Chapter 3

At ten o'clock that night, Josephine lay in bed and opened a long-neglected chat app.

A few messages from Sean were waiting.

Sean: [Phoebe, we're having a class reunion next week at Evening Breeze. All the details are in the class group chat. You're the only one who hasn't responded. Are you coming?]

Sean: [You never reply to messages. Phoebe, if you're going through a tough time, you can always reach out. We're old classmates. We'll help if we can.]

Josephine glanced at the class group chat, where messages kept pouring in.

Truthfully, she had considered leaving the group. But with all 48 classmates still in it, quitting now would be obvious. Still, she rarely opened the app.

She scrolled up.

As expected, no one had mentioned her.

Back in school, she was invisible. But not the kind of invisible that went unnoticed.

Because she was fat.

Even though she had done her best to fade into the background, people still whispered.

"Fatty."

"Pig."

"Chubster."

Even when she did nothing, simply walking by was enough to invite low murmurs.

She hadn't always been overweight. In middle school, she was fine. But a prolonged illness and steroid-laden meds had changed her body overnight.

Julian's name, on the other hand, came up in nearly every thread.

He had always been the center of attention. The golden boy. The rich and powerful heartthrob.

The two of them were worlds apart.

She tapped on his profile.

He didn't seem to log in often. His avatar looked like something from a past era.

…

The week passed in a blur.

After a full week of rushing deadlines, the brand Terriwyn ended up selecting the original design draft. They signed the contract, and the payment came swiftly.

The second version, altered per Myra's instructions, was unsurprisingly rejected. Though Myra wasn't pleased, the firm's partner, Bernard Willis, invited the whole team out to dinner to celebrate at Evening Breeze.

The restaurant name rang a bell. But with the whole team attending and the boss himself present, Josephine couldn't exactly excuse herself.

Around seven in the evening, the private room was filled with laughter and clinking glasses. Josephine drank two glasses herself.

Meanwhile, the private room next door buzzed with the voices of Josephine's old classmates from Class 3.

When Julian arrived late, the room erupted in cheers, urging him to drink.

He gave a small shake of his head, and the noise died instantly. No one dared push further.

He looked distant. A faint smile curved his thin lips as he declined politely. "Can't drink. Might get called into the hospital tonight."

A few girls blushed and snuck photos of him with their phones.

All through his academic life, and later at Beller University, Julian had always been a legend, with his good looks, top grades, and his powerful family background.

"Got a girlfriend yet?" someone asked.

"How would he have time?" another teased. "He's a doctor. He barely has time to breathe."

"You're in cardiac surgery, right? Must be exhausting," said a girl as she blushed.

It was Cassandra Reily, the class belle back in the day. She looked at him shyly with a faint smile on her lips.

Anyone with eyes could tell she was interested.

The teasing resumed.

Cassandra's cheeks deepened to a rosy flush.

Next to her, an empty seat waited.

Julian gave a slight nod, glanced at her, but didn't seem to recognize her at all.

The private room was spacious, outfitted with a karaoke setup and a poker table.

He walked past them all, heading for a single armchair in the corner.

Earlier that afternoon, he'd done a media interview and still wore formal business attire. Now, he slipped off his black blazer and draped it over the back of the chair. The light-blue shirt underneath was crisp and cool, accentuating his tall, lean figure.

He looked tired.

He raised a hand to rub his brow; the skin of his wrist appeared pale.

His eyes flicked to his watch, checking the time.

He wasn't particularly interested in the people around him. He'd only come because Sean had insisted, and the timing just happened to work.

Cassandra looked visibly disappointed.

Sean handed over a glass. "Here. Have some water."

"Thanks," Julian replied, his tone distant but polite.

"We're old classmates. No need to be so formal." Sean patted Julian's shoulder in a friendly gesture. They exchanged a few polite words.

Sean's family ran a furniture business and had early collaborations with the Faulkner Group. He was eager to maintain a good relationship with Julian, even though the current head of the Faulkner family was Julian's eldest brother, Harrold Faulkner.

Although Julian had distanced himself from the family business, he was still the legitimate young master of the Faulkner family. Everyone knew Harrold had been adopted. Julian, on the other hand, was the biological son.

Julian wasn't the last one to arrive. A few classmates were still missing.

Each time the door opened, he instinctively looked up. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for. Perhaps, to see a certain someone walk through the door.

The private room buzzed with chatter. When the last person arrived, a female classmate, Sean led the group in coaxing her to drink. She responded cheerfully, downing two glasses of fruit wine.

A few teased her.

"Lily, you've become fat!"

"Yeah, I didn't even recognize you at first. You've put on at least twenty kilos!"

At the mention of the word "fat," Julian's eyes lifted. He looked toward Lily Sanders, a flicker of absentminded melancholy crossing his gaze.

A strange irritation stirred in his chest. He poured himself a drink.

Seated in a single armchair, he crossed one leg over the other, his tailored trousers draping perfectly.

He drank slowly, glass after glass.

The platinum watch on his wrist gleamed coldly in the light.

As he lowered his gaze, his sharply defined profile seemed even more refined, cool and distant. His good looks were edged with an untouchable elegance.

Several female classmates glanced his way, hearts fluttering, but no one dared approach.

Cassandra bit her lip, picked up her glass, and walked over. "Julian, I have a relative with a heart condition. When are your clinic hours? I'd like to bring them in—"

Her shadow blocked his light. Julian frowned.

He looked up, glancing at her briefly. "I'm fully booked next week. If it's serious, they can request an emergency slot."

"Oh... I see..." Cassandra hesitated, wanting to say more, but his disinterested expression discouraged her. Dejected, she returned to her seat.

As the evening's host, Sean gave a brief speech. Afterward, he handed out small gifts to everyone—discount membership cards and a tea set from his family's furniture brand.

"Hey, does anyone have Phoebe's contact info? We should mail her one too."

Julian had had a long day. Now slightly buzzed, he felt the alcohol pulsing in his head. He leaned on one arm, eyes closed, trying to rest. But at the mention of that name—Phoebe—his brows drew together.

It was like someone had pulled a fire alarm in his brain. He sobered up instantly.

"Phoebe? The fat girl, right?" said a male classmate, Roger Millard. "I remember her running the 800 meters in one of the sports events. She looked like such a mess when she finished. Hahaha—"

But Roger suddenly fell silent. He had locked eyes with Julian, whose gaze was sharp and glacial, like a blade.

It felt like someone had seized him by the throat. Roger assumed he'd simply been too loud and disturbed Julian's rest. Embarrassed, he fell silent.

Yet the room was still filled with chatter.

Phoebe hadn't come to the reunion. She wouldn't know that even after vanishing for seven years, the class still couldn't stop talking about her.

Suddenly, a girl spoke up hesitantly. "I heard Phoebe might've passed away..."

A chilling silence fell over the room. Time itself seemed to pause.

"What? She died? No way..."

"No wonder she never shows up to these reunions. I even messaged her privately but got no response. So she's... really gone?"

Several classmates sighed in sympathy.

"It's true," the girl added. "It was six years ago. My grandma wasn't feeling well, and I went to the hospital. I saw Phoebe there. Her belly was huge, but she looked so thin otherwise... It must've been a tumor." She shook her head. "Poor thing..."

The air turned thick with silence.

Then someone turned to Julian, perhaps because he was a doctor, and this kind of conversation naturally sought his authority.

"Aren't we lucky to have a doctor in the class? Julian, tell us, if she had a tumor that big in her abdomen, would it have been terminal? I remember her family didn't have much money... No wonder no one's heard from her all these years. She must've died."

All eyes turned to Julian.

He froze.