My boyfriend, Leon Kramer, goes on a ten-day trip.

When he comes back, he suddenly makes a casual remark as we lay in bed after an intimate session in bed.

He says, "I've never noticed how fair you are."

After he falls asleep, I take a look at the photo gallery on his phone.

There are hundreds of photos featuring him and the woman he's been with over the last ten days. She has tanned skin and isn't as fair as I am.

I put his phone back without a word.

Actually, my new target isn't as fair as Leon is. I keep quiet about it, afraid of exposing myself.

While we were being intimate, Leon Kramer slipped his hand under my pajamas.

Then, he suddenly raised an eyebrow and said, "Hey, Xandra. I've never noticed before, but you're actually pretty fair."

I froze for a moment. A thought surfaced in my mind, but it was quickly interrupted by what he was doing.

Biting my lip, I thought hazily, "As expected of a younger guy. His stamina is bottomless."

…

After he fell asleep, I slipped on my robe and got up.

What Leon said earlier was intriguing. After coming back from a ten-day trip, he came back and suddenly noticed that I was fair.

So, who wasn't fair, then?

Silently, I picked up his phone and unlocked it by entering his birthday. I opened the photo gallery.

I didn't know if he hadn't had time to delete them or just assumed I'd never check his phone, but hundreds of recent photos with another young woman appeared right before my eyes.

Standing on the golden sand before the pyramids, he had his arm around a young woman dressed in a steampunk-style shawl, who was grinning broadly and showing a full set of pearly teeth.

She didn't look very old, as she seemed to be in her early 20s. She wasn't stunning, but she was pleasant-looking enough. The woman had blonde hair, a round face, and big doe eyes. When she smiled, it carried that distinct brightness of youth.

As I kept scrolling, the photos became increasingly inappropriate.

They were in a hotel pool, in front of massive floor-to-ceiling windows, and on a large double bed. When their bodies were intertwined, the young woman didn't seem to mind Leon taking photos of them at all.

Young people nowadays were so incredibly bold.

Most importantly, she had a tanned complexion.

Now, I understood why Leon said I looked fair. He had spent ten full days with her before coming back to me, so of course I'd seem fair in comparison.

I quietly placed the phone back beside Leon's pillow and glanced at him. His brows and eyes were relaxed as he slept soundly. Under the moonlight, his prominent forehead cast deep shadows over his eye sockets, where long eyelashes adorned his closed eyelids.

How nice it was to be young. One could fall asleep the moment their head hit the pillow.

I reached out and gently touched his eyelid. His lashes trembled slightly, but he didn't wake up.

The first time I met Leon was when my younger cousin, Kelly Porter, started college. I went to visit her on campus.

A crowd of girls had gathered on the field. Curious, I squeezed in and heard the sound of a guitar.

The evening breeze brushed through the boy's hair. His slender fingers strummed the guitar, and the setting sun outlined the firm yet not overly bulky lines of his back. His thin eyelids carried a faint blush.

His long lashes were lowered slightly as he sang a foreign song, his voice husky and magnetic.

I listened carefully, and it sounded like he was singing in Farvoan.

The girls around us chattered and snapped photos.

Kelly tugged at my arm excitedly. "Xandra, that's the lead singer of a band formed by students here! Isn't he handsome? He could totally debut right away!"

He really was handsome. I nodded, intrigued.

So, when he finished singing that day and the girls rushed up to ask for his number, I—much to Kelly's shock—also handed him my phone.

What happened next followed naturally.

Leon posted on social media asking where he could find a good recording studio, and I recommended a friend's studio to him. To thank me, he treated me to a meal. Later, I helped him out a few more times, and before long, the two of us ended up together.

Leon didn't like living in the dorms, so I moved out with him. He didn't like takeout, so I learned to cook three meals a day for him. He didn't like having strangers in the house, so I terminated the cleaning service and took over all the housework myself.

It was fair to say that over these past few years, I'd taken care of him in every possible way.

