Chapter 3

When we were kids, we'd sleep in the same bed under his mother Talia's watchful eye. Even as we grew up, we never felt awkward around each other. Harris and I could just walk into each other's rooms without knocking.

Harris remembered every little thing I liked. At dinner, he'd peel shrimp for me and pick out all the bones from my fish before putting it on my plate.

The Ruiz family always kept my favorite fruits and snacks on hand, and Harris even decorated his room to fit my taste.

Everyone who knew us said Harris and I were made for each other.

Our parents were totally on board, too. So on my sixteenth birthday, Talia gifted me the Ruiz family's heirloom, an emerald pendant, as my birthday present.

It was an unspoken arrangement, and both families understood perfectly well what it meant.

Harris and I were just as aware. We promised to get into the best high school together, then go to the same university.

And just like we promised, we both got into the top high school and were assigned to the same class, sitting together as always.

During our freshman year, Harris's family was hit by unexpected trouble. His father, Samuel, made a crucial mistake, and their company was thrown into chaos.

I didn't really get how business worked, but I overheard my parents talking. Apparently, the Ruiz family's company was strapped for cash and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Back then, Samuel and Talia looked totally drained, like the stress had just worn them out.

I just couldn't bear to see Harris hurting, so I went straight to my dad and asked if we could invest in the Ruiz family to help them out.

My parents agreed, and because we stepped in right when they needed it most, the Ruiz family managed to come back from the brink.

After going through all that hardship together, Harris treated me even better. He'd tell me again and again that I was his favorite person in the world.

He always said his whole life revolved around me.

I honestly believed nothing could break us apart. But in this world, nothing was truly set in stone.

During our senior year, a girl named Janet Stuart joined our class. She came from a struggling background.

Janet was the smartest kid in her village, and since she was an ethnic minority, the school gave her special admission because of that.

When she first arrived, she wore clothes that had been washed so many times they were faded.

Her hair had a yellowish tint, dry and brittle. Anyone could see she'd been missing proper nutrition for years.

Her daily habits were totally different from the rest of the class, and she caused quite a few jokes unintentionally.

At first, Janet didn't really cross paths with us. Things only changed when tragedy struck at home. Her dad had an accident at a construction site and needed a boatload of cash for surgery, so our class organized a fundraiser.

I still remember it. Harris donated three thousand dollars, the biggest amount out of everyone.

Three thousand dollars wasn't a big deal for Harris, and I didn't even bat an eye. I just thought he was being extra soft-hearted.

The day after the donation drive, Janet came to class to thank everyone.

She brought a little gift for each of us. Everyone received matching scarves, but Harris's was special. Harris's gift was a bright flower hat.

Harris even took out the flower hat Janet had given him and showed it off to me.

Something about that flower hat just seemed off, so I jumped online to do some digging.

What I found shocked me. In Janet's ethnic group, a floral hat given by a girl to a boy was a token of affection, a love token. So, it seemed that Janet had a crush on Harris.

I told Harris about what I'd found out, but he just snorted, finding it totally ridiculous.

He waved it off, saying Janet didn't mean anything by it. He told me that his heart only belonged to me, and he would never have feelings for her.

I was confident in myself. I was pretty, did well in school, had a good temper, and came from a good family. I didn't think Janet was any threat to me.

But after that, Janet kept coming up with reasons just to be around Harris.

The first thing she came up with was needing help with the Tressian language class, saying Harris should give her some extra tutoring.

I honestly thought Harris would turn her down, but to my surprise, he agreed.

I wasn't too happy about it, so I just told Harris straight up how I was feeling.

Harris tapped my nose and grinned. "You're so small-minded, seriously, you could fit your heart on a needle's tip."

He said Janet was hardworking, her Tressian was poor, and since his Tressian was good, it was normal to help a classmate. He told me not to overthink.

He also said that after the Ruiz family nearly went bankrupt, he was deeply affected. Because he had once stood in the rain, he now wanted to hold an umbrella for others. Helping people, he said, was just like how my family once helped his.

I started to wonder if maybe I was just being too sensitive, so I let it go.

Harris would carve out time every single day to help Janet with her studies, usually staying late after evening classes.

Before, we'd always head home together, but now that he was sticking around to tutor Janet, I'd end up walking back by myself.

This went on for a while. One day, I prepared breakfast for Harris.