Chapter 1 Right after high school graduation, my family went out to dinner with my childhood best friend, Arthur's, family. His mom laughed, teasing us: "You two better be careful and behave yourselves! Don't go making any babies too soon. I'm waiting until after you graduate college to hold my grandkids." Arthur spoke up first: "Mom, I have someone I like. And it isn't Chloe." The dinner table plunged into a deathly silence. My parents' faces darkened immediately. Sensing the tension, I chimed in right on cue: "Mrs. Sterling, I actually have a boyfriend." My mom looked surprised: "You never mentioned this before?" "I was focusing on my studies, so I didn't think about it. We just made it official after graduation." Arthur let out a harsh, mocking scoff. "You're lying. Who on earth would ever want to date you?" The dinner ended in complete disaster. But I wasn't lying. I really did have a boyfriend. ... After dinner, Arthur chased after me as we left the restaurant. His voice was low and commanding: "Alright, Chloe, enough. Stop throwing a tantrum." I stopped walking and turned to look at him. The streetlight stretched his shadow long across the pavement. He stood under the halogen glow. He looked annoyed, but his eyes carried this bizarre, unwavering certainty. He was absolutely convinced that what I just said at dinner was a pathetic lie to save face. "I know you're just acting out. Mia didn't score very well on her finals, and she's really upset. I need to go comfort her. Don't start making up stupid lies about having a boyfriend just because you're jealous. If people actually believe you, it's going to be embarrassing for you later." I looked at him calmly. I felt absolutely nothing. No anger, no sadness. Just a flat line. Ever since Mia showed up, his entire universe revolved around her. Chapter 2 He didn't care if he hurt me. As long as Mia was happy, he couldn't care less. So hearing him say this wasn't surprising in the slightest. "Arthur, do you remember sophomore year? When you mouthed off to those seniors and got cornered in the alley behind the school, and I had to drag you back home?" He froze for a second. "My arm got fractured during that fight. You cried like a baby in the ER, holding my hand, swearing you were going to take care of me for the rest of your life." Arthur interrupted me, clearly irritated: "I remember, okay, I remember. You don't need to guilt-trip me. I said I'd take care of you, and I keep my promises." "But Mia needs me right now. I can't just abandon her; she has no one else. I promise you, once I make sure she's settled and I've done right by her, I'll marry you and take care of you for the rest of your life." I stared at him. My eyes were completely dead, like a stagnant pool of water. "Don't bother. Like I said, I have a boyfriend now. You don't need to take responsibility for what happened back then. I just brought it up to tell you that you can forget about that promise. You don't owe me an answer, and you don't owe me a future." I wasn't going to sit around waiting for them to fall madly in love, inevitably have toxic drama, and then serve as Arthur's eternal backup plan. I didn't need him anymore. The moment he changed, the moment his eyes only saw Mia, I stopped needing him. He was silent for a moment, then let out a cold laugh. "Chloe, you're getting really good at lying. Where exactly did this boyfriend come from? Graduation literally just happened. Where the hell did you even meet someone?" Right then, the phone in his pocket buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and the tension instantly left his face. His voice immediately softened. "It's Mia. I have to take this." Just seeing her name made his entire demeanor incredibly tender. "What's wrong, baby? It's okay, your grades don't matter... don't cry, I'm coming over right now..." He turned and walked away without looking back once. I stood there, watching his silhouette disappear around the corner. I pulled out my phone and texted Liam: "I'm heading out now. Are you free tonight?" He replied instantly: "I'm free. I'll come pick you up." I smiled and kept walking. Chapter 3 In the beginning, I honestly thought he was joking. During our junior year, he suddenly announced that he had a crush on Mia. Mia was a transfer student. Her grades were terrible, she came from a low-income family, and she was always quiet and withdrawn. She looked like someone who desperately needed taking care of. She was delicate and pitiful-looking, the kind of girl who triggered people's protective instincts. When he said he liked her, he sounded incredibly serious. I asked him: "What about us?" He said: "Chloe, you know I'm not like you. You have everything. Mia has nothing. I can't just leave her alone. When we graduate college, I'm definitely going to be with you; our families expect it. But right now, I need to take care of Mia first." I thought it was a stupid, insensitive joke. Then I realized he meant every word. He treated me like a spare tire kept in the trunk. Tossed aside, ignored, but expected to be perfectly functional and ready whenever he needed me. Eventually, the two of us became three. And I became the third wheel. Arthur constantly pawned all his responsibilities onto me, dragging me around like a personal assistant. I did all their grunt work without complaining. Every time, Mia would give me this soft, fragile smile. A smile laced with pity, but also a tiny, almost imperceptible sliver of triumph. Three people were way too crowded. But Arthur never got tired of it. He treated me like a tool with no dignity or feelings. Just a convenient chaperone to mask their flirting. Chapter 4 I absolutely hated it. In his eyes, I was strong, independent, and didn't need anyone to baby me. I was tough. And Mia was the exact opposite. She was weak, pitiful, completely incapable of taking care of herself, innocent, and pure. One time, I finally snapped: "If you guys want to hang out, just go by yourselves! Why do you constantly drag me along?!" He just said: "I don't want people thinking we're dating. If the principal finds out, she could get expelled. I don't care about my record, but Mia can't risk it." So, I became their human shield. With me there, they couldn't be accused of breaking the school's strict dating policies. But all I felt was overwhelming disappointment. There was another time when Mia didn't finish a massive history project. When the teacher started demanding answers, Arthur secretly took my completed project notebook and handed it to Mia, telling her to put her name on it. I was called into the teacher's office, chewed out for half a period, and forced to stand in the hallway for the entire break. Afterward, he told me: "Chloe, your grades are perfect. Getting disciplined once isn't a big deal for you. Mia is different. Her parents are incredibly strict. If they found out she got a zero, they would beat her." I just looked at him, completely speechless. Another time, they went off-campus for lunch and dragged me along. He sat right next to Mia. They had their heads close together, looking at something on her phone, laughing hysterically. Halfway through, he got up to use the restroom. As he walked past me, he leaned down and whispered in my ear: "Chloe, could you maybe talk a little less? Mia says you're talking too much and it's annoying her." "But she's too nice to say it to your face, so I have to be the bad guy." Chapter 5 And then he just walked away. I didn't eat a single bite of that meal. I got up and left early. He chased after me, instantly attacking me: "Did you do that on purpose? Mia finally gets a chance to relax and have fun, and you just have to storm out. Aren't you just bullying her because she has no one to defend her?" I honestly don't know where he got the audacity to interpret every single thing I did as some malicious plot against Mia. But the memory that truly haunts me was the time they dragged me along on a weekend trip because I was supposedly "on the way." Halfway there, he suddenly decided he needed to take a massive detour to drop Mia off first, and told me to just get out and find my own way home. He dropped me off on a deserted highway access road, almost seven miles from my house, surrounded by nothing but active construction sites. My cell service was spotty. I tried to call an Uber for twenty minutes, but no drivers accepted the ride. I ended up walking home. It took me almost two hours. When he saw me the next day, his very first sentence was: "Mia told me you took an Uber home last night. She was really worried about you, making sure you got back safe." "Yeah. I made it back. Tell her thanks." He nodded, completely satisfied, and walked away. That was the exact moment I completely woke up. It wasn't a hysterical, crying, dramatic awakening. It was the feeling of something inside my chest quietly scabbing over. It was the realization that I would never feel anything for him ever again.
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