Chapter 4

Once summer break officially begins, the campus empties almost overnight.

But every now and then, someone in the group chat still brings me up.

【Who’s still on campus? Go check the rec center and see if Emily is still there. I bet she already quit!】

Someone quickly replies.

【Let’s start a pool. Bet on whether Emily will actually show up to meet Richard.】

【I’m putting fifty on her. She’ll definitely claim she’s sick at the last minute.】

【I’ll put a hundred on her making Sophie go instead.】

【Then I bet she won’t even make it to fall semester.】

The bets keep getting higher.

I don’t respond.

I don’t have time to.

My training enters the hardest plateau yet.

The number on the scale barely moves. My body seems determined to fight me every step of the way.

Thankfully, my trainer keeps adjusting my plan.

Diet. Strength training. Cardio. Sleep.

Every part of my routine gets recalibrated.

I don’t have time to obsess over the numbers.

I can only keep moving forward, one day at a time.

After losing a little more weight, I become noticeably smaller.

The acne on my face gradually fades. My skin settles down, and my features and jawline slowly become more defined.

I start enjoying taking pictures again.

Sometimes I send Richard a blurry side profile or a shadow of myself by the window after a workout.

He always replies seriously.

【I’m really looking forward to meeting you.】

His voice and his messages become part of what keeps me going.

My trainer tells me that at around five foot six, staying somewhere around one hundred and thirty pounds would be a healthy and attractive weight for me.

I remember that number.

During the final month, I get used to eating clean, regular meals.

I no longer reach for snacks or sugary drinks whenever I need comfort.

Strength training, running, yoga, Pilates.

I slowly work my way into all of them.

My weight keeps dropping, slowly but steadily. My body becomes firmer. And with every change, I feel more confident.

Richard’s anticipation becomes more obvious too.

【I’ve already confirmed the fall semester schedule.】

【I’ll come to your school on the first day and find you.】

【Don’t be nervous. I just want to see you as soon as possible.】

I stare at the number on the scale and push myself through the final stretch.

The day before we are supposed to meet, the number finally settles at one hundred and thirty pounds.

After my workout that day, my trainer asks me to take off the weighted vest and protective gear for the first time.

“Emily.”

She looks at me with genuine pride.

“You did it.”

I stare at myself in the mirror.

Under the oversized hoodie, the bulky, awkward shape I’ve been hiding for months is finally gone.

“Yes,” I think. “I finally did it.”