Chapter 1

I fell in love with Odell when he was just a baby.

It’s a story our parents told us countless times, one that still makes me smile whenever I remember it. Our parents were best friends, and we grew up woven into each other’s lives.

The day my mother gave birth to me was pure chaos. I wouldn’t stop crying from the moment I entered the world. I wailed so loudly that nothing the doctors or nurses did could calm me down. My parents tried everything, but nothing worked.

Then something unexpected happened.

Odell’s mother walked into the hospital room with him in her arms. He was only two years old, but even then, there was something special about him. She had come to visit my mother, bringing gifts to celebrate my arrival, while her husband followed behind with folded clothes.

The moment she stepped into the room, everything changed.

My cries stopped instantly. My tiny newborn eyes locked onto him, and just like that, my tears turned into a smile.

The room fell silent.

The doctors, the nurses, my parents, everyone stared in shock. It was as if, even as a newborn, I recognized him. As if he carried a calming presence meant only for me. That moment became magical, a story our families loved to tell again and again. From that day on, we were inseparable.

My mother often took me to his house so we could play together, and sometimes his mother brought him to ours. We grew up like family, always together, always close. As the years passed, our bond only deepened. We went to the same school and spent almost every moment side by side.

He was my best friend, my partner in everything, and there wasn’t a single day we didn’t share laughter or stories.

Then something unexpected happened in tenth grade.

One day, the principal called his parents into the office. I didn’t know what it was about, but after that meeting, everything changed. He left the school without any explanation, and just like that, he was gone.

I was confused and stunned. I turned to my mother for answers, but she had none. Desperate, I reached out to his mother, needing to understand what was happening. She only told me they had decided to send him to another school.

His family was wealthy, rooted in privilege, powerful connections, and a kind of money most people could only dream of. My family, on the other hand, was middle class. We were comfortable, but there were limits to what we could afford, limits we couldn’t cross.

I tried everything to reach him. I called over and over again, but his number was unreachable. I searched for him on social media, hoping for anything, a post, a profile, a trace but it was as if he had vanished. He didn’t reach out either. Not a single call. Not a message. Nothing.

The silence was deafening.

Every day, I missed him more than the last. He had been such a huge part of my life, and suddenly there was this emptiness I couldn’t fill no matter how hard I tried.

I thought about him constantly. I wondered what he was doing, where he was, and why he had disappeared so completely from my life. I even tried reaching out to some of his friends, hoping they might know something, anything but it didn’t help. They either knew very little or weren’t willing to say much.

It felt deeply unfair.

If only his parents hadn’t sent him to a school in a city so far away. If only my family had the kind of money that made distance meaningless, the kind that allowed you to hop on a plane without thinking twice and chase after the person you loved. But we didn’t.

My parents weren’t rich like that. I couldn’t afford to just pack a bag and go looking for him. And that reality left me feeling helpless and heartbroken.

Slowly, my sadness turned into anger.

I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t even tried to reach out. He had a phone, didn’t he? He could have sent a message, written a letter, anything to let me know I still mattered. It wasn’t impossible. He had every means to reach me, but he chose not to.

That choice made me start questioning everything.

Maybe I didn’t matter to him anymore. Maybe he simply didn’t care. Or maybe I was just a chapter in his past, one he had already closed. I convinced myself that he had moved on, made new friends, built a new life, and forgotten all about me.

The thought hurt more than I could admit, but it was the only explanation that made sense.

I began to feel like I was holding on to something that no longer existed. If he wasn’t willing to make the effort, why should I keep torturing myself?

As painful as it was, I told myself it was time to let go.

Time to move on.

But deep down, I wasn’t sure I really could.