Chapter 3 The Last Spark

Alice anxiously pointed toward Troy. He was arguing with the vendor because his QR payment had not gone through.

"Alice, call the police!" I shouted to her.

The woman suddenly let go of me, and the man behind me kicked the back of my knee. I stumbled and fell.

The sharp heel of her shoe dug hard into my ankle.

I was drenched in sweat, and the pain made my vision go black for a moment.

Meanwhile, Troy finally settled things with the vendor.

In the chaos, Alice seemed to glance in my direction. Her eyes lingered on me for less than a second before Troy pulled her around the corner.

In the end, a middle-aged man in the crowd could not bear to stand by and watch. He called the police for me.

By the time I finished giving my statement at the police station and returned to the hotel, it was well past midnight.

I limped into the hotel lobby, my ankle so swollen that I could barely keep my balance.

Hearing the commotion, Alice hurried over to help me.

She was carrying a bag of medicine she had just ordered for delivery. She crouched down and started treating my injured ankle.

"Put some ice on it first and spray it with some medicine. We'll see how it looks tomorrow."

I stared at her face.

Beneath the concern on the surface, I could still sense the restlessness and annoyance she could not quite hide.

It was as if I were just another problem on this trip she had to go out of her way to deal with.

Her touch was gentle, but it felt cold to me.

"You saw me, didn't you?"

Her hand stopped for a moment, but she did not look up.

"I didn't notice there was a fight over there. Troy was arguing with the vendor, and I was too busy pulling him away."

She was clearly feeling guilty. She spoke quickly, her cheeks turning red.

Troy was still eating his fruit-and-yogurt cup. In his usual seemingly concerned but actually mocking tone, he lectured me. "Hunter, don't go charging around in crowded places. Watch where you're going."

Alice forced a smile. "Is this your first day knowing him? This guy can't even follow a map. He gets lost everywhere."

My voice turned cold. "Was I the one who wanted to get lost? You clearly saw me. Why didn't you come over?"

The smile faded from her eyes little by little, and the annoyance she had been hiding began to show.

"You had a problem over there. Wasn't Troy dealing with a problem too?"

"Was my problem less important than a few bucks' worth of fruit?"

I lurched upright, unable to understand it. When she had to choose between us, why was I always the second choice while Troy was always the first?

"Alice, if I'm not your first choice, then you don't have to keep taking care of me."

The moment my ankle touched the floor, pain shot through it, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

But I refused to keep swallowing my frustration just to be her second choice.

"Alice, Hunter's just blunt. You should go after him and explain." Troy lazily offered his advice from behind us.

Alice raised her voice, finally letting all her pent-up frustration explode. "Leave him alone! We agreed we'd act like a team on this trip. He's the one only thinking about himself!"

I limped back to my room. The first thing I did was pack my bags and book a ticket home.

When everything was done, I opened the group chat.

Troy had posted a photo of the three of us on the food street.

After 11 days, I had finally appeared in one of their photos.

He tagged me.

"Hunter, Alice said this trip was to make up for the fact that I couldn't go on the class trip to Crestwater during the summer after our sophomore year. I didn't realize you were this bothered by me being here. If that's the case, I'll buy a ticket and leave tomorrow."

Every word made it sound like I was an outsider.

During the summer after our sophomore year, Alice's car had hit Troy. He was found to have a bleed in the subarachnoid space and needed a drainage procedure.

Even though the doctor said it had nothing to do with the accident, she still could not let it go.

From then on, Troy became someone we could never avoid in our relationship.

Alice replied without hesitation, "I don't agree."

When I left, she accused me of making an exception for myself. When Troy wanted to leave, she said she didn't agree.

Her favoritism could not have been more obvious.

I opened my social media feed. Troy had just posted a set of nine professionally shot travel photos.

In the pictures, Alice was laughing with him, holding his hand, and gazing into his eyes. She had never done any of those things with me.

Our friends congratulated them on making their relationship official.

I liked the post and left a comment. "You two really are perfect for each other."

A moment later, someone pounded on my hotel door.

When I opened it, Alice stood there, her face cold with anger. She grabbed my arm and dragged me outside.

"Why did you make a snide comment under Troy's post? He's left because of you!"

I staggered and caught myself against the wall. My ankle, which had just started to settle down, began swelling again.

"Troy's gone?"

"Yes. Thanks to you!" Unable to contain her anger, she turned and shouted at me.

The urgency of finding him pushed everything else aside.

I swallowed my retort and followed her, hopping on one foot. We split up to search for him. I called Troy countless times along the way.

Just before dawn, I returned to the hotel. When I opened the door, empty liquor bottles were scattered across the floor.

Alice had her arms around Troy's waist as they slept together on the cramped sofa.

That sight was the last spark on the fuse. The next second, the last shred of my reason shattered.