Ren Ying found herself standing in front of the door to her rented apartment, her grip tight on the handles of the cardboard box with the things she managed to gather from her workplace as she was nearly chased out by the familiar security guard who greeted her with a kind smile just a couple of hours ago.
Once more, hesitation gripped her as she contemplated opening the door. Wen Jie had always been concerned about Ren Ying's job, given that she was the sole breadwinner of their little household. Her early return was bound to heighten his anxiety, especially considering that these were the hours when he typically immersed himself in his art.
"Maybe I should consider telling a little white lie today," Ren Ying pondered. She shifted her weight, leaning against the cold wall of the building hall, and slowly closed her eyes, deep in thought about the choices before her.
"I could just tell him that my "generous" boss has granted me a day off to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. There's no need to divulge everything all at once; he might become anxious and upset again."
With this notion in mind, Ren Ying cautiously turned the doorknob and entered her apartment. She moved rather sneakily, almost as if she were breaking into her own home.
As Ren Ying discreetly hid the cardboard box behind the coats inside the closet, she cleared her throat and softly called out her boyfriend's name,
"Wen Jie?"
To her surprise, her call was met with the unusual silence of an empty apartment.
"That's weird... Is he not home? He is usually painting at this time of the day."
With a strange sense of curiosity, she walked into the living room, half-expecting to be greeted by the familiar disarray that typically accompanied Wen Jie's artistic endeavors, but to her astonishment, both the easel and her boyfriend's cherished sets of art supplies lay meticulously arranged in the designated corner of the room that served as his working station, clearly not used for days.
"Come to think of it... I haven't seen him working on his art for quite some time. Does he have an artist block or something? Does he go out to look for inspiration?"
Brushing aside these useless assumptions, Ren Ying resolved to dismiss this unusual change and proceeded towards the bedroom. Her intent was to snatch a brief respite before starting her preparations for the evening's long-awaited celebration.
However, her well-laid plans unraveled once more. The instant her foot crossed the bedroom threshold, her eyes fell upon the chaotic aftermath of Wen Jie's preparations for his unexpected outing.
"Gosh, just look at this mess! Seriously, where on earth did he dash off to that he felt the need to empty his entire wardrobe? And not a shred of effort put into making the bed, despite my months of continuous nagging."
With an exasperated exhale, she reached up and massaged the space between her eyebrows, as though attempting to smooth away the furrow of irritation that habitually marred her forehead.
"Well, I suppose I'm in cleanup mode now. My birthday's already taken a nosedive, so why not throw some laundry into the mix today as well?"
With yet another weary sigh escaping her lips, Ren Ying began to gather all the clothes her boyfriend had carelessly strewn about, cramming them into the laundry basket. She then made her way to the bathroom, where she crouched down before the washing machine.
While meticulously inspecting the pockets of Wen Jie's garments to ensure she wouldn't accidentally spoil a load with yet another forgotten crayon, her fingers brushed against a crumpled piece of paper nestled in the depths of his oversized black blazer.
At first, Ren Ying considered discarding it like the countless little sketches Jie was fond of creating whenever the mood struck him. However, an inexplicable urge compelled her to pause and unfurl the paper. As her eyes scanned its contents, a curious blend of excitement and bewilderment washed over her, leaving her head swirling with emotions.
"This is a receipt from the jewelry store... But why does it say that he purchased a men's watch?" Ren Ying's eyes drifted to the bottom of the receipt, and a look of complete astonishment overtook her as she beheld the staggering number of zeros appended to the price.
"What the hell?! Why would he buy a watch that costs more than a month's rent? And where in the world did he find the money for it?!"
Another surge of bewilderment inundated Ren Ying as she continued to stare blankly at the crumpled receipt, which trembled slightly in her hand. There was no doubt about it – the name on the receipt unmistakably read Wu Wen Jie. But the puzzling question remained: how could he possibly afford such a lavish purchase, particularly when she was the one managing their finances? And furthermore, what could be the reason behind this extravagant purchase?
Ren Ying pondered the possibility of her boyfriend purchasing the watch as a gift for a friend or relative, but she swiftly dismissed this thought as well. She was intimately acquainted with all of Jie's friends, and none of them had any significant occasions on the horizon.
"Even if they did," she reasoned aloud, "none of his friends or relatives would appreciate something like this. So, what's really going on here?"
In a spur-of-the-moment decision, she let the blazer fall to the floor and nearly leaped to her feet. Her sense of urgency propelled her back to the living room and her boyfriend's workspace. Her hands moved with unexpected haste, rifling through the boxes of Jie's art supplies, unfurling sheets of paper, and spilling pencils and pens until, at last, she found what she was looking for.
Beneath the acrylic tubes within a rectangular wooden box, Ren Ying discovered a square leather-covered box, emblazoned with the jewelry store's name meticulously inscribed in black ink.
Without hesitation, Ren Ying opened the box and arched her eyebrows as she saw an unbelievably beautiful and definitely expensive-looking watch wrapped around a neat velvet pillow.
Her mind wrestled with a suffocating blend of frustration and confusion. Not only had her boyfriend made a secret, extravagant purchase, but he also felt compelled to conceal it from her.
Something was definitely wrong, and she wanted to know what it was.
Thus, she stuffed the leather-covered box into her bag and bolted from the apartment, ignoring everything but the deafening sound of her wildly beating heart.