Human retionships really shouldn't be so fragile.

  But between lovers, sometimes a clean break is the only way to truly set each other free.

  ------------

  The results of the mock exam were released, along with the school rankings. I pced 108th overall and 20th in my css—not great, but not too bad either.

  Xiao Qing, on the other hand, did much better. She only stumbled a little in math; in everything else, she outperformed me. Her overall ranking was 66th.

  “Sixty-six—an auspicious number! One step closer to NTU,” she said, then suggested a small celebration at the café where I worked.

  Of course, I agreed right away and even offered her a half-price discount. Delighted, Xiao Qing called up Kingstone Bookstore to ask for leave.

  At 6 PM, she changed out of her uniform, and we headed to the café together, choosing a seat near the corner.

  “That cup of Kenya should be sitting somewhere around here, right?”

  Xiao Qing had sharp eyes. The moment she walked in, she scanned for power outlets, hoping for a bit of luck.

  “I have no idea if he’ll show up today,” I said. “Sometimes, he comes in the afternoon.”

  From a distance, Albus shook her head at me. Not only was her nose sharp, but her ears were, too.

  Xiao Qing had heard from me about Albus's uncanny ability, but she wasn't bold enough to try making up strange coffee names with her.

  Small talk with strangers wasn't in Xiao Qing's nature, so I wasn't worried she'd suddenly confess to Ze Yu on my behalf.

  Xiao Qing ordered a cup of Blue Hole coffee and a pte of pesto pasta.

  Mr. Kenya didn't arrive until around 8 PM—by then, Xiao Qing had already finished all her food and flipped through three magazines. But tonight, he didn't order a Kenya.

  Instead, he got two ttes.

  I carried the ttes over to Ze Yu and his “wild girlfriend,” sneaking a signal to him.

  He smiled and picked up the one with less milk.

  Just as I turned to head back to the counter, I suddenly heard Xiao Qing gasp.

  I looked back—one of the coffees was already gone because it was now dripping down Ze Yu's face.

  “How dare you do this to me! Do you have any idea how humiliating this is? You did this intentionally to embarrass me!”

  His wild girlfriend gred at him furiously.

  Xiao Qing watched the whole scene unfold, her mouth open in an exaggerated “that woman is crazy” shape.

  I couldn't agree with her more.

  Yet Ze Yu barely reacted, as if he had long expected this moment—just like how, years ago, Aaron Kwok got spshed in that old scooter commercial.

  (T/N: Aaron Kwok (郭富城), the famous Hong Kong singer, dancer, and actor. Aaron Kwok is one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Cantopop, alongside Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, and Leon Lai. He gained fame in the early 1990s as both a pop icon and a highly skilled dancer, often compared to Michael Jackson.)

  "You could have just told me you weren't up for it!" Did I ever force you? Do you know how embarrassing this is for me in front of my friends?” She continued her tirade, her voice full of righteous indignation.

  But when she saw Ze Yu's expression—so indifferent, so unshaken—her rage hit its breaking point.

  Her hand suddenly grabbed the full cup of coffee in front of him, her eyes widening.

  “Enough.”

  Albus pressed down on the wild girlfriend’s hand, stopping her from turning the coffee into a weapon, while pcing a gss of ice water on the table with the other hand.

  “If you find it absolutely necessary to throw something, throw the ice water. Otherwise, you'll be the one mopping the floor,” she said coldly, locked in a silent battle of wills with the girlfriend over the coffee cup.

  The girlfriend gred at Albus, torn between embarrassment and mispced anger, unwilling—and too proud—to back down just like that.

  By now, every customer in the café was staring.

  Somewhere to the right, a nosy patron even whispered a bet on whether the second cup of coffee would meet the same fate.

  “I'll clean the floor,” Ze Yu said bnkly, taking off his gsses, which were dripping with coffee.

  Then, slowly, he pushed aside both Albus’s and his girlfriend’s hands, picked up the remaining tte, and poured it over his face.

  The brown-and-white liquid streamed down his forehead, following the bridge of his sharp nose before splitting into countless tiny rivulets. They cascaded off his broad chin, finally soaking into his bck shirt.

  Albus didn't look surprised. She simply took the gss of ice water and walked away, as cool as ever.

  Xiao Qing and I, on the other hand, were completely stunned.

  The wild girlfriend, however, seemed slightly triumphant, as if she were already spinning this into A Precious Apology from My Boyfriend to brag about ter.

  “We should break up,” Ze Yu said.

  He didn't even blink.

  Even with every eye in the café on him, even under the weight of all that scrutiny, his expression remained firm—utterly unshaken.

  There was no room for compromise because there was no emotion left.

  “What do you mean?” Her voice wavered, though her eyes still tried to feign anger.

  Ze Yu said nothing.