Chapter 3

Caleb's POV

After I washed up and got into bed, I received a message from my childhood friend, Maya Bingham.

She cut straight to the chase and asked, "Have you submitted your university applications? Did you apply for Aurevia University?"

Maya had always dreamed of going to Imperia, and before, she'd sworn she would never settle for anything less than Crownbridge University in Imperia.

But a month before the college entrance exam, she suddenly changed her tune. She insisted she would never leave Aurevius and listed the local Aurevia University as her first choice.

I couldn't help asking her why.

Maya hemmed and hawed before giving me an answer. "Well, it's because Carson's scores on the recent mock exams were too low. Applying to a local university would give him a better chance of admission."

I could hardly believe my own ears. "So you gave up your own dream just to go to the same university as him?"

Maya retorted indifferently, "It's just university. How could it possibly compare to Carson?"

I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to laugh.

When I first learned that Maya's dream university was Crownbridge University, I was so anxious that I couldn't eat or sleep for days. My grades at the time were only good enough for regular universities, so I didn't dare dream of attending a university as prestigious as Crownbridge.

But in order to go to the same university as Maya, I pushed myself to the absolute limit, studying day and night without rest. Then, when the results came out and I saw "704" on the screen, I cried over and over with excitement.

Yet she had given up her dream so easily just to continue looking after Carson, and she had also gone back on the promise she made to me.

I swallowed the bitterness rising within and asked, "Then why did you want me to apply to Aurevia University with you too?"

Before she answered, I imagined countless possible reasons. Perhaps she would say that she'd miss me, or that she was worried about me going off to another city alone.

But Maya suddenly shot me a knowing smile and said, "All heroes need a sidekick. If Carson were a hero, you'd be his best sidekick. Without you by his side to set him off, Carson wouldn't stand out so much!"

Her words hit me like a sledgehammer, and I couldn't help but shudder.

This talk of Carson being the hero and me being his sidekick had been a nightmare that had haunted me since the day I was born. Everyone around me, including my own family, used that narrative to lift Carson up and tear me down.

Maya was the only one who had once told me, "You will always be you. No matter how plain you are, you'll always be special to me."

I had believed her and naively thought that I'd always be the exception to her.

That was until the moment she met Carson. Since then, she had never taken her gentle gaze, which had once only been for me, off of him.

I closed my eyes and forced down the bitterness. "If there's nothing else, I'm going to sleep."

Before she could answer, I hung up.

Just as I was about to turn off the light, I looked up and saw Carson standing at my bedroom door with a glass of milk. "Caleb, may I come in?"

I nodded, and he came in to hand me the glass of milk. "Don't forget that we're going to take a family portrait tomorrow! Remember not to oversleep!"

With that, he playfully winked at me and left.

I had meant to tell him that I wasn't going, but the words caught in my throat.

When we were children, Carson had been sickly. Hence, my parents sent me to live with Grandma in the countryside so that they could focus on taking care of him.

They were often too busy to visit me, but every festive season, they would send me a family photo. In the photos, Carson would be beaming, snuggled up between Mom, Dad, and Carina.

I envied that, and having a family portrait with me in it became something I secretly longed for.

After I returned home, I had countless opportunities to fulfill that wish.

But strangely, every time it came to the day when we were scheduled to take our family photo, I would somehow oversleep, and I would sleep so soundly that no amount of pounding on my door could rouse me. However, I usually stuck to a very regular schedule.

After it happened several times, they lost all patience and stopped waiting for me.

Now, though I'd made up my mind to leave, I didn't want to leave with any regrets.

This time, to make sure that I wasn't going to miss it again, I set three alarms at full volume and turned off the light before 9:00 pm.

I never expected history to repeat itself.