Startseite / Imagination Kurzgeschichte / Love Is Not a Number / Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 8

Alle Kapitel von Love Is Not a Number: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 8

8 Kapitel

Chapter 1

I didn't know how long I'd been asleep. Thirst was what finally woke me.I heard the fingerprint lock click open behind me. I didn't turn around.Kimberly Nicholl came in wearing house slippers, her footsteps dull and heavy, and stopped a few feet behind me."How are you feeling? You didn't answer any of my texts."I said nothing. She stepped closer and reached out to touch my forehead. I caught the sharp, woodsy scent clinging to her, the cologne her assistant Gary Yoch always wore. I turned my face away.Her hand hung there for a second, then dropped."Right," she said, her voice flat and cool. "With a number like yours, what could possibly be wrong?"Her eyes lingered on my face, then drifted upward, hovering somewhere above my head. Again.My throat felt like it had been sanded raw. "Can't you just turn my number off," I said. "Can't you look at me, just once, without it?"I remembered her telling me once that the thing could be switched off.Kimberly went quiet for a

Chapter 2

By the next day, my fever had broken, though my throat was still raw. I lay propped against the headboard and picked up my phone. The buzz from the night before had been a voice message from my mother.I opened it and listened."Kim's not coming home with you? Is she busy?" Her voice caught a few times, then lifted at the end, trying to sound light. "That's all right, busy is good. We'll see her some other time, no rush."I stared at the message thread for a long time without saying anything, then scrolled up. She'd sent a handful of photos, some of them selfies in front of a mirror. My mother, who never bought herself so much as a new shirt all year, had tried on four different outfits and wanted to know which one would make a good impression on her future daughter-in-law.There were close-ups of food too. Ever since Kimberly mentioned over a call that she liked pot roast, my mother had made it several days running."It's getting better every time. She's sure to like it," she'd

Chapter 3

I straightened up and set my shoes in the cabinet. That's when I saw the two paper bags sitting on top of it. The logos were familiar, the two cheapest items from the whole pile Gary had shown me that afternoon. Already bought."Good intentions? He was scrolling through gift guides on company time. Are you not paying him a salary?"Kimberly frowned. I walked into the living room. "And besides, why is someone else picking the gift for my parents?"She went quiet for a few seconds before answering. "I just think Gary's thoughtful. He understands what older people like."Last month I asked you what to get your parents as a meeting gift, and you said anything was fine. Your number was only thirty-four when you said that."Levi, Gary's number hit seventy just from asking me to grab him a coffee. You clearly never actually cared about the gift for your parents. Isn't it a little ridiculous to make an issue of it now?"I looked at her face. The living room light caught her from the

Chapter 4

I didn't answer. She kept going on her own, her words coming faster now. "Gary can't handle that project alone. He's already working overtime right through the holidays, and I feel bad enough about that as it is. I can already guess his number's going to be...""Going to break eighty, probably," I finished for her.There was silence behind me.I stared at the blank wall at the end of the hallway. The surface was smooth, and the light hitting it left no shadow to break the flatness.I'd already bought a ticket to go home alone. But hearing her say she wasn't coming with me for the holidays still tightened something in my chest. I remembered how, this time last year, she'd curled up against me with her head tucked under my chin, the tips of her ears turning red, asking when she'd finally get to meet my parents properly, asking if I could give her something official between us. I'd laughed at how much more eager she'd seemed than me.But now, she had changed.I closed my eyes fo

Chapter 5

It was the last day of the business trip, and the dinner banquet didn't break up until almost midnight.Kimberly went back to her room and splashed water on her face. The cold hit her skin, and she stared at her reflection in the mirror for a second or two. Her face was pale, with faint shadows under her eyes.She shook the water from her hands and pulled out her phone. The screen lit up, the notifications bar empty. She opened her chat thread with Levi.The last message she'd sent had been over ten days ago. That day, Levi had been sick in bed, and Gary had been trying on a suit in front of the dressing mirror while she sat there, checking her phone twice. She'd typed out a line: [Do you want me to bring anything back for you?]He never replied. After that came the argument, then the silence, and she hadn't sent anything since. Ten days. In all their time together, she and Levi had never gone this long without speaking.Whenever they'd fought before, it never lasted more than a

Chapter 6

Kimberly changed her return flight to Levi's hometown. She didn't tell anyone, and she waited at the gate alone. But after she landed, she still ran into Gary in the arrivals hall.He came jogging up to her, dragging his suitcase behind him. "Ms. Nicholl, is there some last-minute work? I saw the notification that you'd changed your flight, and it was too late to ask, so I just switched to the same one."His eyes caught the two bags in her hands, and he paused. "Oh... are you here to see Levi?"Kimberly's brow creased. "Go back home."He tapped at his phone a couple of times and looked up at her. "There aren't any more flights today, everything's booked solid for the holidays. Can I find a hotel here for now? I've still got some work to wrap up. I won't get in your way."Leaving a subordinate stranded in an unfamiliar city wouldn't look good if it got around. Kimberly found him a hotel and booked him a room."Go home the moment there's a flight," she said, handing him the key car

Chapter 7

On New Year's Day, Kimberly went to sit by the flowerbed outside Levi's family's complex until evening. She went back the second day. And the third.She never went up to knock. She just sat there, glancing down at her phone, then up at the building's front entrance.On the afternoon of the third day, she saw Levi come out of the building with his parents. A car was parked out front, and he was loading luggage into the trunk.Kimberly stood up and started forward, her steps unsteady. Then she heard the System's voice. "Today is the last day to leave every Demand Index turned off. If no index is reactivated, the bond will be permanently severed."She stopped a dozen or so feet from the car. Levi was just reaching for the door handle when he turned his head and glanced her way for a moment, his eyes flat, like he was looking at a stranger."Reactivate Levi's Demand Index.""Once reactivated, this subject can never be unbound again. Does the host confirm?""Confirmed."A number fla

Chapter 8

Kimberly set the paperwork down on her desk and bolted outside.Down at the building's entrance, Levi stood waiting with a small backpack slung over one shoulder, a bag in his hand. A girl beside him reached over and took it, setting it in the back seat of a car parked nearby.Kimberly ran toward them. The moment Levi saw her, his expression went still. He said something to the girl beside him. She glanced at Kimberly, then stepped back toward the car, keeping her distance.Kimberly stopped in front of him, out of breath.Her throat tightened. "You're... leaving?""The paperwork's done.""Where are you going?"Levi didn't answer."Who is she?""A friend I met over the holidays." His voice stayed even. "Call it a new beginning."Something roared in Kimberly's head. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the velvet box. She opened it and held it up to him, the box trembling in her hand."I got you this ring..."Levi, will you marry me?"I'm proposing to you..."I can go

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