Kelly, who initially gritted her teeth in frustration, later felt conflicted about our relationship.

She warned me, "Leon seems pretty flirty. I've heard he's gone through more than a dozen girlfriends in a year. Don't fall in too deep."

I had been with Leon for three years, from his sophomore to senior year.

Kelly was shocked and guessed that he must have given up his playboy ways for me.

I smiled and said nothing. Deep down, I knew he hadn't.

During the years we were together, the number of new girls added to Leon's phone never stopped growing. There were freshman girls who had just enrolled, senior girls from his band, campus belles from other institutions… His flirtatious nature never seemed to rein itself in.

The first time I found out, I was angry. Leon knelt on the ground and hugged me. He swore he'd never do it again. He said he loved me and begged me not to leave him. But not long after, I discovered him going to the hotel with the band's female bassist.

So, it was the same cycle again. He apologized, and I forgave him.

Eventually, Leon seemed convinced that I would never leave him. So, he gradually became fearless.

Even when I caught him, he would just smile nonchalantly. "Come on, Xandra. I'm still young. It's normal to want to have fun, right? Why don't you wait for me? Maybe when I'm your age, I'll settle down."

Once, I saw one of his friends ask in their group chat, "Aren't you worried your girlfriend will get mad if you keep messing around outside?"

He replied, "No way. She's completely devoted to me. She can't leave me."

I pulled my hand out of Leon's and lay flat on my back.

Honestly, I understood why he thought that way. After all, for these past three years, I really had acted like I liked him a lot. But he had it wrong. The reason I didn't break up with him wasn't because I couldn't leave. It was because I didn't see the need to.

Leon liked to fool around, but he was careful about it. Where else could I find someone as handsome, as young, and with as much stamina as him?

I was 29 years old this year. I'd been working as an executive assistant for three years. The pressure from my job was intense. I needed some way to let off steam.

Picking up men outside would be too much trouble, and the quality would be inconsistent. Men in their early 20s were my best option. I needed someone whom I could rely on long-term without any burden to relieve stress.

Older men might have money, but that didn't mean they'd spend it on me. But a younger guy? His energy was something he'd genuinely put into me.

I enjoyed his body and his youth. Naturally, I had to give something in return—either money or taking care of him in his daily life. It was just a fair, equal exchange. I never felt like I was losing out.

As for his wandering heart, well, I didn't really care. After all, I had no intention of marrying him. Dating a younger guy was just for fun. But if I were to get married, I'd need someone reliable.

A younger guy might have stamina, but it wasn't just directed at me. It was directed at others, too.

I glanced at the calendar. There were two months left until my 30th birthday. By then, it would be time for me to find a proper man and settle down.

I looked at Leon with a hint of regret. He seemed to feel warm in his sleep and impatiently kicked off the blanket, revealing the clean lines of his obliques along his side, reminding me of how they tensed with force.

When I saw that young woman from the photos in my apartment, I froze for a moment, thinking I hadn't fully woken up.

Her blonde hair was now tied into a messy bun at the back of her head. She wore an oversized sweater that was so loose that I couldn't tell if she was wearing any pants underneath. It was matched with a pair of khaki, studded steampunk boots.

I stood there, stunned, as Leon casually put his arm around my shoulders and introduced her.

He said, "Hey, Xandra. This is my cousin. She's crashing here for a few days."

The young woman looked me up and down before reluctantly extending her hand. "Zoe Braun."

At that moment, I almost laughed out loud. I finally understood the saying that when people were speechless at a situation, they would end up laughing in exasperation.

How stupid did Leon think I was to come up with such a clumsy, perfunctory excuse? To think he actually brought the side piece he was cheating on me with into our home.

At the same time, I felt a bit envious of this kind of impulsive, go-with-the-flow relationship that young people had. It was obvious that after their ten days together, Zoe couldn't let go. So, she followed him here with all her things. Youth, indeed.

