2

At 9:45 on Monday morning, Prof. William White ended his first class of Robotik on time and then flew to Leipzig to attend an academic exchange meeting. After having dinner with colleagues in the academic circle, he waited for Emily Carter in the hotel garden. "Hey," Emily Carter came up behind him, turned around and sat opposite him.

"It's been a long time." William White raised his hand to signal the waiter and ordered two Cuba Libres.

Emily Carter interrupted him and asked the waiter to change one Cuba Libre to a cup of black tea.

William White then also gave up the Cuba Libre and ordered decaffeinated coffee instead.

When the waiter left, William White said, "Your taste has changed."

Emily Carter said, "I'm pregnant. I can't drink alcohol."

William White glanced at Emily Carter's pointed-toe high heels through his metal-rimmed glasses but said nothing.

Emily Carter said, "William, your taste has also changed."

William White said, "I've never liked alcohol or sugary drinks."

Emily Carter was slightly stunned, then quickly understood and laughed, saying, "That's your style. You can drink something you don't like for a lifetime."

William White said, "Liking isn't that important."

"I know. Responsibility is the most important, right? You're still so stubborn." Emily Carter subconsciously touched the brand-new wedding ring on her ring finger. This position once belonged to another ring.

If she hadn't discovered the pornographic magazines William White bought with pictures of men, maybe William White would still be her perfect husband. "Do you have a boyfriend?" Emily Carter asked. William White slightly frowned, seemingly not used to this term. When the waiter brought the coffee and tea, he took a sip of coffee and said,

"No."

"Do you know," Emily Carter picked up the small milk jug on the tray and let the fresh milk swirl and spread in the black tea, "He's not as good-looking as you, nor as smart as you, and not as considerate or responsible for the family as you. But with him, I feel everything is right. It's strange. You're perfect in every way, but I always feel something is missing, something is not right."

William White curled his lips slightly, just once, then quickly let them fall. "As long as you think it's good."

Emily Carter said, "What about you?"

William White said, "What about me?"

Emily Carter said, "What are your plans for the future?"

William White said, "I'm not in a hurry."

Emily Carter said, "If you had discovered before marriage that you preferred men, would you still have married me?"

William White didn't speak.

The silence was polite. Emily Carter also didn't say anything more and just picked up her tea cup and took a sip of black tea. Milk and tea stained her lips, but she didn't notice.

William White took out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and handed it to her.

Emily Carter took the handkerchief and saw the white cursive "White" embroidered on the dark blue handkerchief. Tears suddenly fell down. William White was just such a person: punctual for dates, always carrying a handkerchief, maintaining a moderate silence, but you would know that while he was silent, he was also paying attention to you. She thought this way, and tears began to fall one by one like beads, then they merged into a stream, flowing down her face without stopping.

"I—" Emily Carter choked up and couldn't continue, only constantly wiping her eyes with the handkerchief, making the area around her eyes red.

William White lowered his eyes, not looking at her slightly disheveled face, nor asking what was wrong, but simply said, "Hormonal influence. I understand." "... "No." Emily Carter shook her head, her voice very low.

Even though there were no other Britons around, she instinctively didn't want anyone to hear, because it was hard to put it nicely. "He cheated on me... After I got pregnant, he cheated on me."

William White didn't say anything. He just leaned forward slightly, allowing Emily Carter to lower her voice even more.

Emily Carter, while crying, spoke in a low voice about what had happened.

A breeze blew in the garden. Emily Carter sneezed and sniffled. William White took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

Emily Carter couldn't help but hold the hand that had draped the jacket over her. She turned her head to look into William White's eyes and said, "He's perfect in every way... But why can't he be like you? Even when you found out you liked men, you didn't cheat."

William White was silent for a moment and said, "People are different. Besides, I don't have any other virtues."

"No, you do... You're great. Really. I—" Emily Carter wiped her tears with difficulty. "I have to go. If I stay any longer, I might say something I shouldn't. Then I'd be a terrible person."

William White understood what she meant. She was afraid that she might accidentally say she wanted to start over with him.

Emily Carter stood up with the help of the armrest of the wicker chair. William White gave her a hand, making sure she wouldn't twist her ankle in her high heels before letting go.

