Cornfield Confessions Chapter 1

It was harvest season. I called my ex, and he hung up immediately.

Then he texted me instantly.

[Not getting back together. Don't look for me.]

[Don't think I don't know. You just want me to bring my bodyguards to pick corn for you again.]

I blinked, sitting on the ridge of the field, reading the message three times.

Finally, I got up and continued picking corn.

I couldn't figure it out.

Mark had been clueless for three years. How did he suddenly discover the truth?

* * *

Staring at the messages, I zoned out for a long time.

Mark didn't text again, and I didn't reply.

Uncle Joe leaned over. "Hey, Mia. Is your gangster boyfriend not coming to pick corn this year?"

I stood up, dusting the dry grass off my butt. "Uncle Joe, they're bodyguards. It's a civilized society, what gangster?"

"When you have time, ask your son to buy you a smartphone. Watch some news, old man."

I went back to picking corn. Behind me, Uncle Joe spat on the ground.

"Pfft. Just got dumped by a rich guy. What's she pretending for?"

A sharp corn leaf sliced my hand. I hissed in pain.

Grandma heard and hurried over. "Let me see. I told you to wear gloves, but you wouldn't listen."

I sucked the dirt off my palm and spat it out. "Go back inside, Grandma. Grandpa will start fussing if no one's watching him."

Before Grandma could speak, the sound of a tractor rumbled in the distance.

I froze, staring.

No wonder Uncle Joe called Mark a gangster.

He was sitting at the front of the tractor, followed by a dozen bodyguards in black suits.

Some people's Prince Charmings ride white horses; mine rides a tractor.

Uncle Bill stopped the tractor at the edge of the field. Mark and I stared at each other from a distance.

After a long silence, he frowned and walked over to me.

"Getting back together is off the table. I was just passing by."

"Bored at home. Taking a walk."

"Oh," I said.

A rich city boy taking a dozen bodyguards for a walk in a cornfield thousands of miles from home. Unique.

He frowned at my hand. "Mia, when will your family stop planting this damn corn?"

I turned back to the corn, ignoring him.

Mark didn't care. His bodyguards expertly took off their black suit jackets, tossed them on the corn pile, and got to work.

It was early October, but the midday sun was still scorching. Many bodyguards took off their white dress shirts too.

As I worked, my eyes wandered.

Damn, those pecs are huge.

Those abs look hard.

Suddenly, a dark face appeared between two corn stalks, scaring the life out of me.

Mark was wearing white gloves, his face black as thunder.

"Put them back on!"

He grumbled, watching the bodyguards put their shirts back on, then glared at me, grinding his teeth.

"Indecent! Public nuisance! Shameless!"

A bodyguard muttered, "What public nuisance? We're in the middle of nowhere."

Before I could speak, Mark exploded. "Fine, rural nuisance then! So many girls and wives working in the fields, who are you showing off for?"

"If you hook someone's wife and she runs off with you, can you afford the responsibility?"

My head was pounding from his noise. I moved to another row.

He seemed determined to annoy me, following me to the opposite ridge.

I sighed, looking at the young master who had picked exactly three ears of corn in half an hour.

"I'll pay your bodyguards' wages. You go rest, it's hot."

Mark, born pale, was now flushed red from the sun.

"Who wants your money? Even if you feel bad for me, I won't get back with you that easily."

He stubbornly kept picking. I had nothing to say.