Chapter 2

2 I froze in my seat.

Liora's voice felt like a jagged blade twisting in my chest.

I had spent years chasing her, thinking I had finally won her heart. I thought she was my soulmate.

Instead, she treated me like a nuisance she was embarrassed to acknowledge.

I felt like a ghost as I walked toward the edge of the screen.

Through the gaps in the wood, I could see her cold, beautiful face.

Chloe let out a little laugh.

"Lucas probably called to remind you it's your anniversary. He's been bugging us for weeks about your favorite foods to give you a surprise."

Liora frowned deeply. "I said I don't want to talk about him."

"What surprise? He's just being pathetic and delusional."

The irony was suffocating. I had been in a car accident recently and had rushed my discharge just to be here.

I even had my stitches pulled early so I wouldn't miss our special night.

I knew she missed the flavors of her hometown, so I searched the whole city for this specific restaurant.

And in her eyes, it was just me being pathetic.

Chloe shrugged, looking a bit awkward.

"Well, it's not like you were ever truly into him from the start."

Those words hit me like a sledgehammer.

It was true. Liora hadn't chosen me out of love.

From the beginning, everyone knew she and Gavin were the perfect match.

Liora came from a rough background. Her father was paralyzed in a wheelchair, and her mother struggled with severe mental health issues.

When she got into Northcrest with a full scholarship, she was a local celebrity―the girl who beat the odds.

I met her on freshman orientation day.

She was wearing old, worn-out clothes, but she looked so poised and stoic.

She didn't look at the wealthy students with envy. She just stood there, looking like a lone wildflower in a field of weeds.

I fell for her instantly.

But I quickly learned she was already taken.

Her boyfriend was Gavin Hayes, a guy from her hometown who was a few years older. He was trying to start a tech company in the city.

In our sophomore year, tragedy struck Liora's family.

Her mother got spooked by a thunderstorm in the middle of the night and ran out of the house.

By the time the neighbors found her, she had drowned in the local reservoir.

Her father went out to look for her, fell down a ravine, and ended up in the ICU with critical injuries.

Liora nearly collapsed when she got the news.

And Gavin? Her supposed soulmate was nowhere to be found. He had completely vanished.

I was the one who went back to her hometown with her. I handled her mother's funeral and paid for her father's medical bills.

But his injuries were too much. He didn't make it.

On his deathbed, he thought I was Liora's boyfriend. He took our hands and begged me to look after her.

Liora had called Gavin a hundred times during those weeks.

He never picked up. He just stayed silent.

It wasn't until we got back to the city that Gavin finally showed his face.

He knelt at her feet, crying about how his parents had forced him to break up with her.

He claimed they had arranged a marriage for him with a wealthy girl and threatened to disown him.

So, they broke up.

I stayed by her side through the grief, and eventually, she agreed to be my girlfriend.

I thought she had moved on from that coward. I thought she had finally seen who really cared for her.

I didn't realize it was just a transaction of gratitude for her.

Now that Gavin was back, her heart was already drifting away.