My boyfriend's childhood sweetheart lost a game. The penalty was to slap a female friend in the room. And the only other woman there, was me. She stood up, acting all hesitant. "I don't know, Victoria is older than us. She probably doesn't like the kind of games we young people play." The rest of the crowd jeered: "If you don't slap her, you have to down your drink." Mia looked conflicted. "But I'm severely allergic to alcohol." My boyfriend nudged me toward Mia. "Just let her slap you, it's not a real slap anyway, just for show." "Mia is allergic to alcohol, she can't drink. Don't make this hard for her." I thought I misheard him. I asked again. Noah was slouching lazily on the couch. "I said just let her slap you, it's not real, we're just playing a game." I froze. "What if I don't want to?" Mia smiled and explained. "Victoria, I won't really hit you." "I'll just lightly tap your face, and we can say I passed the dare." I still flat-out refused her. The others started hollering again. "Then drink! Mia downs the drink in front of her and it's over." Mia looked at the shot glass in distress. "But I'm allergic, what am I supposed to do if I can't drink?" My boyfriend beside me got annoyed. He curled his lip. "You really can't just play along and pretend for a second?" "Mia is allergic, stop giving the poor girl a hard time." I stared at him. "I'm giving her a hard time?" "Aren't you?" I let out a dry laugh. "Let's break up." The eyes of the entire room snapped toward us. Noah looked stunned. "Break up? Why? Just because Mia has to slap you for a game?" "Yes, just because of this." Mia laughed awkwardly. "It's just a game, Victoria, don't take it so seriously." "Noah is just worried about me. When I was a kid, I accidentally had two sips of liquor and immediately passed out on the floor, unable to breathe. He was so terrified he gave me CPR right then and there." She nudged the two friends sitting next to her. "Ugh, I told you guys we shouldn't play this. Victoria is a few years older than us, she doesn't get the fun of the game and now she's mad." Every word was dripping with passive-aggressive condescension. I wasn't about to indulge her. "Why do I need to 'get' this kind of game? A bunch of people using a game as an excuse to grope each other?" I pointed at one of the guys. "Does your girlfriend know you're passing water mouth-to-mouth to other women?" "And you, your wife is home nursing your baby, and you're sitting here with another woman in your lap calling her babe." "And dragging innocent bystanders into this, running up to someone just to call them ugly for no reason, what is wrong with you?" "Whether you're actually playing a game or just using it to cheat, you know best." Noah's frat brothers turned beet red at my words. Someone muttered under their breath. "It's literally just a game, taking it way too seriously." "Told you not to date older women." "Generation gap." "Almost 30 and still such a buzzkill." I pushed open the door of the VIP room. Without looking back. "That's right, I am a buzzkill, so this older woman is out of here." "They're a bunch of toxic losers." After venting to my best friend, I felt a lot better. "Vic, are you really going to break up with your golden retriever boyfriend this time?" "After all, with how hot he is, you used to say you'd give him anything if he just shed a tear." I've always been a sucker for a pretty face. Noah had a gorgeous face and an incredible body. And his skills in bed were phenomenal. He checked every single one of my boxes. I had indeed said things like that in the past. But if looks were all there was... Anyone would get tired of it eventually. I stared at the nineteen missed calls from Noah on my phone. And made up my mind. "Yes, I'm really breaking up with him this time." My best friend smiled and shook her head. "Alright, I'll bet three days." "In less than three days, he'll definitely come begging for you back, and you'll forgive him." I didn't have to wait three days. Because Noah was already at my door to repent. When I got home. Noah was kneeling on the front porch. It was raining outside. He was completely drenched. Even though he clearly arrived a while ago, he made no effort to change out of his wet clothes. The thin white dress shirt clung to his skin, tracing the smooth, muscular lines underneath. He kept his head bowed. "I was wrong." "I panicked back there, I'm sorry." I stepped around his body. And sat straight down on the couch. "What were you panicking about?" "I..." I lit a cigarette. Taking my time to speak. "You were panicking that she might actually have an allergic reaction if she drank that shot, right?" Noah stayed silent. "Yes. I promised Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan I'd take good care of her." "Acute anaphylaxis is serious, she could go into shock." I blew out a ring of smoke. "So you needed her to slap me?" "She wasn't actually going to slap you." Noah panicked and tried to explain. "She wasn't really going to hit you. Look, I messed up, Vic, can you forgive me?" My face hardened. "There were so many other ways to get her out of that dare. You could have taken the shot for her, or let her accept whatever the penalty was for losing." "But you didn't. Your first reaction was to make me play along and be her prop." "You didn't want her to drink, and you didn't want her to be punished." "So you offered up my face." "When I refused, you guys had the nerve to say I was being a buzzkill." "Who gave you the right?" Noah kept apologizing while moving closer to my side. He carefully took off my high heels. "It's my fault, Vic." "I didn't think it through, I'm so sorry." I pushed him away coldly. "A person's subconscious first reaction exposes a lot of problems, do you know that?" "Noah, you don't love me nearly as much as you think you do." Noah had begged me to go to this party. Normally, I hate attending things with the younger college crowd. Noah gave me the puppy dog eyes and pleaded for five days. "Just this once, please?" "My friends all really want to meet you." "And