Chapter 1

Amelia's POV

Three days later.

Nathaniel Prescott came home dragging a suitcase behind him, with my best friend, Isla Monroe, following close behind.

“Isla is dying of thirst. Get us something to drink!”

Neither of them even bothered to take off their shoes before collapsing onto the couch, their legs casually intertwined as they shouted without a care in the world.

“Babe, I want peach yogurt.”

“Amelia, I’ll have my usual.”

I said nothing. I simply brought them a cup of peach yogurt and a bottle of sparkling water and set them in front of them.

Nathaniel instinctively picked up the yogurt, twisted open the lid, and handed it to Isla.

Only then did he grab the sparkling water and gulp it down.

Meanwhile, the tissue in Isla’s hand naturally found its way to his face, the corner of his mouth, and his neck, wiping them clean as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

I was left standing to the side, reduced to nothing more than the person who fetched their drinks.

It took an entire bottle of water before Nathaniel finally looked up at me.

“The peach yogurt in the fridge is almost gone, right? Buy another case. Otherwise, she won’t have any next time.”

Ten minutes after coming home, Nathaniel had said exactly three sentences.

Two of them had been about Isla.

As for my parents—

Were they still here? Were they angry? What were we going to do about them?

He hadn’t asked a single question.

All he cared about was whether Isla had enough peach yogurt.

He had completely forgotten to ask whether I still had enough blueberry yogurt.

I pulled out my phone and, with a few taps, changed the entire order of blueberry yogurt I had placed to peach yogurt instead.

Then I held up my phone right in front of him.

“Happy now?”

Perhaps she noticed how bad I looked, because Isla quickly smiled and tried to smooth things over.

“He’s only being this considerate because I’m your best friend. You know, I'm your chosen family. You wouldn’t be upset about that, would you?”

I almost laughed when I heard that.

My actual family had flown here ten times just to see him, yet he couldn’t even be bothered to show his face.

And now he was bending over backward to please my so-called “chosen family.”

Did he really think I was that stupid?

“Amelia’s upset. Aren’t you going to say something?” Isla lightly punched Nathaniel.

He lazily replied, “Don’t worry. She’s much easier to handle than you.

“Give her a few days of the cold shoulder, and she’ll come crawling back on her own.”

Then Nathaniel lifted his chin at me and gave me a smug, confident smile.

“Amelia, am I right?”

“Nathaniel Prescott!” Isla sprang to her feet and kicked him lightly, pretending to be angry. “Don’t talk about Amelia like that. Apologize!”

“All right, all right. I’m sorry.”

“That’s more like it…”

Their laughter rang in my ears, leaving a dull ache in my chest.

It looked as though Isla was standing up for me.

But only now did I finally understand.

I had merely been another part of their little game.

After seeing Isla out, Nathaniel finally remembered my parents.

“Where are they?”

Even as he asked, his eyes remained glued to his phone, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

“They left.”

I pulled out my suitcase and laid it open on the desk, slowly packing my belongings one by one.

There was silence from his side.

After a long moment, he simply said,

“Oh.”

Oh?

My parents had battled their fear of flying and made more than ten round trips just to see him.

When I picked them up at the airport, their hands had been trembling from fear.

Yet they never complained.

They only wanted to meet him.

And in the end, he stood them up.

No apology.

Not even another question.

Just one dismissive little “Oh.”

It was just like this crowded three-person relationship that looked bright and perfect on the surface.

In reality, there had never been a place for me in it.

Fortunately, I wasn’t planning to wait anymore.