Imprisoned

3(a)

I asked Oliver, "You have given me the silent treatment for half a month, and you ignored me. Is that because you like me?"

Oliver nodded slightly and lowered his eyes. His long eyelashes cast a shadow under his eyelids, covering the emotions in his eyes.

I shook the iron chain on my wrist and asked, "Why didn't you tell me earlier that you liked me? Why do you have to do this to me if you really like me?"

All of a sudden, Oliver raised his head. I found that his eyes were red and tearful, which made him look a little pitiful.

But I knew what kind of person he was. He must have crazy ideas hidden under his innocent look.

Then Oliver said in a low voice, "Because I saw you with that guy in Moonlight Hall."

It only took me a few seconds to realize who Oliver was talking about.

It was Timothy Turner, my ex-boyfriend.

From sophomore to senior years, I had been with Timothy for three years, and then we broke up before graduation.

There was nothing special about the reason why we broke up. It was just because of graduation. At that time, we were busy with our own business, and it was really impossible to take the other person into account in our uncertain future plans.

Before leaving Connellsville, Timothy hugged me tightly for five minutes and said in a hoarse voice, "Fiona, I owe you a burgundy dress. I will return it to you one day."

The dress he mentioned was the one I chose when we went shopping on Auburn Street. It was from a luxury brand and cost more than 550 dollars. We couldn't afford it with our living expenses.

I patted Timothy on the shoulder and said, "No, thanks. Just move on and live your life."

I thought I would never meet Timothy again in my life, but three years later, he contacted me as soon as he came back, saying that he would take me to Auburn Street to buy the dress.

I couldn't refuse him, so I had to go out with him on a weekend.

Looking at Timothy's expectant eyes, the shop assistant smiled apologetically and said, "The dress you mentioned was from the spring collection three years ago. It has been taken off the market for a long time."

After lunch at Moonlight Hall, I shrugged and said to Timothy, "Look, we can't go back."

I was lost in thought and didn't notice the look on Oliver's face.

When I came back to reality, I found that Oliver was close to me. His burning breath covered my face and his eyes were full of coldness and suppressed anger.

Then he held my hand so tightly that I felt a little pain. "Fiona, are you thinking about him?"

I tried to comfort Oliver, saying, "Why would I miss him? I have broken up with him."

"Broken up," Oliver murmured and suddenly leaned over to kiss me.

I didn't notice his action and he suddenly kissed my lips. I tried to dodge in a hurry.

However, Oliver exerted so much strength that I couldn't break free for a while. I could only force words out of my mouth as his lips pressed mine tightly. "Oliver, it's not..."

"Did you do this before you broke up?"

As Oliver spoke gently, he put his arm on my waist and fastened it. His breath became hotter and hotter.

"And... How about this?"

"Oliver!"

I couldn't stand it anymore and kicked him away.

Being kicked on the belly by me, Oliver immediately bent down in pain but then looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

Thinking of what I said just now, I felt a little guilty.

Then I cleared my throat and reached out to touch Oliver's hair to comfort him.

"Oliver, although you like me, you have to slow down. Besides, after you went abroad, I thought you would never come back. And I went to college later. Wasn't it normal for me to have a boyfriend?"

Oliver's eyes were cold and gloomy. When he looked at me again, he deliberately hid his emotions and pretended to be tender.

3(b)

Since a long time ago, when I found out that Oliver was not a kind and warm person in nature, he always looked at me like this.

At this moment, Oliver looked at me and said in a hoarse voice, "Fiona, you promised me that you would wait for me to come back."

I was stunned for a long time and finally remembered that in my graduate year of high school, I went to the airport to see Oliver off before he went abroad. He indeed told me to wait for him then.

But the point was that he went abroad like he was escaping from the country in that situation.

When I heard him saying "wait for me", I just thought he was being polite.

Besides...

"Oliver, when you were in high school, you liked Helen Rogers, didn't you? Why did you say you liked me then?"

After a moment's silence, Oliver asked, "Who is Helen Rogers?"

He was still pretending to be ignorant!

I didn't want to talk about it with him, so I changed the topic. "Give me my phone."

Oliver shook his head and said, "Fiona, I can't give it to you. What do you want? I'll buy it for you."

I thought he was just kidding, but I didn't expect him to mean it.

I raised my eyebrow and ridiculed him. "It suddenly occurred to me that I received a bonus last week. I have planned to buy the 14,000-dollar diamond bracelet which I have wanted to buy for a long time."

Unexpectedly, Oliver nodded and said, "Okay."

Then he turned around and left.

The moment the door opened, I squinted my eyes and saw the black-white-and-gray style decoration outside.

