When the Lights Go Out in Manhattan Chapter 7

In the new round of Truth or Dare, the loser was Chloe.

She chose "Dare"—Kiss any guy at this table.

She shot me a provocative glance, then slowly leaned toward Julian, her face flushed red.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" The people at the table started chanting.

Julian didn't expect that I would be clapping and chanting along with them.

In the final second, right as the chanting reached its peak.

Julian raised his hand, blocking the space between him and Chloe, publicly rejecting her kiss.

Humiliated, Chloe glared at me viciously, covered her face, and ran out in tears.

Julian simply rolled up his sleeves and started grilling meat for me in front of his confused colleagues.

When the party broke up, Chloe, who had been hiding at the back door of the restaurant, blocked Julian and me. Her face was streaked with tears.

She gripped the hem of Julian's shirt tightly, sobbing, insisting he drive her home personally.

Julian looked at me, torn.

"Eleanor, she doesn't live far. We can drop her off together—"

My ringtone interrupted his self-righteous arrangement.

I got into a passing yellow cab and rolled down the window.

"You take care of her. I have plans."

Later, I heard from colleagues that Julian didn't end up taking Chloe home.

As for why, I didn't care.

The weekend after the gathering, I got up early, dressed up, and went to a converted warehouse in Brooklyn for a college friend's wedding.

Just as I was swaying to the music with my friends, having a great time, Julian called.

At first, I hung up directly.

But he persisted, redialing over and over.

I had to apologize to my friends and find a relatively quiet corner to answer.

"Eleanor, why did you block me?"

I paused before remembering I had indeed dragged his contact to the blacklist on my birthday.

I let out an impatient "Tsk."

"You called twenty times for this?"

The man on the other end was silent for a long time before saying something I didn't expect.

He said he was in the parking lot outside the wedding venue.

"Eleanor, I'm waiting. Come find me when you're done."

I hung up and checked my phone, quickly realizing how Julian found me.

Years ago, the family tracking app Life360 was popular. I badgered Julian into installing it.

We had a huge fight the night he installed it. He said I was psychotic for putting an "electronic dog chain" on him.

But before installing it, I had clearly told him the function could be turned off unilaterally.

Later I found out that night he was with friends, and they mocked him for being "whipped" when they saw the app.

Julian came home and used it as an excuse to scream at me until I cried, then triumphantly turned off his location sharing.

Years later, I never expected Julian would become the kind of person he once despised just to find me.