Chapter 3

03

Landon and I met in college.

I was a messy art student, and he was the star of the architecture department.

Our buildings were separated by a long, tree-lined boulevard, but we bumped into each other at the cafeteria.

Mainly because he snatched the last serving of BBQ ribs right in front of me.

I stared at him with an empty tray, and he looked embarrassed as he moved the ribs to my plate.

He said, “Sorry, I thought nobody wanted them.”

I snapped back, “If nobody wants them, you just grab them?”

He replied, “Yeah. Anything that nobody wants, I’ll take.”

Later, he confessed he did it on purpose.

“I saw you waiting in line for so long, and I felt guilty taking the last one.”

I asked him, “Then why didn't you just give me the whole tray?”

He smiled and said that would have been boring.

That was Landon. He never did anything the direct way.

He didn't change even after we started dating.

That winter, I mentioned I wanted roasted chestnuts.

He rode his bike halfway across the city to find an old street vendor who was still open.

He brought them back tucked inside his coat, the heat leaving a red mark on his chest.

I called him an idiot. He just grinned and told me to eat them while they were hot.

I took a bite, and the sweetness made me squint.

He watched me, looking even more satisfied than I was.

Then there was the time I submitted a series of illustrations for a contest and lost.

I sat on the floor of the studio alone, crying my eyes out, wanting to see no one.

He climbed over the wall to get to me―the wall of the girls' dorm.

The security guards chased him for two blocks.

When he finally appeared in front of me, gasping for air, he was holding a bag of hot sugar-glazed nuts.

He said sweet things would stop the crying.

I called him a psycho and then cried even harder.

Back then, I thought he was romantic.

But later, when we fought, he wouldn't say a single word.

“Fine.”

That was all he would say. Then he’d hang up and never call back.

I thought he was the type who could handle a breakup with dignity.

No clinging, no begging, no questioning.

Now that I think about it...

The breakup message from three years ago never actually sent.

What he received wasn't a “Let’s break up.” It was just my sudden disappearance.

He must have thought I was some heartless jerk who ghosted him.

He probably thought he had completely misjudged who I was.