my neighbor just moved back from Europe, she wants to meet you too." "Neighbor?" "Yeah, my old neighbor." I knew Noah had a childhood sweetheart he grew up with. Their families lived right across the hall from each other. Noah's mother died early. His dad became violently abusive whenever he got drunk. During Noah's dark childhood. It was Mia's family that gave him love and care. Later, Mia's family moved to Europe. The two of them gradually lost touch. Noah met me in college. We met, fell in love, and the relationship was pretty smooth sailing. Right around our three-year anniversary. Noah suddenly got news that his childhood crush was moving back to the States. "Vic, she's literally just the neighbor who lived next door to me growing up." I looked at the picture on Noah's phone. A sharp nose, big bright eyes. "She's pretty." Noah wrapped his arms around me. "You're not actually jealous, are you? Relax, I don't mix business with pleasure. I've always seen her as a little sister." "If I had any feelings for her, we would have dated a long time ago." As we spoke. Noah's lips found mine again. In the heat of the moment. Noah whispered in my ear: "You know me, I don't like young girls. Girls my age are too much drama, I like older women." I was six years older than Noah. The year he started college as a freshman, I went back to campus for a recruiting event. I was incredibly stressed out and busy at the time. While walking through the student center, I accidentally bumped into a guy coming the other way. The iced coffee in his hand spilled all over me. The kid realized my blouse was designer and expensive. He bowed his head and apologized. "I'm so sorry. Please tell me how much the shirt costs, I'll pay you back in full." I was too busy with work. I just waved him off. "Don't worry about it." I didn't expect him to latch onto me because of it. "Please, if you won't let me pay for the shirt, at least let me do something else to make it up to you." "If there's anything else I can help you with, please let me know, otherwise my conscience won't let it go." "Miss Sterling," "Victoria," "Boss," "Beautiful"... He haunted me like a charming little ghost, popping up everywhere until he wore me down. Until we finally ended up sleeping together. My best friend laughed at me. "Never thought you'd fall for a younger guy." I stuck my tongue out. "Dating a younger guy actually has its perks." In the days that followed. He was like a loyal puppy. Satisfying my every need. I just didn't expect. That no matter how good the dog is, if he sees a wild bone outside, he's going to want a taste. In the month before Mia came back to the States. Things subtly started to change. Once, Noah was in the shower. His phone suddenly got a call. It was an international number. I remembered him mentioning his childhood friend who lived abroad. So I answered the call. I said "Hello" twice, and asked "Who is this?" A hostile voice suddenly demanded from the other end. "Who the hell are you?" I replied politely. "I'm Noah's girlfriend. He's in the shower, but I'll tell him you called as soon as he's out." Before I could even finish. She slammed the phone down and hung up. When Noah got out, I told him what happened. His expression instantly changed to pure panic. He didn't even care that the water dripping from his hair was soaking his clean shirt. "Did you say anything else to her?" "No, that was it." "Okay, I got it." He grabbed his phone. I don't know what he texted her. But that night. That international number called him fifteen times. Until Noah finally picked up the last call. I heard the voice on the other end say: "Wow, Noah. You get a girlfriend and you wait until now to tell me?" That was when I realized. That he had completely hidden our relationship. He never told his childhood friends about me. And that welcome-back party. Was actually a firing squad set up specifically for me. The moment Mia arrived, she completely bypassed me and made a beeline for Noah. Only after hugging him and kissing his cheeks did she remember I was there. She pointed at me: "Noah, who is this?" Noah put his arm around my waist. "My girlfriend, Victoria." Mia covered her mouth in exaggerated shock. "Oh! So she's your girlfriend? I honestly thought she was one of your corporate managers." Noah's other frat buddies snickered along with Mia. "Haven't seen you in a few years, didn't know you were into this type, bro." I suppressed my anger. And reached out my hand amicably. "Hi, I'm Victoria." When she looked at me again, her eyes were filled with an inexplicable, fiery hostility. "I'm Mia, Noah's childhood sweetheart." Realizing that sounded a bit out of line. She quickly added: "Hahaha, I'm kidding, please don't be mad. I'm just the girl who grew up in the apartment next door to him." At the dinner table. They came at me from every angle. Prying into my career, probing about my income. Interrogating me on how Noah and I got together. "Victoria, you're almost 30, when are you and Noah planning to tie the knot?" "Too bad Noah is only 24, he probably won't settle down this early." "If Noah doesn't want to get married, aren't your parents breathing down your neck?" "Are you really willing to wait until he's 30 to get married?" "But if he's 30... you'll be 36." "Victoria, does anyone ever call you a cougar for dating him?" I shot down these questions one by one. "I'm not in a rush, my family doesn't pressure me." "Marriage? Depends entirely on my mood." "My family doesn't have a royal bloodline to pass down, so I'm not stressing about having kids." "Cougar? Never heard of it. I've heard of a sugar baby though, I wonder if that means the same thing." Until Noah finally decided to step in and rescue me. "Alright, stop messing around guys, Victoria and I have a long way to go, we haven't thought about marriage yet." I don't know why. But when Noah said that. His eyes kept darting over to Mia. Even an idiot could tell. That there was absolutely some history between him and Mia.
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