Chapter 4

Beside Naomi, Carl pouted. "I'll definitely surpass you!"

"For sure," Naomi giggled. "I'll definitely let you win."

"You don't say! You actually blundered seven times when I'm not that bad! Don't you ever do that again!"

"Yeah, yeah. If you say so."

On the other end, I hung up in annoyance.

I was mentally prepared for it, but it still hurt that Naomi and Carl flirted like I wasn't on the phone.

Moreover, I was reminded of the way Naomi smiled at Carl—it was the same smile she gave when she beat me at chess before.

Now, that smile belonged to someone else, and she was clearly so obsessed with Carl that she couldn't be bothered to talk to me.

-

The next day, I didn't wait to tell my parents and headed straight to my college.

Last night, Naomi did call me back after a while, but she didn't try again when I didn't answer.

She really wasn't worried that I hung up on her.

When I reached the college dorms, I saw a message she sent in the morning.

[I'm a little busy lately and can't make it back soon. Inform my parents on my behalf.]

I briskly set my status to 'Busy' exclusively for her and flung my phone to a corner before falling asleep.

Later, my roommate nudged me, waking me up. "It's 8 P.M., man. Are you really sleeping through the night?"

I reached for my phone, only to realize that I had turned it off.

At the same time, my roommate asked, "So, what brings you here? Your girl would usually come home to celebrate after a win ...."

He trailed off when he saw the look on my face and clapped me on the shoulder. "Anyway, who's hungry? You haven't eaten since you slept the whole day, so how about some good food?"

I smiled and nodded. "Sure."

Good food was just that much better than thinking about messed up stuff.

With that, we met up with other friends for dinner, after which I returned to my room and worked on my final year project.

-

Naomi and I stayed out of touch for a week since, and she never visited.

I knew very well that I should be calling her more to remind her I exist—to at least try to save our relationship instead of pushing her away.

However, I didn't think that was necessary at this point.

I had my own life to live and my graduation to prepare for—I'd already worn myself out enough chasing after her, and I would stop doing that now.

However, when I was planning to hang out with my roommate during the weekend, Wanda called. "Andy? Why aren't you coming home?"

"Not this week. Didn't I tell you?" I asked.

Wanda was silent for a while, and she then asked gingerly, "Didn't Nana tell you she's coming home? If you have the time, you should come back—it's rare for both our families to hang out these days."

I was stumped, unable to put my feelings to words.

Although it had been three months since I last saw Naomi, I was ready to say no.

However, I couldn't help holding out hope. "Alright, I'll be back soon."

-

When I arrived home, Naomi was on the couch, chatting with our parents.

Seeing me, she smiled and came over, taking my hand. "Sorry, I decided to come back on a whim and didn't have time to call you. You don't mind, do you?"

I stared at her in silence.

She hadn't changed much from how I remembered her, but she felt like a stranger anyway.