Chapter 3
David watched Ashtyn's lonely figure walk away, standing there in silence for a long time.
All the warmth in his heart seemed to freeze over, leaving only a cold emptiness behind.
The guilt inside him only grew stronger each time.
I could drive away any rival, but I could never push Ashtyn away.
Later, Ashtyn's parents, who were war correspondents, died in a bombing during a riot.
After that, Ashtyn, who was all alone, was adopted by the Anderson family. She had truly become David's foster sister.
On the night of her parents' funeral, Ashtyn cried herself unconscious in David's arms.
David was heartbroken too.
He remembered the promise he'd made to Ashtyn's parents, which was to always look after her.
But now, as he fell for me, Ashtyn was left all alone.
His guilt reached its peak, and he felt that both of us should give everything we could to Ashtyn.
David asked, "What should we do, Lacey?
"We'll never be able to pay Ashtyn back for what we owe her.
"Let's be nicer to her, okay?"
After Ashtyn was discharged from the hospital, she came over to our place.
David took me out early to buy groceries, making sure we had everything we needed.
But as we were about to start cooking, David got called away for some urgent work.
Ashtyn said, "Looks like you'll have to handle the cooking by yourself."
I said, "It's fine, you go ahead and take care of your work."
They both headed to the study.
I ended up alone in the kitchen for ages.
I cooked all of Ashtyn's favorite dishes and baked her favorite desserts.
I even squeezed some juice and got snacks ready for after dinner.
The meal was super generous, but my absolute favorite, seafood, was missing.
David said that Ashtyn couldn't even go near the things I liked.
He said it wasn't fair to her.
So we kept seafood out of the house altogether, so Ashtyn wouldn't feel left out.
Hearing their laughter coming from the study, I wiped my face and told myself, "Don't overthink it."
They stayed in there for ages. I brought the desserts over to the study.
David was a young and accomplished diplomat, and Ashtyn was an interpreter fluent in five languages. They worked together in the same department.
When I walked in, they were talking in a foreign language. I couldn't understand a single word.
After I set the desserts down, Ashtyn looked up and said something to me.
I couldn't even tell what language she was speaking.
When she saw me freeze, she caught herself.
"Sorry, I forgot you don't speak Perilarianian," Ashtyn said.
David looked up at me and asked, "Is dinner ready?"
I nodded.
He said, "You go ahead and eat. Ashtyn and I still need to wrap up some things."
as I was about to leave, Ashtyn called out to me, "Could you close the door?"
I glanced at her, and she explained, "It's some confidential work stuff, hope you don't mind."
David's eyes stayed glued to the computer screen.
He said, "It's fine.
"She doesn't understand what we are saying."
*****
David and Ashtyn were the same kind of people.
Both came from well-off families and had talent to spare.
Even back in high school, while I was barely surviving Murannarian class, David could already speak thirteen languages, and Ashtyn could speak five.
Murannarian was a breeze for them, easier than their first language.
Whenever I was cramming vocabulary, Ashtyn would laugh at me.
She'd say, "David, your girlfriend's so dumb.
"She tries so hard, but she barely got 136 on her Murannarian test.
"If you two have kids, are they gonna end up dumb too?"
I looked at her score and couldn't say a word back.
I scored 136 because that was how far my abilities could take me.
They got 150, but that was only because the test maxed out at 150.
It wasn't about talent. Our backgrounds couldn't be more different.
They grew up in families with status and education.
I lost my parents as a kid and only made it through thanks to charity.
Even our careers were worlds apart. They both had these high-profile jobs, while I was an ordinary elementary school teacher.
Everyone kept asking themselves how David could possibly fall for someone like me.
I didn't get it either.
Maybe his old friends were right. Maybe it really was out of pity.
And now that the pity was gone, maybe he had finally realized Ashtyn was his real soulmate.
*****
Dinner tasted bland.
Ashtyn wanted to brush up on her Valazarrynian, so she and David spent the whole meal chatting away in Valazarrynian.
Their conversation and the fancy dishes covering the table seemed irrelevant to me. Not a single thing on the table was my favorite food.
After dinner, David drove Ashtyn home.
"I've still got some work to finish up. I'll finish it at Ashtyn's place and then head back. Don't wait up for me," he said.
"Okay," I said.
Once they were gone, I picked up a Valazarrynian book from David's shelf and flipped it open.