Chapter 2

When Caleb arrived, the air was so quiet that it felt unnatural.

Ten minutes earlier, the girl had made a phone call.

We were separated by the car window, with me standing and her crouching. No one said a word after that.

That familiar car turned the corner, then Caleb hurried over.

Caleb didn't even glance at my car. He went straight to her, crouching down beside her legs. "You're acting up again, huh? Didn't I tell you to stay home and rest?"

He pulled out some iodine and cotton swabs from his pocket, expertly cleaning up the girl's scraped knee.

The girl let out a playful laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck. "See? I'm totally fine. I went out to get some groceries. It's your birthday. I wanted to cook you a big, nice meal."

"You can't get hurt again." Caleb carefully tended to the scrape on her knee. "I don't need a big meal. I want you safe."

"Yeah, I know," she replied.

I got out of the car. "Six dollars for the repairs. Let's handle this between us."

Under the moonlight, Caleb looked up. His face went pale as a sheet. "Kiki..."

I cut him off before he could finish. "Wow, you sure rushed over."

I pointed at him and then at the girl hiding behind him. "Fifteen minutes since you answered her call? It's more than enough for me to see how much she means to you."

Wind snuck into my collar, and suddenly I felt cold all over.

I had known Caleb since I was ten. That was a full fifteen years now.

I called him to wake up, called him to eat, told him I loved him, and told him I'd wait for him. But I had never felt this exhausted, not once.

"Caleb, how could you do this to me?" I asked.

He didn't say a word. The girl tucked herself even further behind him. I kept my eyes on her for what felt like forever.

Caleb stepped forward, blocking her from my view even more. That move hurt worse than any picture I had ever seen.

Without another word, I turned, got into the car, and sped off before I broke down in tears.

From the rearview mirror, I saw he was still standing there, his hand guarding her, his eyes following my car as I drove away.

Under the dim streetlights, the man who once made my heart race countless times suddenly looked like a total stranger.

The faster I drove, the more my memories replayed in my mind like a movie on fast-forward.

I was ten when his parents left him, and he moved in next door.

He was so skinny. Every day, I'd sneak food from my house and pass it to him over the balcony.

He'd eat with tears streaming down his face, stuffing his mouth and mumbling, "I owe you for this. Thank you."

When we turned eighteen, Caleb studied hard so we could go to college together.

An upperclassman handed me a love letter. Caleb charged over and beat him black and blue.

I was so furious that I cursed him out and even bit him, but he wiped the blood from my mouth, his eyes rimmed with tears. "Kiki, I like you. Will you be my girlfriend?"

On the rooftop, he kissed me for the first time. After that, he picked me up and spun me around, grinning. "Kiki, this is the happiest day of my life. Thank you for healing me, time and time again."

At twenty-two, the day he started his job, he got down on one knee and proposed to me in front of everyone, promising he'd love me and only me for the rest of his life.

When I chose to move away for work, he helped talk my parents into it, then looked me straight in the eye and said, "Kiki, do your thing. I've got you covered."

Every weekend, rain or shine, he'd drive three hours to see me. Over a thousand days and nights, he made sure I never spent a weekend alone.

Every late-night call, we always had endless things to talk about. Every anniversary I forgot, he always had some loving surprise waiting for me.

I never really questioned his love for me. But I couldn't understand it. I really couldn't. How could someone love two people at the same time?

Suddenly, my eyes grew hot with unshed tears. The wind rushed in through the half-open window, making my eyes ache. But what hurt even more was the heart that had loved him all these years.