Chapter 4

"Go on, then. Don't come running back if you leave."

Zach's harsh words followed me from behind.

I didn't look back. I strode straight out without a trace of reluctance.

There was nothing in that house worth missing anyway.

It had originally been a home for just Zach and me.

Then my parents said they could no longer make ends meet back in the countryside and showed up asking to stay with us.

I hadn't wanted to let them move in. But after Zach's parents died, he'd spent years being passed around among relatives, always feeling like a guest in someone else's home. He missed having a real family around, so he begged me to let them stay.

And what had come of it?

I hadn't felt an ounce of familial warmth. Every day, they either asked me for money or took something of mine and gave it to Mia.

My bedroom.

The car I'd bought.

And now even Zach.

They'd taken him from me and handed him to Mia too.

I dragged my suitcase all the way out of the apartment complex, and not one person came after me.

Instead, a car came speeding straight toward me without slowing down.

One glance was enough for me to recognize it.

It was my car.

I threw myself out of the way, but even with everything I had, I couldn't avoid it completely. The car clipped me and sent me sprawling.

A security guard saw what happened and rushed over, asking if I needed an ambulance.

Another guard pulled the driver from behind the wheel.

It was Mia.

They restrained her, but within minutes, Linda and Robert came running over in a panic.

"It's a misunderstanding! Let go of our daughter!"

Zach walked over to me and tried to reason with me.

"Mia didn't do it on purpose. Just forgive her this once."

Mia lowered her head. A smug glint flashed through her eyes even as she pleaded, "I'm sorry. I drank too much and didn't see you."

Every part of my body hurt, but somehow it still wasn't as painful as what I felt in that moment.

"So you were driving drunk? Fine. I'll make sure you go to jail for it."

Slap!

Zach raised his hand and struck me across the face.

"She's your own sister! Do you really have to send her to jail?"

"My sister? Did you not see what she just did? She tried to run me over!"

"We already told you she didn't mean it. She apologized. You have to forgive her."

"I don't."

When he saw I wasn't backing down, Zach sighed.

"You once promised you'd do three things for me. I'm using the last one now. Don't press charges against Mia."

Back when we were deeply in love, I'd promised Zach I would do three things for him.

I'd already done two.

The first was letting my parents move in with us.

The second was agreeing to the mystery-box game.

And now the third was letting Mia off for hitting me with a car.

I looked at the way Zach stood protectively beside her.

The first love I'd once cherished so deeply finally died for good.

"Fine. I promise."

I’d consider this my way of putting an end to our seven years together.

The moment I agreed not to pursue it, everyone crowded around Mia to make sure she was all right.

No one spared me another glance.

I limped to the hospital by myself.

Fortunately, I only had scrapes and bruises.

Fortunately, I got away with only scrapes. Much like my family, the damage wasn't fatal, but the pain had a way of lingering.

I spent the next few days recovering at a hotel.

On the day I was scheduled to fly out, Zach sent me a message.

[There's a class reunion. Our old class president asked me to invite you.]

I knew what he was doing.

He was giving me an opening to come back without losing face.

But I didn't respond.

I turned off my phone, boarded the plane, and left to begin an entirely new life.

...

At the class reunion, Zach kept glancing around the room.

But the person he was waiting for never appeared.

Instead, an old friend who had gone to school with Nora from elementary school all the way through college came over to talk to him.

"You're Nora's boyfriend, right?"

"Nora's a really good person. Years ago, I tried to kill myself by jumping into a lake. She saved me. Then she stayed with me for a long time, talking me through it and giving me a reason to keep going. You'd better treat her well."

At the mention of Nora, Zach smiled.

"She saved someone? That's the first I've heard of it. But both sisters are kindhearted. I fell into the water once when I was younger, too, and Mia was the one who saved me."

The woman froze.

"Mia?"

Then she frowned.

"But Mia's never known how to swim. She couldn't swim even when we were kids."

Zach went rigid.

The glass slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor.

And in that instant, something seemed to click into place.