Chapter 3

His voice echoed through the empty room.

Zane stared at the system, then turned to Sophie, speaking faster and faster.

"You were right. This system’s standards are completely screwed up!"

"Yeah, I liked that girl when I was a kid, but that was years ago. The question asked when I first met Cecilia."

"That was in high school. In the winter!"

My heart jolted.

So the boy lying in the snow really was him.

And when Zane first approached me in high school and asked, "Were you the one who saved me back then?"

He hadn’t been talking about what happened when we were children.

Suddenly, I understood what he meant when he accused me of lying to him.

That puffer jacket hadn’t been mine.

The figures on the screen remained silent and faceless.

"I didn’t choose wrong! Why the hell am I being punished—"

Zane’s voice cut off.

The color began to drain from the fingertips of his right hand, spreading slowly up his palm and into his arm.

His skin turned a pale bluish white.

His fingers curled stiffly, his hand looking almost like a plaster cast.

Zane stared down at it, his pupils contracting.

He tried to move his fingers.

Nothing happened.

"My hand…"

"I can’t feel it."

Sophie rushed over and wrapped both hands around his frozen one, pressing it against her chest to warm it.

They leaned their heads together beneath the cold steel light.

They looked almost like a painting.

And I was standing outside the frame.

Watching.

[What if your world had never had them?]

[The puffer jacket was given to you by them.]

Zane jerked his head up.

"I knew it! You’re a garbage system!"

"Cecilia fooled you too!"

"That jacket belonged to Sophie!"

He turned towards me, anger burning in his eyes.

"I get it now. What kind of system is this?"

"First it punishes Sophie, then it punishes me."

"You and the system planned this together, didn’t you?"

"Yes, Sophie and I are together now. You found out, so this is your way of getting revenge, right?"

His voice ricocheted around the room.

I said nothing.

Sophie was still holding his hand when she looked up at me.

"Cecilia… I really didn’t mean for any of this to happen."

"Last month, I saw Zane wearing a puffer jacket that looked a lot like the one from back then, and I just happened to mention it."

"If I’d known that was the reason you two got together, I swear I never would’ve said anything."

"I didn’t mean to expose your lie."

"It’s not your fault."

Zane wrapped his good arm around her shoulders.

"She’s the one who’s been lying from the beginning."

Sophie shook her head, tears falling onto the back of his hand.

"But the puffer jacket really was mine."

"And you didn’t choose wrong."

"The system never should’ve punished you, especially not by taking away your hand because of that jacket."

The puffer jacket.

Again with the damn puffer jacket.

Suddenly, I was exhausted.

That winter, if I hadn’t stopped…

If I hadn’t insisted…

Sophie never would have given him her jacket in the first place.

But I couldn’t be bothered explaining anymore.

They wouldn’t believe me anyway.

"When did you two get together?"

That was the only thing I wanted to know.

Sophie froze for a second.

Then she lowered her head and said nothing.

Zane lifted his chin.

"Last month."

"After I found out the truth, I got together with her."

Last month.

Suddenly, everything that had happened since then came rushing back.

Zane kissing me.

His fingers threading through my hair.

His lips brushing the corner of my mouth as he whispered, "Good night, Cecilia."

Sophie linking arms with me every day when we went to lunch.

Resting her head on my shoulder and saying, "Cecilia, you’re the best."

My stomach lurched.

I bent over, bracing my hands on my knees as I dry-heaved.

Nothing came up.

I wiped at my lips with the back of my hand.

Once.

Twice.

The skin split.

The metallic taste of blood seeped into my mouth.

Zane’s voice came crashing down from above me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You think I wanted to kiss you?

"I’ve wanted to tell you the truth for ages!"

The fluorescent light buzzed overhead.

I could feel his eyes fixed on my mouth.

Hot.

Furious.

I didn’t look at him.

I didn’t argue.

I simply turned to the system.

"Continue."