The room I was imprisoned in now was filled with a fresh orange fragrance, and the decoration color was warm and light. It seemed to be the only different room in the house.

Half a minute later, Oliver came back.

The first thing he said was "I've bought the bracelet."

I was so shocked that I jumped up from the bed and asked in a trembling voice, "Did you use my money?"

Then I immediately realized that I didn't have so much money.

As expected, a faint smile appeared on Oliver's face. "I bought it, Fiona."

Oliver was so generous. He spent 14,000 dollars so casually.

Oliver went over and rubbed my cheek with his as he said gently, "Fiona, what else do you want?"

"I'm hungry. I want to have pizza from Rocky Escape."

"Okay."

"I also want to have lemonade, French fries, and hamburgers."

"No problem."

"I want..." I suddenly paused and then raised my hand to shake the chain on my wrist. "Can you untie me, Oliver? I won't run away."

Oliver shook his head and gently combed my hair. Then he sat next to me and rubbed my fingertips.

After a while, the food I wanted to eat was sent here by the assistant of Oliver's company.

The girl stood at the door and wanted to say something, but she stopped on a second thought. Judging from her struggling expression, I guessed she was hesitating whether to call the police or not.

She was a very righteous girl. I immediately shouted at her, "Don't call the police. I'm having fun with Oliver!"

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, put down the things, and said in a low voice, "Mr. and Mrs. Moore, goodbye."

Ignoring her, Oliver put the lemonade in front of me and looked at me with burning eyes.

Seeing that I drank it happily, Oliver finally showed a smile.

"Fiona, what else do you want? I'll go buy it."

I didn't want him to do anything for me suddenly.

Oliver looked at me innocently with his clear eyes at this moment, as if those unfortunate and terrible things had never happened to him.

Eyes didn't lie. Oliver really liked me. At this moment, he imprisoned me here, but his soul was at my feet.

I couldn't use his love for me to control his soul.

After a moment of silence, I said, "Oliver, please sit with me for a while."

4(a)

Then, Oliver sat on the ground with his head on my knees.

His warm temperature passed through the thin skirt cloth and was sent to the surface of my skin as he breathed.

Holding my hand, Oliver said softly, "When I was receiving treatment there, I almost couldn't live anymore, but I always thought that I could see you again when I came back. Fiona, what would you do if I couldn't come back? Would you forget me completely?"

I was silent and didn't know what to say.

Half a year ago, Oliver came back to the country. Before that, I had been living a hard life in Connellsville for two and a half years.

I was always scolded by my leaders and clients. I didn't get quite along with my colleagues. And I sought happiness by stimulating my brain with junk food and horror films.

The repeated monotony was everything in my life.

When I was a child, I was a bully in the kindergarten. I was excellent and popular in primary school, and then I became an ordinary girl in middle school. I was not beautiful, but lively.

If it weren't for the fact that Oliver had come back and suddenly participated in my life like an inserted episode in my life movie, I would have almost accepted the fact that I was just an ordinary person.

When I met Oliver in junior high school, I was not as stupid as I was in kindergarten.

At that time, I had figured out the whole story of that incident many years ago. I knew that Oliver tricked me at the beginning because I beat him. Then he helped me write my name and made up with me because he wanted to take me home to prove to his father and stepmother that he really made friends in kindergarten.

Oliver's father was not a good man.

Later on, Oliver was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which was mainly caused by Henry.

In the beginning, I didn't know that Oliver was ill, let alone that he went abroad to cure his disease and escape from his father's control.

Since childhood, Oliver had been paranoid and extreme. He would cover his true personality up in front of others, but he would expose his true self to me.

Or, he would ask me repeatedly for a firm answer with fake tenderness.

He wanted the answer his parents had never given him from me.

"No matter what kind of person you are, I won't leave you."

Oliver's mother was born into a rich family. Like all the cliché stories, she fell in love with a poor young man and insisted on marrying him.

Because of her family's objection, she stole a sum of money and eloped with the man to another city.

She helped him start his own business and gave birth to a child for him. Then she found out that he had an affair and suffered from pregnancy depression. After the birth of Oliver, her condition worsened and she jumped down from the window of the ward.

Two months after she died, Henry married his lover.

Back then, after telling me the story, Oliver tilted his head to look at me and asked, "What will you think, Fiona?"

I hesitated for a while, but I couldn't help but feel angry. I gritted my teeth and cursed, "Your father is really a bastard."

After a short pause, Oliver laughed and said, "You're right."

Because of this, I hated Henry very much. When I met him at the door of the classroom before the parent-teacher conference, Henry asked me hypocritically, "Kid, where is Oliver's seat?"

But when I looked up, he changed his expression. Apparently, he recognized me.

