Chapter 3
Daniel repeated himself, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"Why?" Tamara's eyes welled up with tears. "Is it because of Hailee? She's dead! How can you break up with me because of her?"
At the mention of my name, Daniel's body trembled almost imperceptibly.
"It has nothing to do with her." He closed his eyes, exhaustion clear in his voice. "It's my own problem."
"Is it really your problem, or is it because you can't let Hailee go?" Tamara's voice rose.
She was getting worked up. "You two have been rivals for ten years. Everyone thought you were sworn enemies, but I could tell there was always something different in your eyes when you looked at her.
"Daniel, can you really say you never had any feelings for her?"
I held my breath, not even realizing until that moment just how much I was waiting for his answer.
Daniel fell silent.
The quiet stretched on, hurting more than any words could.
Tamara's smile looked ugly. "Your problem, huh? Daniel, you're unbelievable."
She slammed the bowl of cereal on the table, spun around and charged into the bedroom. When she came back out, she was dragging a suitcase behind her.
"Break up? Fine! I've been done with you for ages. Since you're in love with a dead woman, then be with her," she shouted.
She slammed the door so hard the noise echoed through the empty house.
Daniel stood rooted to the spot, like someone had sucked all the life out of him.
After what felt like forever, he finally dragged himself over to the couch and collapsed, burying his face in his hands.
I saw his shoulders quivering.
Was he crying?
Was it Tamara he was crying for, or was it me?
I didn't know.
All I knew was, in that moment, I wished I could just vanish into thin air and never come back.
After Tamara left, Daniel's life fell apart.
He locked himself away in his apartment, not eating, not drinking, not sleeping at all.
He kept checking his phone, scrolling through our old chats over and over.
Most of it was just us sending each other savage memes or debating academic topics. The last message was from the night before my car accident.
Hailee: [Tomorrow at 10 AM, meet me at the café downstairs from the main inpatient wing. No backing out. If you don't show, you're a coward.]
Daniel: [What?]
Hailee: [I've got something important to say.]
Daniel: [I'm busy.]
Hailee: [You have to be there.]
He never replied after that.
I couldn't stop staring at his "I'm busy" message. It seemed our last conversation ended with him refusing me.
I had asked him to meet me because I wanted to finally tell him how I really felt after holding it in for ten years.
Daniel spent the whole night staring at our last messages.
The next day, his phone buzzed with an incoming call.
On the other end was my dad.
"Is this Daniel Rooney?" My dad's voice sounded so old and tired.
"Yes, Mr. Duff, it's me," Daniel replied.
Dad said, "We're sorting through Hailee's belongings. There are some things we don't know what to do with. Would you maybe want to come by and take a look? You two were classmates, after all."
My dad's voice was hesitant.
He must've thought it was kind of crazy, asking his daughter's rival to help go through her things.
Daniel didn't even hesitate. "I'm on my way," he said.
I trailed after Daniel, returning to the small apartment I'd called home for five years.
Everything was exactly as I'd left it, like I'd just popped out and could walk right back in at any moment.
The living room was stacked with boxes, and my parents were going through them in silence.
When my mom saw Daniel, her eyes filled with tears and she quickly turned away, unable to bring herself to look at him.
My dad sighed and pointed at the pile in my room. "These are Hailee's books and things she's kept since she was a kid. We thought maybe there's something there that might mean something to you or her classmates."
Daniel walked into the room.
My room wasn't big, but it was warm and cozy.
The shelves were crammed with textbooks and novels, and my desk still had a half-finished medical report sitting on it.
There was a giant world map on the wall, with red pins marking places like Bayclade Coast, Comoron City, and Gial Island.
Daniel stared at that map, unable to tear his eyes away.
He walked over to my desk and picked up an open notebook.
My messy handwriting filled the pages with a patient's case analysis. In the corner, his name was written, crossed out, and written again.
His fingers brushed over those words, then jerked back like he'd touched something hot.
Just then, my dad came over, carrying a box covered in dust.
"These are Hailee's old high school things, mostly useless notebooks and a bunch of odds and ends. We were about to toss it all, but if you want to keep something to remember her by, feel free to dig through it," my dad said.
Daniel took the box from him.
It wasn't heavy, but it felt like it weighed a ton. His fingers tightened around it, knuckles turning white.