Chapter 1: The Post
Bo Siyan was angry again. At a party I had spoken two extra sentences to a male classmate, and this was his punishment. He did not ignore me. He made me watch him be kind to someone else. He opened a bottle for Chen Sisi in front of me. He drove her home in front of me. He answered every message in the group chat except mine, which sank to the bottom of his screen. I typed an apology. "I will be careful. Please do not be angry." My thumb hovered over send. Then my phone buzzed with Chen Sisi's new post. "Some men are only nice to me to make their girlfriends jealous. I am happy to help. She always apologizes first anyway." The photo was the takeout order Bo had just sent her. I read it three times to make sure it was today. Then I went back to our chat, deleted my apology, and typed: "You do not need to be angry anymore. You do not have a girlfriend." His call came three minutes later. I let it ring twice. On the third try I answered. "Lin Yin, what do you mean?" His voice was cold, like something frozen over. "Exactly what it says." A pause. "You are breaking up with me because of one post?" He called her Sisi so naturally. I used to flinch at that name and pretend I did not. Now I was tired of pretending. "Not because of her." "Then why? Because I ordered her food? Because I drove her home?" Every question was a nail pressed gently into my chest. "Because you knew it would hurt me," I said. The line went quiet. Then he said, "Then you should know better than to talk to another man in front of me."