Chapter 1

For a moment, everything went silent.

All I could hear was the wind rushing past my ears.

Maya Winters’s face had gone deathly pale, her eyes already glistening with tears.

I fought to keep my voice from shaking.

“What does that mean?”

Ryan Spencer, who had been silent until now, stepped forward and took Maya’s hand.

“I was waiting for the right time to tell you. That night, we were both drunk.”

He swallowed.

“Sophie, keeping this from you wasn’t fair.”

I stared at their interlocked fingers, and my vision went dark.

I’d just gotten off a six-hour flight. I was still dragging my suitcase behind me.

My body swayed, and I nearly collapsed.

Ryan’s expression changed. He instinctively stepped toward me, but I raised a hand to stop him.

Maya’s eyes were red. She hesitated, too afraid to come closer, and softly called my name.

“Sophie, did you skip dinner because you hated the airplane food again? Is your blood sugar dropping?”

She slowly opened her palm.

A piece of milk candy rested in the center.

My eyes burned.

“Shut up,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’m not humiliating myself in public.”

Without looking at either of them again, I grabbed my suitcase and disappeared into the crowd.

The night breeze was cool enough to dry the tears gathering at the corners of my eyes.

It was nearly impossible to get a cab during rush hour.

By the time I reached home, Maya had already packed her bags. She stood by the door, looking as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

My gaze drifted over the matching slippers by the entrance and the throw pillows on the couch printed with cartoon versions of the two of us.

The moment I closed my eyes, I could picture it.

That drunken night, maybe they’d been tangled together on this very couch.

My stomach cramped so violently I nearly threw up.

My suitcase was still packed with the cookies I’d brought back from Germany for Maya and the scarf I’d bought for Ryan.

While I was away, Maya had video-called me, holding her phone close to her face.

“Don’t worry. Thanks to Ryan, I finally got the job. You’re the one alone in Germany, so remember to eat. And don’t forget my cookies. I sent you a picture of the kind I want.”

I slammed my suitcase onto the floor.

Then I pulled out the cookies and scarf and threw them into the trash along with the throw pillows.

Maya burst into tears.

Ryan frowned and stepped forward.

“This is my fault. Take it out on me.”

Then he glanced at Maya, his voice softening.

“Wait outside for me.”

She dragged her suitcase toward the door, looking back every few steps.

Only after the door closed did Ryan pull a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

He paused, then put it away again.

“No matter what, I’m the one who betrayed you.

“Sophie, I’ll ask my dad to reserve the associate department chair position for you.”

I pressed a hand against my cramping stomach and let out a cold laugh.

“What is that supposed to be? Compensation? Charity?

“I don’t need it.”

Ryan’s expression darkened.

“You’re always like this. You act like there’s nothing in the world you can’t handle on your own.

“Sophie, I was your boyfriend. What would’ve been so wrong with relying on me once in a while, the way Maya does?”

I cut him off.

“Ex-boyfriend.

“And she needs you because she can’t manage anything on her own. I don’t need you because anything I want, I can earn for myself.”

Ryan looked at me, his expression complicated.

“Take care of yourself.”

Then he quietly closed the door behind him.

The apartment fell silent.

I was finally alone.

The moment he was gone, I couldn’t hold myself up anymore.

I collapsed onto the couch, drenched in cold sweat from the pain twisting through my stomach. Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes.

Clutching my stomach, I whispered, “Damn it. It really hurts.”