Cold War Countdown

On the hundredth day of giving me the silent treatment, my boyfriend Shen Du posted on social media: "240 minutes left on the breakup countdown!"

During the three years Shen Du and I had been together, we'd given each other the silent treatment ninety-nine times. Every time, I was the one who swallowed my pride, apologized, and messaged him first to make up. The hundredth time, Shen Du helped his childhood friend Yu Haohao complete a dare by kissing her, then deleted and blocked me again. Suddenly, I saw the light. Instead of chasing after him and begging to get back together like I had during the previous ninety-nine silent treatments, I quietly changed the universities I planned to apply to. On the day the breakup countdown was about to hit zero, one of Shen Du's friends came to see me and tried to talk me into...