- 2.
He still had no expression on his face.
He just paused, then quickly walked towards
く
The girl called out, “Hey,” and grabbed Liam’s
sleeve.
“Why the hurry?”
Liam didn’t pull away, letting her hold on to
him.
He stopped in front of me, looking down.
“What are you?
here?”
A faint light flickered in his eyes, a light that I
used to think was tenderness.
I forced a smile, and held the gift out to him.
“Happy birthday, Liam.”
Liam was about to take the gift when the girl
r
“Oh my gosh, Liam, we’re going to miss our
reservation. Let’s go!”
Liam stopped moving, and walked a few
steps forward with the girl tugging his sleeve.
Then, he stopped and turned to face me.
“You coming, or what?”
My legs felt like lead, but I followed them.
I was still feeling numb, stuck in a loop of
what I’d seen.”
I was aware I was a total third wheel, a
burden sitting in the front of the taxi.
But how could I just let go of someone I’d
loved for so long?
In the back, the girl was chattering.
Talking about some lab stuff I didn’t
understand.
Liam was responding quietly, and the two of
them seemed perfectly in sync.
I started replaying moments from our
relationship.
At the beginning, I used to love telling Liam
about my day.
Even if he never replied, I still enjoyed it.
Later, when I was excitedly telling him about
the kittens that had appeared outside my
dorm, he cut me off.
<
“Do you have to be so… idle all the time?”
From then on, I stopped telling him anything
personal.
So, of course, I had no idea he actually did
listen to people’s “idle” talk.
I gripped the gift bag, the handle cutting into
my palm.
I felt a wave of fatigue and sadness.
The taxi driver noticed my red eyes.
He mac
joke.
“Hey, buddy, pay attention to your girlfriend.
“Your little sister is feeling left out over
<
The back seat went silent.
I felt embarrassed and ashamed, quickly
wiping away my tears.
Then, the girl giggled.
“Oops, sorry, almost forgot about you.
“I’m Mia, Liam’s colleague. I’m a year
younger, but I skipped a grade and now we’re
both in the same graduate program. We’ll be
working together on our Ph.D.
“Who are you? What school do you go to?
What’s ‘ur specialty? I’ve never heard Liam
mention you before.”
She was still smiling, but her words were
laced with mockery.
く
So, this was Mia.
I felt kind of pathetic admitting this, but I had
spent a lot of time looking at the campus
forum.
Liam was super popular, and there were
always threads about him.
Since he never told me anything, this was the
only way I could learn about his life.
Mia’s name came up all the time.
They called them the golden couple of the
engineer..y department.
I’d seen photos of them together.
At some competition, they were on the
く
podium, holding up a trophy and grinning.
I had to admit, it made me feel jealous.
The wind whipped past the taxi window. Liam
remained silent.
He was letting Mia say whatever she wanted,
without sticking up for me.
“I’m… Liam’s girlfriend,” I said quietly.
