City of Longing

The next evening, George said he had prepared a surprise and took Cora out. When they arrived at the restaurant, the server led them directly to a private room on the top floor.

The moment the door opened and she saw the room filled with flowers and candles, Cora's eyes sharpened.

George smiled and pulled out a chair for her. "Cora, do you like it?"

She froze for a few seconds without speaking, then sat down silently. He picked up the menu and ordered a table full of dishes, all her favorites. When the food arrived, he even cracked crab legs and deveined shrimp for her.

Throughout the evening, he kept finding topics to talk about and even brought up memories from when they were dating.

"Remember when we first got together? You'd come with me to all my classes every day. My professor kept calling on you so often that he privately asked me why everyone else accompanies their girlfriends to class, but with you, it was reversed..."

Faced with this sudden warmth from him, Cora felt uncomfortable. "What's gotten into you today?"

"I just noticed you haven't seemed happy lately, so I wanted to cheer you up. There's another surprise coming soon."

As he spoke, he checked his watch, then drew back the curtains.

Cora turned to look and heard a series of loud booms. Over a thousand fireworks rose into the sky, bursting open in brilliant, dazzling displays. Watching the heart shapes blooming in the air, Cora was frozen in place.

"You arranged all this?"

Before George could answer, the door to the private room burst open. Kimberly barged in with a group of people. Someone was snapping several photos with a Polaroid camera.

"Cora, are you satisfied with tonight's date? This was my carefully planned surprise. Isn't it romantic?"

Hearing Kimberly's smug tone, Cora's face, filled with complicated emotions, went rigid. She turned to look at George and asked the question again, though her voice now trembled.

"You arranged all this?"

George did not notice the change in her tone. He shook his head slightly and smiled at Kimberly. "No, it was Kimberly's idea. Why?"

Kimberly looked triumphant. "That's right. I heard George stood you up on your wedding anniversary, so I came up with this idea. The restaurant, flowers, candles, dishes, and fireworks were all my recommendations. I wanted to make sure you had an unforgettable evening.

"Oh, and did you get that perfume? I spent forever picking it out. Do you like it?"

It turned out all of this was Kimberly's arrangement. No wonder George was being so proactive.

In an instant, Cora recalled all the things Kimberly had done in college to push them together. Kimberly had told George to buy flowers, take her to amusement parks, send her good night messages at the same time every day.

He had followed through like a robot. Even his tone during the confession had been stiff.

Hearing the group of people around them praise Kimberly's clever arrangements, a deep sense of powerlessness washed over Cora.

Kimberly had arranged all this just to prove one thing to her. No matter how hard she tried to hold onto the past, the beginning, the end, and even the middle of her relationship with George had never been in her control.

From start to finish, everything had been in Kimberly's hands.

Cora could only accept it, and George was perfectly content with that.