Chapter 2

I calmly closed the laptop. Nathan emerged from the coffee shop at just that moment, holding coffees.

"All done?" He pushed the laptop back.

I nodded.

I didn't question him, just as he expected. Instead, he looked at me suspiciously.

"Are you...?"

Before he could ask, Chloe walked over with her bag.

Nathan skillfully handed her a cup of coffee, then stuck a straw into his own and started drinking.

Chloe took a sip and smiled.

"Nathan, you're amazing. You remembered my favorite flavor just from seeing me order it once. You really are an academic ace."

Nathan's voice held an unsuppressed chuckle. "Have I ever forgotten anything about you?"

Watching them banter back and forth, my heart sank to rock bottom.

I spoke in a cold voice, "Nathan, where's my coffee?"

The atmosphere instantly froze.

Nathan froze, then smiled, pushing a coffee toward me and ruffling my hair. "Good girl, let's share one."

I looked at the iced Americano. "I've told you many times, I have bad cramps today and can't drink anything cold."

Nathan frowned. "I'll go buy you another one."

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head. "No need."

The old Nathan used to remember every single one of my periods. He'd arrange everything without me having to say a word.

If love was something I had to ask for, it wasn't worth keeping.

Chloe tried to smooth things over. "Alright, alright, let's drop it and get back to our competition project."

Nathan opened his laptop.

I quickly lowered my head, pretending to check my phone, avoiding his wallpaper, avoiding the shared glance between him and Chloe, avoiding subjecting myself to that humiliation.

Only when he opened the file did I look up.

But I found I couldn't join their conversation.

"Once the results of this competition are out, we can apply for grad school at Harvard!"

"Then I'll take you on that trip. Haven't you wanted to see the ocean for ages?"

"Yeah, I've pulled so many all-nighters for these competitions! I need a good break then!"

"Hopefully, all three of us will be at the same university!" Chloe finished, then looked at me. "Mia, which university do you want to go to for grad school?"

Nathan naturally put his arm around me. "She wants to go to Harvard, just like us."

Chloe smiled and nodded. "That's good. We can't be missing anyone..."

They continued chatting.

I avoided Nathan's hand on my shoulder, my stomach churning.

I never wanted to go to Harvard; I wanted to go to Stanford.

Before, I used to playfully tell Nathan, "Let's go to Stanford together, okay?"

Nathan would always smile and playfully tap my nose. "Whatever you want."

But I don't know when it started,

His attitude changed, becoming firm. "I want to go to Harvard, Mia. Will you come with me to Harvard? I don't want to be separated from you."

I thought he valued Harvard's reputation, but now I realized,

It was just Chloe who wanted to go to Harvard.

Turns out we were both accommodating one person.

I sighed, deleting all the saved information on my phone about Harvard dorms, faculty, campus environment, and routes.

My vision suddenly blurred. I blinked,

And typed two words into my notes app.

Stanford University.