He looked at me and asked, “You look like a madwoman. Who are you trying to scare?”
I went up and slapped him twice. I asked him, “Did you think of the person at home who couldn’t find you while you were with Emily?”
John saw my hysterical look and pushed me to the ground: “Anna, you’re insane. You have mental issues. I'm afraid you might kill me one day. You're really sick now."
Indeed, I felt sick. As long as he was with Emily, I thought they were making love.
Thinking about it now, I was really stuck in a dead end. Stripped of the color of love, he looked completely ordinary.
John stubbornly stayed with me all day and then went home with me.
When I got home, there were already people there: John's friends and Emily.
They had made a table full of dishes, obviously under John's direction, but it made me feel slightly nauseous.
Emily saw me and said, "John just went to a friend's house that day, and you had to make a fuss and go on a business trip. How do you expect him to feel at ease with you like this?"
She had a scolding tone, and the others around her seemed to agree. John, on the other hand, looked at me expectantly. No one thought there was anything wrong with Emily speaking to me this way.
In the past, I would have considered John's feelings and would only argue with him later.
Today, though, I'd had enough. I asked her, "What position are you in to speak to me like this? First, you know he has a girlfriend, yet you don’t avoid suspicion. You have no sense of boundaries and act all preachy. Second, John is not so important that I need to flee to another city to avoid him. And lastly, this is my home. If you’re going to stay, then behave, or get out. For years, I’ve tolerated your holier-than-thou attitude, always seeking validation from someone else’s boyfriend. Do you really think it makes you superior?"
Emily didn’t expect me to lash out suddenly. In fact, no one did. They were all stunned into silence.
I dumped the fish they had cooked into the trash. "I'm allergic to seafood. The smell of fish makes me nauseous." Then, I looked at John and said, "If you cared about me even a little, you’d know how much I despise the smell of fish, but all you see is how much Emily likes it."
John shut his open mouth.
I knew he was used to siding with Emily against me, but when I confronted him, he began to feel guilty and ashamed. I looked at him calmly, "John, let’s break up."