"I'll walk you home." William White said. Emily Carter smiled through her red eyes and handed him the car keys. "Still so considerate."

William White said, "It's what I should do."

In the car, Emily Carter said, "Find a boyfriend."

Perhaps because it was the second time she had heard the word that day, William White wasn't as uncomfortable as before. He just said, "If there's a suitable one."

Emily Carter said, "Hurry up and find one. Don't give me a chance."

William White was driving, lost in thought. It wasn't until a red light when he stopped the car that he said, "Okay."

Emily Carter turned her head, looking out the window, and shed silent tears.

"William, do you think people always regret whatever they choose?"

William White said, "Probably."

He didn't really think so, but he could only say that to Emily Carter.

Emily Carter said, "Have you ever regretted anything?"

William White pretended to think for three seconds and said, "Well, I regret buying that porn magazine. The men in it weren't that good-looking anyway."

Emily Carter laughed through her tears. She knew William White was trying to cheer her up.

"Go find a boyfriend soon." She touched the wedding ring on her ring finger. "With social media so advanced these days, it's easy."

"I know it's easy." At another red light, William White felt a bit bored and loosened his tie.

Emily Carter took out William White's phone and took a photo. She was a little surprised that William White's phone hadn't changed its lock screen password. William White didn't notice what Emily Carter was doing with his phone and just focused on driving. He first dropped her off at home and then called a taxi company to get a car to pick him up and take him back to the hotel. It was quite late when he got back to the hotel. He took a shower, put on a bathrobe, put on his glasses, and started dealing with the unread emails. Emails from the school, emails from academic journals, emails from academic support institutions, emails from students... How could today's students write a sick leave email with grammar mistakes?

William White opened the scanned sick leave note in the attachment, took a quick look, and it was a cold and dizziness. These were the most common reasons for sick leave given by family doctors. He took another look at the student's name, Thomas, who was the only British student absent this morning. William White was once a student himself and of course knew what tricks students liked to play. So he replied with a polite email, saying that students who didn't attend the first class would not be able to understand the following classes, so they would have to retake the course in April next year. Finally, he hoped the other party would recover soon.

After dealing with the emails, his hair was still wet. William White was about to blow dry his hair and go to sleep when his phone suddenly vibrated. A message reminder popped up on the screen - [Distance] Just now, 9 people expressed "like" to you. Come and see who they are!

William White frowned slightly and clicked on the message. The screen jumped to the application interface of Distance.

When did he download this software? William White checked the software purchase record and found that it was downloaded and installed today. He spent another two minutes studying this application and found that it was a gay dating app. Entering the personal homepage interface, he found that he had already registered. The profile picture was the photo Emily Carter took of him in the car just now, and the name was Cycle. Why Cycle?

He recalled the past when Emily Carter showed him her phone and said in a teasing tone, "William, look, I've typed your name too many times. Now, as long as I type 'cy', my input method automatically suggests William."

Thinking of this, William White tried it. He typed 'cy' on the phone keyboard. Maybe he rarely typed his Chinese name, so the input method automatically suggested Cycle.

William White found it a bit funny.

He also remembered that he had promised Emily Carter to go socialize today, so he casually browsed through this app and then discovered the speed dating interface.

Looking at the photos one by one, he thought they were all dressed up in strange clothes like demons and monsters. Just as he was about to exit the app, he saw a very normal photo. The person in the photo had an unclear face, wearing only a simple white T-shirt and jeans. It was hard to tell if they were good-looking, but the sitting posture was somewhat attractive. The ankle exposed below the jeans was just the right thickness.

William White checked this person's information.

Name: F**** Gender: 0.5 Age: 24 Height: 182cm Weight: 70kg Relationship Status: Single Current Distance: 287km 24 years old, it seemed like there was too big an age gap.

William White didn't plan to click "No Interest" or "Like". He wanted to exit directly and then dry his hair and go to sleep.

Unexpectedly, just as he was about to exit the interface, a drop of water from his still-damp hair tips fell precisely at that moment.

With a soft "plop", the drop of water landed right on the "Like Very Much" spot on the phone screen.

William White didn't have time to do anything else before the Distance interface changed. Two large pink words, accompanied by countless hearts, popped up - Perfect Match. Then another line of text appeared on the screen: Cycle, congratulations! You and Frost are a perfect match!