Chapter 2

2.

The next morning, I was woken up by my phone ringing.

I groggily answered. It was Preston, sounding impatient.

"Verity, I told you to come pick me up from the airport. Where are you?"

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, my patience wearing thin.

"I was sleeping. Get a taxi."

I hung up before he could say another word.

I had just drifted back to sleep when a series of shrieks and loud noises from the next room woke me up again.

Suppressing my irritation, I got up to go talk to them.

I knocked once, and the unlocked door swung open.

I froze. Preston had Maya pinned down on the sofa. They were tickling each other, laughing and wrestling around.

Seeing me at the door, Preston immediately jumped off her and started explaining.

"Maya just quit her job and wanted to take a trip to clear her head."

"I figured, since we were already coming out here, the more the merrier. So I invited her along."

A cynical smile spread across my face.

"So you two are sharing a room?"

Preston shot back defensively.

"Come on, Maya's basically one of the guys! Don't overthink it."

Maya walked over, casually slinging an arm around Preston's shoulders.

"Hey, Verity," she said breezily. "Preston and I are just best buds. I'm sure you don't mind, right?"

When I didn't respond, Maya pressed on.

"You're not mad that Preston and I are sharing a room, are you?"

"I don't really get all that girly stuff. Seriously, the bro code doesn't even count Preston as a guy!"

Preston feigned annoyance and started tickling her waist again, and the two of them collapsed into another fit of laughter.

I watched them silently, a faint smile on my lips.

"I don't mind."

Preston seemed stunned for a moment, as if it was the first time I hadn't freaked out about his relationship with Maya. He opened his mouth to say something.

But I had already turned around, walked back to my room, and shut the door, blocking out the noise.

I went back to sleep and woke up feeling refreshed.

I grabbed my gear and headed straight for the slopes.

As I got on the ski lift, I heard familiar laughter behind me.

I glanced back and saw Maya laughing so hard she was practically falling into Preston’s arms.

The American guy sitting next to me on the lift had noticed them too.

He saw me looking and struck up a conversation.

"They make a really cute couple."

I nodded in agreement.

Even a complete stranger thought they were a couple.

I used to get so upset about things like this.

Preston would just look at me with disappointment.

"Verity, just because you don't have any guy friends doesn't mean you can smear my friendship with Maya!"

"No wonder people spread rumors about you! If you knew how to protect yourself back then, how could that asshole have targeted you?"

Back in college, a guy I rejected got pissed and spread a nasty sex rumor about me all over his fraternity.

I was furious and reported him to the university's Title IX office, but the frat brothers all covered for each other. The long, malicious investigation process drained all my energy.

To protect my mental health, I took a semester off and flew home to heal.

That whole incident has always been my deepest wound.

I never imagined Preston would use it against me.

The ironic part is, his cold remark back then―"Well, you should've handled your relationships better and not caused so much drama"―had once sent me into a spiral of self-doubt.

I kept trying to convince myself that I was just being too sensitive, that he and Maya really were just friends.

It wasn't until much later that I understood the problem wasn't me; it was the boundaries that were broken from the very beginning.

So, I slowly started to piece my shattered heart back together.

The wind at the summit whipped my face with thin, icy air.

I silently turned my gaze away, no longer paying attention to the two behind me.

I've been skiing for a few years, so I quickly got lost in the thrill of it.

For a while, I forgot all my troubles.

After a few runs, I started to feel tired and decided to find a place to rest.

Before I could even ski off the trail, I heard Maya scream behind me.

I didn't even have time to dodge. The next second, a out-of-control Maya slammed into me from the side, knocking me to the ground.

Her ski twisted my ankle hard.

The pain was so intense my face contorted.

Preston skied over in a flash, his face etched with concern as he helped Maya up.

Then he looked down at me, sprawled pathetically on the snow, and roared.

"Verity, you heard Maya yelling! Why didn't you get out of the way?"

"Do you have any idea what a Black Diamond is? If you can't ski, then get the hell back to the Bunny Slope!"

I clutched my ankle, biting my lip so hard I could taste blood. What washed over me wasn't hurt, but a bone-chilling clarity―the kind of clarity you get when you look at someone one last time with dead eyes and see them for who they truly are.

I’d been skiing for five or six years. Maya was the beginner!

But the searing pain left me unable to argue.

I tried to get up, but my ankle wouldn't support me.

All I could do was watch as Preston scooped Maya into his arms and skied away without a single look back.

As his back disappeared from view, I felt nothing.

Completely empty.

I was struggling to get up again when a familiar voice called out from behind me.

"Verity? What are you doing here?"