Me After Meeting You

As Amber was walking back to her office, she ran into her middle school classmate and his wife. They were back for a checkup.

Amber never acted too formally with her patients, and she greeted them amiably, poured both of them a glass of water, and then, because they brought their baby with them, even played with the baby.

This little baby, swaddled in a bundle of blankets and sleeping with a red face, looked particularly cute.

Amber filled the time by asking about how hard it was to raise one, how the baby’s health was, how it was sleeping, and so on.

When they finished talking, she said, “Alright. It seems that your illness has improved a lot already.”

Amber’s classmate and wife were both slightly taken aback. “Just like that?” His wife even cautiously asked, “Is there really nothing else that has to be examined?”

Amber smiled kindly. “What else is there to do? If you’re in the state of mind to ask something like that, then that already shows that you’ve improved a lot since last time. People don’t have to be worried about always being clear-headed.

Rather, they should be worried about living in a messy state of mind. And right now, you’re certainly very awake. For example, you didn’t even cry when we talked about how tired you were from raising your child.

Thus, I feel like you’re already in a much better place. Postnatal depression originally stems from not being able to adapt to an entirely new set of circumstances after giving birth.

So, you just have to remember that, whether it’s your first pregnancy or your fourth, we’re all new to this, and since it’s something new, we’ll inevitably make some mistakes and have to correct them as they come.

But that’s alright, because as we keep moving forward, we’ll learn how to deal with all these problems. As long as we try our best, things will always get better.”

Amber’s voice was warm and gentle as she encouraged the couple, and even as she said these truisms, it didn’t sound long-winded. Both her classmate and his wife were captivated by her monologue.

After a while, Amber’s classmate sighed in admiration. “You’re getting better and better at talking, and your charm has only increased.”

This classmate of hers hadn’t progressed very far in his studies, and nuanced words like ‘affinity’ didn’t exist in his vocabulary. Instead, he had chosen to use the unusual description of ‘charming.’

Amber noticed that his wife’s expression faltered slightly, but Amber could only pretend to not have noticed anything. Instead, she smiled and told the wife, “See, he likes long-winded people. So whenever something comes up, or whenever you feel tired, wronged, in pain, or exhausted, just tell him. Tell him everything.

Men rarely pay attention to these things, so don’t expect him to anticipate your needs from just a glance. If you try to do so, you’ll just be stifling yourself, and on the other side, he’ll think that you’re trying to act coy.”

The young wife started chuckling, and Amber’s classmate was somewhat embarrassed. “Hey, don’t talk about me like that. I’m still a very good, caring, and affectionate man.”

“Yes, keep being a good man, then.” Amber said with a smile, ending the day’s consultation.

Because she had been at the university for the whole day yesterday, there were a lot of tasks on her plate today. Thus, Amber was preoccupied and didn’t have time to think about anything else.

Only after she got off work, returned home, and saw her empty apartment did she recall that Ian had said that he was going to renovate her apartment.

But was there a need to be this efficient and thorough? My goodness, all of her furniture had been dismantled and removed, her clothes and shoes were gone, and her apartment was truly devoid of anything besides its four walls.

At least leave her undergarments. Otherwise, what was she going to change into at night?

Moving everything away so quickly would leave even Dr. Camille in shock, all right?

Amber clutched at her forehead, staring at her desolate and empty apartment for quite a while in disbelief before finally calling Ian. “Where are my clothes?”

“At my place.”

She tried to stay patient. “If they’re all gone, then what am I supposed to change into at night?”

Ian seemed very surprised. “Don’t you know where I live?”

Amber was speechless. “….”

Trying to communicate with someone who didn’t understand her was too difficult, and she was honestly quite exasperated that she had fallen for such a self-centered man.

She could only comfort herself with the same words that she had used to to comfort someone else earlier ‘It’s all right. Men are just like that sometimes, and Ian is a man amongst men. So, hoping that he would be considerate or give advance notice was just a delusion!’

After she comforted herself, she left to find a place to stay for the night. Silvia and Trysta’s places were too far away to even be considered, but Susan’s might not be a bad choice.

Susan lived very close to the hospital, but in the opposite direction of Amber’s apartment, she lived in the north, and Susan in the south.

Susan had just gotten off work when she received her call. After she picked up and heard Amber’s plight, she immediately said, “Then, let me come fetch you.”

‘See, women were so thoughtful and considerate.’

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When Amber climbed into Susan’s car, she immediately leaned back against her seat and exhaustedly said, “I think that I should find a wife rather than a husband to marry.”

Susan threw an unopened cup of yogurt at her. “What kind of craziness are you spouting now?”

“I’m not crazy, just casually grumbling.”

Susan smiled. “Did your rich boyfriend do something to annoy you again?”

Amber couldn’t help herself from frantically unloading all of her complaints. “Seriously, he said that he was going to move in, and he just expected me to accommodate him like that. And to top it off, he even insulted my interior decor!

Alright, it’s fine if he wants to renovate it-he’s rich enough to not care about eighty or a hundred thousand dollar. Fine! But was there really a need to say that he was going to do it in the morning and then take everything from my apartment out before night time? All without telling me anything? Is this really okay? Is it?!”

Susan was laughing uncontrollably at this point. She had never seen Amber angry before, and her complaining made Susan feel like she was about to go crazy from laughter. She even had to park by the side of the road as she clutched at her stomach and guffawed.

Amber was gloomy. “Is it that funny?” She looked outside, bit down on her yogurt’s straw, and reminded Susan, “We can’t stop here.”

Susan was shedding tears from laughing too hard, and as she wiped them away, she said, “Then stop teasing me.”

Even Susan had rendered Amber speechless tonight. “….”