Chapter 2

The message landed and Phineas froze, his focus slipping for a beat.

Beside him, Bess let out a little cry and hooked her arm through his.

"Looks like Claudia really does have a lot of pride. I honestly can't wait to meet her~"

His expression shifted at the touch, and he pinched her cheek.

"She'll be at the opening ceremony the day after tomorrow, making a fool of herself. You'll see her then, my impatient little princess."

Bess pouted, unsatisfied, and rolled her eyes.

"Don't you all want to see Claudia? I've got a way to do it without tipping her off!"

"Let's order her some food delivery, have the driver sneak a photo, and tell us what she actually looks like?"

Phineas frowned, his face darkening a little.

"Isn't that going too far? If the driver says something ugly, it'll hurt her."

So he did know. He knew it hurt me to be talked about.

But if he knew that I'd trained my posture more than ten hours a day to be worthy of him, drunk dozens of kinds of green juice to lighten my skin,

practiced until the bones in my feet cracked, drunk until my stomach churned with acid,

would he ache for me a little more?

Bess lowered her head, her lips trembling like she was about to cry.

"The driver won't tell Claudia anyway. Why are you being like this?"

"Forget it, Phineas. I understand where Claudia stands in your heart. I was the one thinking cruel thoughts!"

Phineas sighed and gently wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb.

"That's not what I meant. I'll order her something right now, one of those sugar-and-grease calorie bombs, all right?"

Bess looked up at him through wet lashes, her voice going soft and coaxing.

"I knew Phineas would always take my side~"

Whether it was the talk of the food or the flirting between them,

listening to the two of them made me sick enough to gag.

All this time, I'd recorded my skin tone and my manners every day, repeating everything hundreds of times.

I'd finally turned from an ugly duckling into a swan just before the term started,

and I'd wanted to surprise him, so I'd been looking forward to the opening ceremony.

Now that hope had become the slow poison destroying me.

A second later, my phone gave a special alert tone.

"Claudia, I ordered you some coffee and a cupcake. All the girls here love this stuff."

"You're so thin. It really pains me."

I stared at the screen for a long time, and the tears came before the feeling did.

He'd sent me things before too, all delicacies and tonics I could never get up in the mountains.

I refused every time, and every time he'd force them on me with that stubborn pride of his.

"You're my girlfriend. If you don't take them, next time I'll send ten times as much, and then everyone will laugh at you for being wasteful!"

I shut off my phone, unable to count how much of what he felt for me was real and how much was fake.

"Thank you. I'm at the Grand Sycamore Hotel, room 606. Sorry for the trouble."

When they saw the address I sent, a subtle look crossed every face.

"The little fisher girl actually had the nerve to accept. Bess even praised her for having pride. I say she's just a gold digger!"

"Oh, don't say that about her. She couldn't even recognize the dishes at a Western restaurant. Maybe she walked out on an empty stomach earlier!"

"Maybe for the sake of that laughable pride of hers, she stared at the all-English menu and ordered two piano pieces?"

They laughed and laughed, and Phineas just listened quietly, letting a smile slip through now and then.

He'd never once thought to protect me, not even the sliver of dignity I had left.

When I got back to the hotel, I ran into the delivery guy in the elevator.

The instant he saw me, he froze on the spot.