Chapter 5
The phone rang the moment I hit send.
“Flight G3521 to Chicago is ready to board. Passengers, please proceed to Gate 5.”
The announcement echoed over the terminal.
The last text message I saw on my phone from Daniel was: [Lily, do you dare to leave me?]
What is there to be afraid of? Daniel, I am not your second choice after your so–called first love has tarnished. Before, I loved you, and you took advantage of that. But now, I don‘ t love you anymore. I removed the SIM card from my phone and boarded the plane, not looking back.
On the plane, memories flooded me. I remembered the first time I met Abigail at the airport. The moment I saw her, I knew I could never replace her in Daniel’s heart. Abigail’s beauty was striking and
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confident, impossible to ignore. Even Daniel, who I had been with for a year by that time, couldn’t help but be captivated by her.
When I met Abigail, I was still just a
student, and her confidence made me feel small in comparison.
She smiled when she saw me. And I, in return, felt as though I was facing a formidable rival. In the end, she was
Daniel’s ex–girlfriend. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was trying to provoke me, flaunting her past with him, or simply telling me I wasn‘ t worthy of him.
Unexpectedly, the first thing she said was:
“I’m getting married soon.”
“Don’t worry, I have no hostility towards you.”
“I’m just curious about his current girlfriend.”
She spun the ring on her finger as she
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spoke. When she mentioned her husband, the smile that spread across her face was all–encompassing.
And then, I noticed something I hadn’t before: when Abigail wasn’t smiling, her eyes and eyebrows reminded me of myself.
It all made sense then. I understood why, when I first met Daniel, he kept asking me questions like, “Do you have a sister named Abigail?”
Then it clicked. That’s why he always said I looked better when I didn’t smile.
Looking back, Daniel’s decision to be with me, maybe part of it was because I resembled Abigail, just enough to make her memory linger.
Abigail didn’t waste time on small talk. Knowing I was curious, she briefly told me their story.
Daniel had dropped out of school for a year because of Abigail, before he finally managed to get back on track and get into
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university. Abigail told me that if I had seen Daniel at that time, I would‘ ve stayed far away from him, wouldn’t have even given him a second glance. Because at that time, Daniel was “rotten to the core.”
And Abigail was the one who had shaped him like that.
She said Daniel wasn‘ t like that before he met her. There was a time when they were leaving a bar, and her companion got drunk, accidentally injuring her. It was Daniel who stepped in to protect her. Abigail found that gesture so interesting that she started following him around, pestering him every day, until they became a couple.
“What happened next?” I asked, eager for
more.
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