Too Heavy for Tears, the Arrogant Cripple Broke Down Chapter 05

Too Heavy for Tears, the Arrogant Cripple Broke Down Chapter 05

His lips parted again and again, but in the end, he said nothing.

Dana’s expression changed several times before she finally forced a smile.

“Nina, calm down. Whatever happened, we can sit down and talk about it.”

I didn’t answer.

That afternoon, I packed the few things I kept at my desk: a coffee mug, a dying succulent, and the spare painkillers in my drawer.

Chloe sat at my old desk with her head lowered, not daring to look at me.

I paused as I passed her, not because I wanted to question her, but because something about her struck me as strange.

She had stolen credit for my project and taken my desk, yet somehow, she looked more shaken than I did.

The comment feed finally fell silent for a while, probably because it no longer knew what to say.

I walked out of the office building.

My phone rang. It was Mom.

“Nina, you’re off early today? I made a pot of chicken noodle soup.”

I stood on the sidewalk.

“Mom, I resigned.”

—

There was a two-second pause on the other end.

“Okay,” Mom said. “Then come home and have some soup.”

She didn’t question me or blame me.

It was the same as when I had told her as a child that I didn’t want to take piano lessons anymore.

She had simply said, “Okay,” and then asked whether I was hungry.

When I got home, Mom served the chicken noodle soup, and I had two bowls.

She sat across from me, snapping the ends off green beans, when she suddenly spoke.

“Nina, would you like to live somewhere else?”

“I’m going back to my hometown for a while. Do you want to come with me?”

Her tone was casual, but I noticed that her hands had stopped moving.

“Okay,” I said.

That night, Mom pulled out two old suitcases and opened them on the living room floor.

She took my winter clothes out of the closet, folded them, and packed them inside.

Then she slipped the unfinished novels from my bookshelf into one of the side pockets.

—

I sat on the floor and watched her work.

I had spent so many years looking after Evan’s emotions that I had almost forgotten what it felt like to have someone take care of me.

“Mom, I’ll book the flights.”

I pulled out my phone and searched for flights from our city to Mom’s hometown.

The earliest flight the following Wednesday left at 7:40 a.m.

I chose two seats together, one by the window.

My finger paused over the payment button.

I had lived in this city for three years. Because of Evan, I had limited my college applications to schools in the city and found a job close to him.

Now that I was leaving, I realized there was nothing here I would miss.

The comment feed appeared again.

[Is the female lead really leaving? No way. What will happen to the male lead if she goes?]

[She’s only acting out. She’ll be back in a few days.]

[This is hilarious. Where can she possibly go without the male lead? Just wait. She’ll come back crying and beg him to take her back.]

I ignored the comments, turned off my phone, and helped Mom fold the rest of the clothes.

—

The next day, I returned to the company to complete my resignation paperwork.

After Dana signed everything, she looked up at me as though she wanted to say something, but stopped herself.

I took back my employee badge and turned to leave.

I ran into Ryan near the entrance.

He stood at the far end of the hallway as though he had been waiting specifically for me.

“Nina,” he called. “Evan… He didn’t sleep at all last night. He sat in his office until morning.”

I stopped.

“Ryan, do you know why he sat there all night?”

“It wasn’t because I left.”

“It was because he didn’t know how to ask me to stay.”

Ryan opened his mouth but couldn’t find anything to say.

I smiled and walked away.

The day we left was a Wednesday.

Mom woke me at four in the morning.

The living room light was on, and she had reheated the chicken noodle soup from the night before.

“Have a bowl before we go. The food on the plane won’t be any good.”

—

I took a few spoonfuls, and my eyes suddenly began to sting.

It wasn’t because I was leaving the city.

It was because it had been so long since someone had cared whether I was fed and warm.

Before the cab arrived, Mom checked the zippers on our suitcases three times.

Dawn hadn’t broken yet, and the apartment hallway was silent.

We dragged our suitcases downstairs, and the sound of their wheels rolling over the tile echoed through the hallway.

A few more comments flashed in front of me.

[This doesn’t look like she’s acting out anymore.]

[The male lead still doesn’t know, does he? He’ll definitely stop her once he finds out.]

[Can he? He can’t even bring himself to say, “Stay.”]

At the airport, we checked our luggage and passed through security.

Beyond the glass walls of the terminal, the edge of the sky had just begun to turn gray-blue.

Mom leaned back in her chair and yawned, but she kept giving me instructions.

“When we get there, we’ll stay at my friend Carol’s place for a few days. Once we find an apartment, we can move out. Rent is cheap there. We’ll be able to get by.”

—

The boarding announcement came over the speakers.

I turned off my phone and took one last look at the sky over the city.

The final comments flashed in front of me.

[The female lead really left.]

[It’s over. She actually left this time.]

[The male lead… He still doesn’t know, does he?]

I turned and walked through the boarding gate.

That night, Evan sat at the office until morning.

He kept a tight grip on the quarterly award certificate that credited Chloe for my project and never let go.

Ryan sent him a screenshot showing what Dana had said about Nina in the break room.

[Nina only got hired because of her connections. She has no real talent.]

Evan looked at it once, then placed his phone facedown on the desk.

A long time passed before he told his assistant to contact Dana.

“Tell her we’ll discuss next quarter’s staffing changes tomorrow.”