- 6.
He was faster than me and he cornered me
outside the restaurant.
He was breathing heavily, his cold fingers
ripping my shoulders.
I looked up, meeting his eyes. I could see the
confusion in his gaze.
く
His hand trembled as he reached out to brush
my cheek. He wiped away the wetness there.
Only then did I realize I was crying.
So, this was what it felt like to be touched by
Liam.
My mouth tasted bitter, tears were running
down my neck.
Liam was trying to wipe away my tears, he
finally pulled me into a hug.
“Don’t cry, please don’t cry….”
He kept saying my name, sounding panicked.
When I was crying, I was finally the exception
to the rule.
く
But I wasn’t the only one anymore.
Probably, somewhere else, he’d already
broken his boundaries for Mia countless
times.
“Liam.”
After a long pause, my voice came out
steady.
“We’re done.”
Liam hesitated for a second, then he looked
at me with confusion.
“Really? Is it that big of a deal?”
His eyes darted around, and then, like he’d
had an epiphany, he sighed. It felt kind of
<
“Hey, you just trying to make me feel bad?
You’re being so childish.”
“You don’t understand me and Mia. Don’t
start drama.”
Liam was being so calm, like I was a simple
math problem.
He thought he had the perfect solution.
He clearly didn’t think I was smart enough to
understand his relationship with Mia.
And there was no reason to explain it to me.
He thought I was being “childish,” and should
just pretend that nothing had happened.
Like I was his pet.
I almost laughed.
But the tears slid down the corners of my
mouth.
I lifted my hand, meaning to slap him.
But I suddenly lost all my strength.
My nails scraped his cheek, leaving a shallow
cut.
“Liam, you’re supposed to be some genius.
But you’re just a self–centered jerk.”
Liam froze for a second, touching his cheek.
Then he asked:
“Okay, are you happy now?”
く
I didn’t even have time to answer before Mia
came running.
When she saw the cut on Liam’s cheek, she
looked at me like she wanted to eat me alive.
She stood in front of Liam, almost crying.
“Take it out on me, why do you have to hurt
him!”
Mia wasn’t done yelling, she stepped forward
and tried to slap me.
I blocked the hit, and when my fingers
brushed hers, I saw a smug look in her eyes.
“Ah!”
Mia fell to the around, clutching her ankle.
く
I hadn’t even pushed her.
“Hey!”
“I didn’t….”
Liam and I spoke at the same time, voices
clashing in the air.
One was innocent, the other was furious.
“You know that whatever happened between
us had nothing to do with other people.”
“You let me down.”
lost the will to argue in my defense.
I watched as Liam picked up the crying Mia
and took her away. Before turning, he glanced
His gaze was cold, like he was looking at a
stranger.
He rarely showed any emotion, but now, he
was breaking his rule again, all because of
her.
They were entangled together like two vines.
I suddenly remembered something that
happened after the SATS.
Liam and I went on a trip, and I got a super high fever.
I asked him to take me to the hospital, and
after some hesitation, he called an
ambulance.
“You get it, right?”
<
The ambulance got stuck in traffic, and I
nearly got pneumonia by the time I got to the
- ER.
My friend, Sarah, was livid and said that Liam
wasn’t worth it.
She said that he didn’t even love me.
I defended him back then, saying that was.
just how he was. Not that he didn’t love me.
Now, that bullet from the past hit me right
between the eyes.
Why was he suddenly forgetting about
ambulances now?
I had to admit it.
く
It wasn’t that he couldn’t love.
He just didn’t bother to love me.
