan to break up with him.” “What do you mean? You have been together for so long and have a child. Why don’t you have a wedding?” The incomprehension in my mother’s voice made my nose sour. Yes, after being together for seven years, how could Alden and I not go to the end? My insistence again and again was rewarded by his canceling the wedding eight times.