Maybe the situation had become so absurd that I couldn't even bring myself to feel angry anymore. I wanted to see just how far Leon could go beyond the limits of my understanding.

That evening, while we were eating together, Zoe sat beside Leon and looked at me. Suddenly, she propped her chin on her hand and talked to me.

Zoe asked, "Xandra, how much older are you compared to Leon?"

I thought for a moment and answered, "Seven years."

"That much?" She widened her eyes, feigning curiosity. "They say a three-year gap is a generational gap nowadays. Don't you two have a wide gap between you, then?"

"Not really," I replied calmly.

"Would his family even approve of someone your age?" Zoe laughed, covering her mouth. "I don't mean you're old or anything. Don't take it the wrong way."

I laughed inwardly. Her provocation didn't irk me at all. It just felt ridiculous.

I set down my cutlery and looked at her with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "Yeah, I think our age gap is pretty big. But Leon likes me, so what can I do? It's actually kind of troubling."

Zoe's smile faltered. "I still think people should be with someone more or less their own age. It's fine now, but when he's 30 years old and at his peak, you'll be almost 40. If you go out together, people might think you're his mom."

"That's not something you need to worry about," I responded steadily.

Then, I placed a piece of meat onto her plate and smiled. "You should worry more about yourself. You don't have a job or a boyfriend. Are you planning to keep crashing at your cousin's place forever? But I guess if you have enough cousins, you could rotate between them."

Zoe's face darkened instantly.

Leon quickly tried to smooth things over by reaching out to take my plate. "Hey, Xandra. Want another plate of pasta?"

I set my cutlery down and said, "No, I'm full. You two enjoy."

…

I was a light sleeper. When Leon carefully got out of bed in the middle of the night, I woke up. I lay still in bed, listening as his footsteps quietly moved toward the door before heading out.

A few minutes later, faint sounds of running water came from the bathroom.

I sighed and sat up. I really did like Leon, and I wanted to keep things going with him a little longer. After all, every extra day enjoying a young man's body felt like a bonus to me.

But now that things had reached this point, I couldn't tolerate it anymore.

How he chose to fool around outside was his business. But bringing another woman home was a different story—he was disrupting my life. I didn't want to come home exhausted from work every day just to bicker meaninglessly with some other woman.

I wasn't a lovesick teenage girl anymore. I'd long passed the age when girls fought over a man.

I walked to the bathroom door. Through the narrow gap, I saw two overlapping silhouettes.

Zoe's breathing grew heavier. "Won't that old hag notice you came out? What if she gets mad and breaks up with you?"

Leon laughed in a carefree manner, his wet kisses drowned out by the sound of water. He said, "Relax. She won't leave me."

Zoe sounded a little unhappy. "What do you even like about her?"

"I like how good she is to me," Leon answered her as if he were stating something obvious. "She takes care of me like my mom. I feel comfortable when I'm with her."

"Then, why cheat? Aren't you afraid she'll feel hurt?" Zoe pressed.

"I've offered my youth, haven't I?" Leon replied.

I stood behind the door and listened expressionlessly.

Perhaps people tended to feel a little bit more emotional or sentimental at night. Even though I had already prepared myself mentally, I realized I wasn't as indifferent as I thought at that moment.

After all, I'd been with Leon for three years. There was bound to be some attachment. This was such a pity.

Leon grabbed her waist and bit her shoulder, laughing softly. "Come on. Let's not ruin the mood by talking about that. Stay a few more days. I think this makes it even more exciting…"

I didn't listen any further. I went back to my room and started packing.

I have my own place. I only moved in with Leon to take better care of him.

Over the past six months, I had already been gradually moving my more important things back home. What remained here wasn't important. I didn't need to take them with me.

I took one last look at the blue-and-white couple's pajamas hanging on the balcony, the pile of cartoon mugs on the table, and the two pairs of plush indoor slippers on the floor. One was large, and the other was smaller.

Quietly, I closed the door and left.