Small Things You Promised Chapter 05
I had paid him back. The note of the transfer was concise, as if I didn’t want to say one more word than necessary.
Cayson looked at his phone screen, dumbfounded, for five seconds.
Seeing him like that, Sadie urged, “Cay, come on.”
Only then did he regain his senses. Instead of catching up to her, he dialed my number.
The phone rang for a long while, but no one answered.
When he called again, my phone was off.
Standing in the arrival hall, he called me eight times in a row within three minutes.
He could get through at first. Then, a mechanical voice told him I had turned off my phone.
“What’s wrong?” Sadie walked over and asked.
He turned his phone screen to her without a word.
After glancing at it, she chuckled, “Cayson, you’re too impatient. Rae did this on purpose. Your anxiety proves her trick is working.
“You’re a co-owner of the house. How could she sell it without you knowing it? Your name is on the property ownership certificate. Without your consent, she won’t be able to go through the procedure,” she took his arm and said confidently.
“Relax. As a woman, don’t I understand her better than you do? She just wants you to get anxious. Mollify her when we return. Then, everything will be OK.”
Cayson didn’t move.
She shook him and said, “Didn’t you promise to watch the sunset with me? Stop obsessing. Let’s have fun.”
Cayson remembered that his name was indeed on the property ownership certificate. So, despite his lingering doubt, he tucked his phone in his pocket and walked on with Sadie.
However, in the following two days, he remained distracted.
At breakfast, thinking it was sugar, he added salt to his coffee by mistake. After a sip, he dropped his cup with a frown.
When they were watching the sunset at a lake, Sadie took photos excitedly. He, on the other hand, wasn’t in the mood for the view and just stood aside, checking messages on his phone every ten seconds.
There was no new message, though.
Restless, he sent me a message to see how I’d respond. “Didn’t you say you liked that perfume brand? Tax-free, it’s very cheap here. I’ll buy it for you.”
No reply came.
A moment later, he sent a second message saying, “Is there anything else you want?”
This time, the message wasn’t even read.
When he finished editing another message, he found that he couldn’t send it.
It turned out all of his contact information had been blocked.
The realization left him standing there, stunned, and his fingers paused on his phone screen.
Noticing the absence of his mind, Sadie asked, “Cay, is something wrong?”
Without a word, he hailed a cab to go to the airport.
Sadie’s shouts fell on deaf ears. His hands were trembling when he opened the door of the cab.
He bought the earliest air ticket. During the ride, he looked straight ahead, allowing no hesitation or distraction.
Who could throw away a five-year relationship easily?
As soon as the plane landed, he rushed home.
To his dismay, all my things were gone, including my slippers in the entryway, which I had worn for three years.
I always put the gray, cotton-linen slippers askew at the bottom of the shoe cabinet. Annoyed, Cayson kicked them away every time he changed his shoes.
Now, there was a vacancy. Only his leather shoes were there.
The light blue blanket I often covered the armrest of the sofa with was nowhere to be seen.
My favorite mug, the color of which was hard to tell, was also gone.
There used to be a photo of him and me on the TV stand. It was taken on Johnson Beach. In the photo, I laughed happily. My eyes narrowed like the crescent moon. He had his arm around my shoulders and wouldn’t even crack a smile. Now, only a circle of dust remained where the photo had been, like a silent period.
On the cabinet at the entryway lay a document titled “Authorization Agreement on Joint Property Disposition.”
He picked it up and looked.
His signature was on the last page.
There was a habitual hook in his joined-up writing. It was his signature style for 30 years. It couldn’t be imitated. It meant there was no way he could deny it was his signature.
He stared at the signature, his mind as blank as a broken-down projector, unable to think straight.
When did he sign the document?
He tried to recall the last time he signed something. Was it a business contract? A bill from the property management? Or…
Right! The decoration agreement!
He suddenly remembered.
The other day, when he got home, Raelynn handed him a document and told him it was the confirmation letter from the decoration company.
He had signed it without looking at it.
How could he be so careless?
Cayson gripped the document so tightly his knuckles went pale.
Just then, his phone screen lit up. It was a message from Sadie. “Cay, Rae can’t be serious. It must be a joke.”
He picked up his phone and located Raelynn’s number.
He dialed, and the mechanical female voice came again—”Sorry, the phone you’re calling is off.”
Only, this time, the voice seemed to be saying, “It’s too late.”