Chapter 2

Olivia suggested we take one last walk around campus before we left. She naturally fell into step beside Nathaniel, their shoulders brushing every now and then, while I followed a few steps behind them like a shadow.

When we passed the basketball court, Olivia pointed toward the bleachers and laughed.

"Nathaniel, remember that championship game sophomore year? You hit the game-winning three, and I got so excited that I spilled my soda all over Ethan's head."

Nathaniel laughed. "How could I forget? Ethan chased you around afterward, demanding that you pay for his dry cleaning. I ended up paying for it."

They slipped so effortlessly into their shared memories that I felt completely shut out of the conversation.

I remembered that same game. I'd wanted to bring Nathaniel a bottle of water at the court, but he turned me down without hesitation.

"I know you don't fit in with my crowd. You can barely get a sentence out when you're talking to strangers, so I'm not going to force you to meet my friends. I don't want you to feel pressured."

Back then, I'd believed he was protecting me. Now, watching him laugh with Olivia, I realized he had never been trying to protect me. He had simply kept me out of his world while making sure she had a place right at the center of it.

When we passed the auditorium, workers were already dismantling the stage from our graduation ceremony. Olivia sighed nostalgically as she remembered the school's anniversary dance.

"Your dancing was awful back then. You stepped on my foot three times."

Nathaniel immediately corrected her with a smile, "You're remembering it wrong. It was twice."

The warmth slowly drained from my fingertips.

I remembered that night, too. I'd worn a borrowed dress and waited backstage for him for most of the evening, hoping we could have our own moment together.

Instead, he'd looked at me and said, "Take it off. Your shoulders are so hunched that you look ridiculous in something like that. I'm worried you'll feel uncomfortable if people stare at you."

I had taken the dress off.

I had listened to him every time he told me what was best for me, convinced that his rejection was another form of love. But now, as I watched him walk beside Olivia, laughing about memories they both seemed so happy to share, I finally understood.

Every part of college life I'd desperately wanted to experience with Nathaniel—the games, the parties, the dances, the photographs, and the ordinary moments—had somehow become part of Olivia's college experience instead.

My shoelace came undone, and I crouched down to tie it. By the time I straightened up, Nathaniel and Olivia were already several yards ahead, still talking and laughing as they walked.

I stood there for a moment, then quietly dusted off my hands and turned back toward the dorm.

Graduation meant leaving college for good, which also meant packing up everything I'd accumulated over the past four years. I hadn't realized how much I owned until I started packing. By the time I was done, I'd barely managed to squeeze everything into three oversized suitcases.

To make matters worse, the wheels on one of them had broken. No matter how hard I pulled, it wouldn't budge, and the handles had already rubbed my palms raw.

With no other choice, I called Nathaniel.

The phone rang for a long time before he finally picked up.

"I have a lot of luggage. Could you help me carry some of it?"

He clicked his tongue impatiently on the other end. "Evelyn, you disappeared halfway through our walk around campus without saying a word. You had Liv worried sick for half the day, and now you're calling to order me around?"

My fingers tightened around the phone.

"I'm not ordering you around. I just can't carry everything by myself."

"If you can't carry it, figure something out. Make a few trips. You're about to enter the real world, so stop expecting other people to help you all the time. Consider this the last lesson I'm teaching you before graduation," he said.

I fell silent, but before I could say anything else, he continued, "I still have to help Liv carry her luggage down to the car, and I don't have time for this. Figure it out yourself."

The call ended before I could respond. He had hung up on me.

Just then, an email notification appeared on my screen. It was my acceptance letter to University of Westbridge's medical graduate program.

Nathaniel had once told me to give up on graduate school. "With your personality, you'll be crying the whole time if you move away for school. Just come work as a secretary at my company. I'll take care of you."

Back then, I'd mistaken his control for concern.

Now, as I stared at my acceptance letter, I realized I'd rather leave, struggle, and even cry on my own than spend the rest of my life kneeling at someone else's feet, smiling just because they told me to.

Olivia pushed open the dorm room door, humming happily as she walked in with two iced lattes. Since Nathaniel couldn't enter the women's dorm, he had to wait downstairs.

Olivia handed one of the drinks to me with a smile. "You must be exhausted from packing. Have some and cool down. Nathaniel bought it especially for you."

I glanced at the iced latte but shook my head. My stomach was still upset, and I didn't feel like drinking anything cold.

"No, thanks."

Olivia set the drink aside and opened a drawer in her jewelry box, casually sorting through its contents.

As she moved things around, a simple silver necklace slipped out. Its pendant was a small, hollow star, and on the back was a tiny scratch I'd carved with a compass—the initial "N" for Nathaniel.

It was the first birthday gift he'd ever given me, back in freshman year. I'd lost it during the second semester of sophomore year, and I'd been so devastated that I cried until my eyes were swollen.

Nathaniel had stroked my hair and comforted me, saying, "It's just a necklace. You probably misplaced it because you're so forgetful. I'll buy you a gold one next time."

There had never been a next time.

Olivia bent down and picked up the necklace, turning it over in her fingers.

"I mentioned once that I liked this, and Nathaniel just gave it to me. I was going to return it to you, but he said that what's given away isn't supposed to be taken back. So, he told me to keep it. But Eve, if you want it, I can give it back to you right now."

I looked at the necklace for a moment before shaking my head. "No. I don't want it."

Once something had been tainted, getting it back would never make it precious again.