The Wife He Forgot To Love Chapter 03
“Give me a call once you arrive. Tell me anytime you run short of money.”
In the years that followed, she asked me for money far more often than she ever asked how I was really doing.
Even so, I knew those original words were spoken with genuine sincerity. She simply had no way to offer me more help.
The family had fallen into financial straits, with Bradley constantly needing money and no longer having Dad to do heavy labor for income.
She was trapped helplessly in the middle with no easy way out.
That was why I could always understand her obvious favoritism later on.
I understood how endless hardships could wear a person down completely, leaving no energy left for the child who “mattered less.”
I first met Jonathan at a debate competition.
I was a sophomore back then, representing my school at the state inter-university debate tournament.
My school was an ordinary second-tier university, while all our opponents came from top-tier prestigious schools.
I served as the second debater, and we were matched against the finest university in the city.
I spent three whole weeks preparing beforehand. When the library closed, I practiced in the hallway under motion-sensor lights, revised my draft repeatedly, and rehearsed all possible questions the rivals might raise.
On the competition day, I wore a cheap white shirt bought online. I’d kept it folded under my mattress for ages to smooth out the wrinkles.
I felt totally calm standing on the stage.
It wasn’t that I was confident of winning, but that I’d made thorough enough preparations.
Every argument, every angle they could attack from—I had it memorized.
During the free debate session, the opposing third debater, Jonathan, stood up to question me.
After he put forward a tricky question, silence fell over the venue briefly.
Without hesitation, I stood up, looked him straight in the eyes, and explained my viewpoints clearly.
After I finished speaking, he parted his lips yet failed to come up with any retort.
Our team lost the match in the end, but I won the title of Best Debater.
I was tidying up my notes on the table after the event when someone called me by my name from behind.
I turned around and saw Jonathan.
He stood in the aisle holding his name tag, gazing right at me.
“You’ve prepared extremely well,” he said.
I thanked him politely.
Then he asked for my contact information.
He started pursuing me ever since then.
Free every Friday afternoon, he would take a forty-minute bus ride to my campus and wait for me right outside the library.
He never told me he was coming. He just waited.
One heavy, snowy day, he texted me saying he was already at the school gate.
I rushed outside and saw him standing in the snow, his hair dusted white and his nose bright red from the cold, holding a bag of donuts in his hand.
The phrase Jonathan said to me most often was, “Dani, you’re so amazing.”
No one had ever praised me like that before. My family always said girls were nothing but a burden. My teachers said I was slow, but that hard work could make up for it. I craved wholehearted affirmation so badly that I fell hopelessly in love with Jonathan.
I could tell from his dressing style that Jonathan came from a totally different background. I later learned that both his parents were university professors.
The first time I visited his home, his mother, Alicia Aguirre, cooked a full table of dishes. I sat stiffly on the sofa, not daring to lean back, only occupying a third of it, afraid of dirtying the furniture, looking improper, or saying something inappropriate.
Alicia asked where my hometown was. After I told her the name of that remote village, she obviously had never heard of it and just smiled without asking further questions.
At dinner, she kept putting food on my plate, telling me to eat more since such delicacies were unavailable back in my hometown.
Her tone sounded kind enough, yet I caught the hidden implication that I never belonged there.
I wasn’t sure if I was just being overly sensitive.
Throughout the whole meal, I felt utterly uneasy.
I dared not take too much food, make any noise, or be the first one to lay down my fork.
Jonathan picked up a piece of fish for me. Alicia just glanced at us without uttering a word.