My Childhood Friends Chose Her over Me

Synopsis

Charles Reed was my childhood friend. He had liked me for over a decade. He picked me up outside the VIP arrival gate at the airport on my first day back. But the first thing he said to me was: "Vivian, Emily is fragile. Don't scare her." I paused for two seconds, wondering if I'd misheard after a fourteen-hour flight. Five years apart. There wasn't a single "Welcome back" or "How was the flight?" He stood before me, still that same distant, cool presence in a white shirt with sleeves rolled to his elbows, but his first words were a warning on behalf of another girl. I slipped off my sunglasses and looked up at him. "Charles, do you already need to give me a disclaimer before you even see me?" His brow barely moved, as if he, too, realized how poor a start this was. But he still said, in a low voice, "That's not what I meant." "Then what did you mean?" Charles took my suitcase from me, not meeting my eyes. "Emily hasn't been doing well lately. She heard you were coming back and couldn't sleep all night. She's sensitive. Don't be too harsh with her."