Everyone burst into laughter.
Because Arthur had chosen the edge table at Chloe’s side, half the room gravitated there immediately. The table I had moved to stayed half empty, as if even after graduation, invisible rankings still existed.
A girl beside me rolled her eyes. “Seriously? We graduated years ago and they still act like there are social classes inside one class.”
“Guess we’re the losers who didn’t become academic legends,” someone else said.
Another person lowered their voice. “I heard the mystery sponsor for this reunion is hidden at our table.”
That finally made me look up.
The boy beside me smiled shyly.
He had lost so much weight that I didn’t recognize him at first. In high school, aside from Little Glasses, the other classic nickname victim had been Chubby Ryan.
“Ryan?”
He laughed. “Yeah. Lost it the summer after senior year.”
He looked completely different now. Leaner. Sharper. More confident. The kind of confidence that didn’t need to crush anyone else to prove itself.
He raised his glass. “Our table may not have been full of straight-A prodigies, but every person here has something good about them. No need to look down on ourselves. After lunch, I’m treating everyone here to coffee and dessert.”
The whole table cheered.
I couldn’t help smiling too.
A piece of braised fish suddenly appeared on my plate.
I turned.
Ryan cleared his throat. “You used to line up for fish every Monday in the cafeteria. I remembered.”
I blinked. “You still remember that?”
He looked a little embarrassed. “I used to line up on Mondays too.”
“For the fish?”
“For… other reasons.”
I pretended not to understand.
Maybe because he ran his own robotics company now, there was a steadiness to him that most people our age didn’t have.
I asked him how he had started a business.
“Luck, mostly,” he said. “We build robots. It’s pretty fun. You should come by sometime.”
My eyes lit up. “The kind that dance to K-pop?”
Ryan paused, then laughed. “If you want them to, I can probably make that happen.”
Before I could answer, someone from Arthur’s table called across the room.
“Zoe. Little Glasses. Since you and Arthur are neighbors, you should know.”
I looked over. “Know what?”
A guy grinned. “Does Arthur have a girlfriend or not?”
Arthur acted like he hadn’t heard. He was leaning toward Chloe, speaking to her in a low voice. Chloe kept laughing, bright and sweet, like a bell.
I heard my own voice come out strangely calm.
“We’re not close.”
Arthur’s head stopped moving.
Then he lifted his eyes and looked straight at me.
I turned back to Ryan.
We kept talking. Maybe I was trying too hard to seem normal. Maybe I really was enjoying myself. Either way, I got careless and swallowed a strip of chili pepper by accident.
I started coughing immediately.
Ryan pushed a glass of water toward me. “Hey, easy.”
“I’m fine.” My face was burning. “I’m just going to the restroom.”
I had barely stepped out of the restroom a few minutes later when a hand shot out from the side and yanked me into an empty private room.
The door clicked shut behind me.
Arthur pinned me there with a look so dark it made my heartbeat skip.
“You call that not close?”
His fingers were cool against my chin. A second later, pain flashed across my lip.
He had bitten me.
“Not close with me, then who are you close with?” His voice was low and dangerous. “Ryan? He knows you can’t eat spicy food. Does he also know you shiver when someone bites your lip?”
I shoved him away so hard he took two steps back.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He looked annoyed now, as if I were the unreasonable one. “That’s my question. Since yesterday, what exactly are you playing at?”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
“I’m not playing. I meant what I said. We’re over.”
He let out a short laugh and tossed something into my arms.
A bottle of yogurt.
“I saw you coughing and went all the way to the front desk to buy that for you.”
I stared at it in silence.
He leaned against the table, eyes fixed on me.
“You’re getting smarter. Using a public setting to pressure me now? Chatting so happily with Ryan because you want me jealous? Is your vanity really that strong? Do you want me to tell everyone you’re my girlfriend that badly?”
I lifted my head slowly.
“What did you just say?”
“Isn’t that what this is?” he said. “You say break up yesterday, then today you throw a tantrum in public. What else could you mean?”
Something inside me suddenly felt very tired.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say I did all of this because I wanted a title. Would you give it to me?”
He went silent.
Then, after a moment, he frowned. “Do you care that much about a label?”
I threw the yogurt back at him.
“So what do you think I’m supposed to care about? That I got you? That my pathetic crush came true, so I should be grateful forever? Arthur Sterling, what exactly have these three years been to you?”
His brows tightened.
“Our relationship was consensual,” he said coldly. “Don’t make it sound like you suffered some great injustice. I told you from the start that I hate being tied down. I hate clinginess. I didn’t drag you through my door.”
“No,” I said softly. “At first, it was consensual. But now it isn’t. I don’t want this anymore. I want out. It’s that simple.”
I turned for the door.
His hand closed around my wrist.
“What did you say?”
I looked down at his fingers.
“You heard me.”
His grip loosened slightly. “Are you serious? Over something as small as a title?”
“Are your ears broken?” I yanked my hand free. “I said we’re done.”
His face went still.
Then he laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“Fine,” he said. “End it, then. But Zoe, I’m not some bargain stall you shop at when you feel like it and leave when you’re bored. You chose this. Don’t regret it.”
“I won’t,” I said.
Because our beginning had been a mistake from the start.
I walked out.
A second later, behind me, I heard the soft thud of the yogurt bottle being thrown into the trash.