“Alright, if Clara doesn’t want me to touch it, I won’t.” She turned to Ian with a sweet smile. “Ian, do you have time to show me your room?”
Rea immediately changed the subject and changed Ian's attention.
"It's just like you spoil her rotten. It's just some stupid broken clock and isn’t worth this much fuss. I’ll take you shopping tomorrow and buy you whatever jewelry you want.”
Clara stood frozen in place, her heart sank into a pool of bitterness. In the past, she was the one Ian had spoiled, now he reserved that tenderness to someone else.
Taking a shaky breath, she pulled out the clock and turned the dial down by another mark.
It did not matter anyway. She was already dead. So, when she truly left this world, Ian wouldn’t grieve for long. Rea would be there to comfort him.
The next morning, Clara went to her university to finalize her withdrawal papers. Just as she was about to leave, she ran into her best friend, Sally Hansen.
She excitedly came over and bumped Clara's shoulder.
“So?” Sally grinned. “How’s it going with that guy? Did you two finally get together?”
“He has a girlfriend. Don’t bring him up again.” I said calmly.
Sally was dumbfounded. She asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
When she saw Clara was holding a withdrawal application form in her hand, her eyes widened. "Wait, what? Don't tell me you are dropping out of school because of this?"
Taking a deep breath, Clara forced herself to smile and said, “What are you thinking? My IELTS results came out. My family decided to send me abroad. I’m leaving in five days.”
"That's too sudden!"
Before Sally could say anything else, Clara suddenly reached forward and hugged her tightly. “Thank you for everything,” she whispered. “We’ll see each other again someday.”
When Sally heard the shaky word that Clara said, unexpectedly Sally felt tears start to gather in her eyes. Sniffing, she muttered, “Ugh, what are you saying? You make it sound like we’re never going to meet again.”
She added, “Just you wait. As soon as I finish my exams, I’m coming to find you! You’re stuck with me for life!”
For life, huh?
Clara froze for a moment before she abruptly turned away to hide her tears that were about to fall and waved dismissively. With a nonchalant manner, she said disdainfully, "Forget it! I don't want to be stuck with you."
Please, Sally… forget about me. Just enjoy your life.