Chapter 2

Three days later, Alec Scott moved into our apartment.

Apparently, a pipe had burst in his rented place and flooded the floors, so he needed somewhere to stay for a week.

Lindsay brought him home without even discussing it with me.

“He’s on his own, and he hates staying in hotels. Besides, the guest room is just sitting empty.”

As she spoke, she moved several pots of allergy-friendly ferns I kept by the guest-room window to make space for Alec’s three enormous suitcases.

I leaned against the doorframe and watched her.

“So, he gets to move into my home just because he doesn’t like hotels?”

“Ivan, don’t be such a jerk. He’s been my friend since we were kids, and he’s my muse. We’re all friends. What’s wrong with letting him stay for a few days?”

Her muse. She said it as though there was absolutely nothing strange about that.

The next evening, I sneezed the moment I walked through the door after work.

Alec was wandering around the living room in an oversized T-shirt Lindsay had bought him.

In the middle of the dining table sat an enormous crystal vase overflowing with freshly cut flowers.

There were Lisianthus, tulips, and several champagne roses that still carried traces of pollen.

My throat immediately began to tighten.

“Ivan, you’re home!”

Alec turned around with a bright smile.

“Lindsay said the place looked too plain and could use some color, so I brought some flowers home from the studio. Aren’t they gorgeous?”

I said nothing. I just walked over, picked up the vase, and dumped the flowers into the kitchen sink, then shoved them down the garbage disposal.

“What are you doing?” Alec shouted. Tears welled up in his eyes.

The front door opened at that exact moment. Lindsay walked in with grocery bags.

“What happened?”

Alec moved behind her and pointed at the mangled flowers in the sink.

“Lindsay, I was only trying to brighten the place up, and Ivan destroyed all the flowers.”

Lindsay’s expression darkened.

She strode over and switched off the garbage disposal. Then, she turned and glared at me.

“Ivan, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“I’m allergic to pollen.” My tone remained flat.

“Those are low-allergen flowers! I treated them myself! You didn’t even touch them, so how could they possibly trigger your allergy?”

“This is my home. I don’t want pollen anywhere in it.”

“Alec didn’t know how severe your allergy was. He was only trying to do something nice! Did you really have to make such a big deal out of it?”

I watched her shield him with her arm. Suddenly, I lost interest in the whole argument.

“Fine. I’ll be the bigger person.”

I went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face.

Lindsay made dinner.

The three of us sat around the dining table in an awkward silence.

Lindsay picked a piece of baked sea bass, carefully checked it for bones, then placed it on Alec’s plate.

“You always somehow manage to choke on bones. Be careful.”

“Thanks, Lindsay.” Alec smiled, then spooned some couscous salad onto my plate. “Here, Ivan. Have some.”

It was covered in chopped cilantro.

I had a mild allergy to cilantro too. Eating it would leave me with a rash.

Lindsay and I had been together for three years, yet she could never seem to remember that.

She remembered that Alec choked on fish and that he loved chestnut cake. She remembered that his skin was too delicate for rose thorns.

I stared at the cilantro in my bowl and left it there, untouched.

I set my fork down and stood up.

“I’m full. Enjoy your dinner.”

“What’s your problem now?” Lindsay hissed behind me.

Without turning around, I walked straight to the bedroom and shut the door.

I did not argue. I knew better. You could not win a fight with someone who had already picked a side.

I opened my laptop and started putting together my handover documents.