Ha Jin’s “Flame” told the story of a woman who receives a letter from a past love who she hasn’t seen or heard from in 17 years. She cannot understand why he’s reached out or told her about his life, but she writes back that her family will receive him. To prepare, she starts working out, getting her house ready, and finding a way for her husband to get a better job. She wants to be sure everything is ready when her past love comes back to see her.
At the end of the story, he never shows up. Everything is as the woman planned, but her old flame sends someone else with gifts of fish and oil which her husband notes were probably free. I find it ironic that he sends her food the same way her husband used to before he was her husband. It was the reason her mother made them marry in the first place. I think that was his ultimate revenge: showing her he could’ve been what she wanted all along.
What I also find ironic about this story is that, even though he was trying to hurt her and get his revenge, she ended up making her and her husband’s life better in preparation. She started a new healthy lifestyle, improved her house, and got her husband a promotion. Maybe she was hurt in the moment due to all the buildup and anticipation, but it seemed like her life overall was better at the end than it was at the beginning. (This may be a realist-way of looking at it since from another point of view this could be seen as a tragic love story.)