[Mathematics professor x middle-school Chinese teacher]
[Will he grovel to win her back?]
The pharmacy clerk handed Chen Sui a box of metronidazole tablets and instructed her, "Take this three times a day. Once the inflammation gets better, you can consider having it extracted. Otherwise, you'll suffer for it later."
Chen Sui nodded. When she got home, she looked in the mirror at the swollen, inflamed lump beside her wisdom tooth and sighed softly.
She had always been afraid of pain. Maybe it was time to get it pulled.
That night, opening her mouth hurt, so Zhou Lian cooked a bowl of porridge and fed her spoonful by spoonful.
"Do you want me to go to the hospital with you?"
Chen Sui's gaze fell on the hand holding the spoon: pale, slender, with prominent knuckles.
"No need to trouble Professor Zhou. I'll go by myself."
Zhou Lian frowned. "We're married. You don't have to be so formal."
The warm porridge slid down her throat and into her stomach. Chen Sui was silent for two seconds before looking up. "Last time, you promised to come to my speech, but you didn't show up."
*
When her wisdom tooth became inflamed for the second time, Chen Sui decided to go to the hospital.
The doctor studied her chart for a moment, then asked, "Are you married? Do you have children?"
She shook her head, not quite understanding what the doctor meant.
"Have your periods been regular lately?"
Chen Sui's heart turned cold.
Medication could not be prescribed casually in early pregnancy, let alone a tooth extraction. In the end, all she took home was a bottle of mouthwash.
Perhaps it was the stress of being pregnant, but Chen Sui woke in the middle of the night from the pain. Instinctively, she reached over to feel the space beside her.
Zhou Lian still wasn't home.
It had happened so many times. Lin Sui Shu could always summon him away with ease.
Looking in the vanity mirror, Chen Sui saw the swollen gum inside her mouth. The raised lump of flesh was a glaring red, as if it might ulcerate at any moment.
Chen Sui took out a cotton swab and pressed down hard. A fierce stab of pain brought tears to her eyes...
Yet suddenly, her heart felt lighter.
*
The divorce papers arrived at Zhou Lian's workplace on a sunny morning.
He had just made an appointment with a dentist when the front desk called to tell him there was a document to collect.
She had already pressed her fingerprint onto the papers. Zhou Lian read them three times, then called her.
"Have you made up your mind?"
He had asked Chen Sui the same question when they got married. This time, though, the only response from the other end of the phone was a date, delivered briskly and decisively.
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Theme: Stay positive and optimistic
