Chapter 5

The day I flew to Stanford for my interview,

I ran into Nathan at airport security.

His laptop had been mixed up with someone else's, and he was booting it up to check.

His wallpaper was clearly another street photo of me from that day.

I calmly averted my gaze.

Whoever his wallpaper was, or why he had that photo, it had nothing to do with me anymore.

Chloe walked over. "Nathan, are you ready...?"

Suddenly, she saw me.

"Mia! I knew you'd be on this flight! Why didn't you call us?"

Nathan suddenly looked up, fumbling to pack away his laptop.

He looked at me with an urgent gaze.

I quietly waited for him to speak.

But what he said was just as cold.

"So you decided to come back?"

"We've already planned our trip. You can find a hotel and stay there yourself."

Even though I was utterly disappointed in him, hearing the person I once loved say that was still incredibly painful.

Nathan, do you think everyone should revolve around you?

Who do you think you are?

I smiled at them.

"You two can go on your trip. It has nothing to do with me."

I pushed my suitcase and turned to leave.

Chloe's voice came from behind. "Mia, Mia! Wait for us, let's go together! We can look out for each other!"

"Enough, Chloe. Leave her be. She'll come back when she's done throwing a tantrum. We just spoiled her before."

On the plane, I turned off my phone.

For the three-hour flight, I just stared blankly out the window.

The clouds kept changing. It felt like I hadn't looked up at the sky in a long time.

The journey to Harvard was shorter than to Stanford.

As soon as I turned on my phone, I received a string of messages from Nathan,

And 21 missed calls.

[Mia, there's a limit to how much you can joke.]

[Where are you? I'm coming to get you.]

Another call came in.

I hung up again.

I dragged my suitcase out of the airport. From now on, I had nothing to do with him.