However, Henry even went to find our head teacher and said that I was ill-bred and beat the elders. He demanded that I should be transferred out of this top class.

Henry had no relationship with me, and he was just a scumbag. How could he say that I beat the elders?

Fortunately, our head teacher was a reasonable person. She perfunctorily replied, "She's just a kid." And Henry had nothing to retort.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I couldn't help but vent my anger on Oliver.

However, Oliver bought my favorite potato chips and hot chocolate and whispered to me, "If you hate him, I can kill him for you. Don't ignore me."

After drinking the hot chocolate, I remembered that when I was a child, Oliver was beaten by his father with a fork.

"That's right. He is so bad to you. If I give you the silent treatment, he will be happy."

That was it. So I made up with Oliver unilaterally. Actually, he didn't intend to quarrel with me at all.

4(b)

After Oliver came back to Connellsville, I was too busy with my work. Most of the time, when Oliver asked me out, I could only refuse him.

On the night Oliver arrived in Connellsville, he called me and said that he would take me to dinner.

When I got his phone call, I was working overtime at the company to finish a plan. I didn't even have time to be surprised that he had returned. "Well, let's make an appointment another day. I'm so busy now."

In the next month, I finally found time to meet Oliver. Then, with a smile on his face, he told me, "In fact, when I called you, I had ordered the dishes."

"What?" I was stunned and felt very sorry. "I'm sorry, Oliver... But I was really busy at that time. I think you could cancel the dishes that hadn't been served, right?"

"You didn't come, so I ate it up by myself," said Oliver, still smiling, without any change in his expression. "I won't cancel them. I will wait for the day you come to meet me."

Oliver raised his chin slightly and continued, "Now you're here."

I suddenly recalled the old days. The handsome man in front of me gradually overlapped the handsome boy with gloomy eyes in my memory.

I had been working for too long. The people I dealt with were all ordinary people who were living a hard life like me.

So I almost forgot that Oliver was different from me.

He was as delicate and fragile as a glass man. Life had made his whole body full of cracks, but he still maintained his inherent arrogance.

The strangest thing was that a vulgar person like me could even make friends with him by accident.

Later, Oliver often asked me out, but I was tortured by work and had to refuse him most of the time.

Half a month ago, he said that he wanted to go to the hot spring with me in the suburbs. I had promised him. The second day, I called him apologetically and told him that I might break my promise.

Although I didn't want to do that, I really had no choice.

It was because my best friend, Charlotte Cooper, had encountered some trouble.

Harrison Reed, Charlotte's ex-boyfriend, a jobless vagabond, kept pestering Charlotte, and she couldn't get rid of him.

Charlotte even called the police, and Harrison was detained for three days. However, after the jerk was released, he continued to harass Charlotte shamelessly. "Charlotte, it's useless. You have messed with me, and you will never be able to get rid of me for the rest of your life."

Charlotte was so angry that she cursed Harrison madly, but Harrison didn't spare her. So she had no choice but to ask me for help.

Charlotte was petite and weak.

But I was different. I used to work out, and I had worked as a delivery person in the storms. I had great strength.

I found Harrison downstairs from Charlotte's home and pretended to fall in love with him at first sight. I insisted on inviting him to dinner.

After dinner, we left the restaurant together. When Harrison was about to touch me, I screamed and punched him in the chin.

Then I raised my knees and hit him hard in the abdomen. When he was so painful that he knelt down and vomited, I pretended to cry and said, "You loser! I was kind enough to invite you to dinner, but you molested me. Shame on you!"

Harrison was dumbfounded. He vomited all the food he had just had and then spit out a mouthful of saliva with blood, looking at me ferociously and saying, "You are fooling me!"

Then Harrison rushed to me. I clenched my fists, ready to fight, but I failed to punch him.

Because Oliver suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding Harrison's collar from behind and looking coldly at Harrison struggling in the air like a chick. Then Oliver punched Harrison hard. Immediately, Harrison's face was covered with blood.

After Harrison spat out a tooth with blood, Oliver slowly loosened his grip and let Harrison fall to the ground weakly. Then Oliver said expressionlessly, "Fuck off."

Then Harrison left.

I looked at Oliver who was standing a few steps away, feeling embarrassed.

I had told Oliver that my leader forced me to work overtime in the company that day. Now it seemed that I deliberately blew him off.

After a long time of silence, I said, "I can explain."

"I've seen everything," said Oliver, looking at me coldly. "Since you fell in love with him at first sight."

Oh my God.

I was in a dilemma. I hesitated for a long time and didn't say anything.

Without saying a word, Oliver looked at me and smiled faintly, with tears in his eyes.

Then he turned around and left without looking back.

In the next two weeks, he didn't speak to me.