Chapter 1

During my senior-year internship, my father was hospitalized and needed surgery. My boyfriend and I both tried to book a specialist for him, and neither of us got through.

When I went to the hospital to see him, he just waved it off, unbothered.

"It's a minor operation. Don't make such a fuss."

On the day of the surgery, my company had an important project.

My boyfriend smiled and reassured me.

"Leave it to me. He'll be perfectly fine."

The project wrapped up early, so I hurried over to the hospital.

In the corridor, my boyfriend had his childhood sweetheart in his arms.

"I got your mother a private room and booked a specialist ahead of time. Today's surgery will go without a hitch."

She wiped her tears away, her face full of happiness.

"I really don't know what I'd have done without you. But doing all this, won't your girlfriend mind?"

He answered without a second's hesitation.

"You've always been my only girlfriend. Everything with other people is just for show."

I waited for the two of them to leave, then went to my father's room.

Just for show, was it?

I could play that game too.

1

"Louise Henson, what are you doing here?"

My father braced himself to sit up, and I rushed over to press him back down.

"A grown man and still trying to prove something. If you'd just listened to me for once and stopped hauling goods up and down the streets, you wouldn't be lying here suffering, would you?"

I put on a stern face and "scolded" him.

Instead of getting annoyed, he gave a sheepish smile.

"That's on your dad. I've caused you trouble."

Hearing that, an ache went through me.

Three years ago, a disaster took my mother's life.

I never even got to see her one last time.

My father told me, calm about it.

"Your mother wanted you to finish your studies and find the right person to settle down with."

I thought my father wasn't the least bit heartbroken. I even picked more than one fight with him over it.

Later my aunt was the one who told me.

"Your dad carried that pole up and down the streets, wouldn't rest for a single day, and he always kept a photo of your mother tucked in his load."

I cried for a long time that day.

"Sir, it's time for the surgery."

My boyfriend, Otis Gilbert, had arrived, and seeing me there clearly caught him off guard.

"Louise, didn't you say work was slammed?"

I ignored the panic in his eyes.

"No matter how busy work is, could it ever matter more than my father's surgery?"

My father watched the exchange and smiled, deeply comforted.

They wheeled him into the operating room, and Otis and I sat outside it.

"I think I saw Lucinda Swanson earlier. Did you know she was here?"

I said it lightly, casually. Otis froze for a moment, then quickly smiled.

"I just saw her too, so I said a quick hello."

A quick hello?

That hello landed her right in his arms!

I didn't call out his lie. I feigned confusion and asked.

"Didn't her whole family move abroad? What brought them back?"

Otis sighed.

"Her father passed away, so she came home to hold the funeral. Now her mother's hospitalized too, and it's not looking good."

Whether he was explaining it for my benefit or not, Otis said a great deal all in one breath.

"It's just like what you went through. You can never really guard against disaster."

"I told Lucinda just now that if she needs anything, I'd help however I can."

"Louise, you won't hold that against me, will you?"

I turned to look at him.

An afternoon a few years ago, a bright, sunny Otis had walked into my world.

My mother had just died, and I'd fought with my father again.

He'd raced me around the track on the field, and taken me out for a spicy noodle bowl at the place outside campus, four-fifty a serving.

"Otis."

Lucinda's voice cut through my thoughts.

She came running up in tears and threw herself straight into Otis's arms.

"I'm so scared, Otis. Come stay with me, please?"

Otis opened his mouth but nothing came out. Only then did Lucinda seem to notice I was there. She turned, wiped her tears dry, and asked me.

"Are you Otis's classmate?"