The room fell into stunned silence.
Chloe’s face turned white.
Arthur walked toward me slowly, like he was afraid any sudden movement would shatter the moment.
“Zoe,” he said, “I was wrong before. I didn’t treat you well. I thought too much of myself. These past weeks I’ve thought about everything. If you give me another chance, I’ll do better. I swear I will.”
He went down on one knee.
Then, with awkward determination, he held up another scarf.
A badly knitted one.
Crooked. Uneven. Full of mistakes.
But unmistakably handmade.
“I learned this for you,” he said. “It’s a pair with the one you made me. Please forgive me. Can we start over?”
My eyes drifted past him to the portrait again.
So.
It turned out that if he wanted to paint me, he never needed a model after all.
He had known what I wanted.
He had always known.
He just hadn’t wanted to give it.
Until now.
“Wait!”
Chloe suddenly rushed forward in a panic.
“This isn’t right. The person you’re supposed to like is me. Arthur, you’re supposed to be confessing to me!”
Arthur jerked his arm away.
“What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?”
“You like Chloe, not Zoe,” she said, almost shrieking. “The system said so!”
A wave of murmurs went through the room.
System?
What system?
Only I heard the panicked electronic voice that burst into my head at that exact second.
“I checked! I checked everything! Oh no, oh no, it’s wrong again! The original subject in the report was always the other Zihan—I mean, Zoe. The investigator used voice-to-text, and when I took over, I got confused. Then when Arthur didn’t officially get together with you for three years, I thought that proved you were the wrong one, so I panicked and rebound myself to Chloe—”
I nearly laughed from sheer disbelief.
“So,” I thought coldly, “you’re saying the player was me all along?”
“Yes. And Arthur’s feelings were for you too. And Ryan’s too.”
Chloe looked like she could hear only half of this, but enough to understand it wasn’t going her way.
She turned pale as paper.
“Then Ryan—Ryan likes me, right? You told me Ryan liked me!”
The system sounded like it wanted to self-destruct.
“Uh… no. He likes Zoe too.”
Chloe broke.
She burst into tears and ran out.
The room stayed deathly quiet.
Arthur was still on one knee, looking at me with a seriousness I had once dreamed of and now no longer knew what to do with.
“Zoe,” he said, voice low and unsteady, “I’ve never liked anyone else. Not once. I only liked you. I just wasn’t mature enough. I hurt you. But if you give me another chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it right.”
Around us, people slowly recovered and started chanting the thing people always chanted when they wanted a perfect ending.
“Say yes.”
“Say yes.”
“Say yes.”
Yes.
This had once been everything I wanted.
A public acknowledgment.
A reciprocal confession.
Love returned in equal measure.
So why did it all feel so empty now?
I looked at Arthur and said, “I’m sorry. I don’t want to.”
His face froze.
“Arthur,” I said quietly, “we never really began. So there’s nothing to start over from.”
He went completely pale.
“We were—”
“No,” I said. “We weren’t. Not before. Not now. Not ever again.”
I picked up the gift my parents had sent.
“I came because my parents asked me to bring this. The gift is delivered. I’m leaving.”
I turned.
Arthur lunged up from the floor and grabbed my wrist.
“I can change. I really can. Zoe—”
Ryan stepped in front of me.
“I warned you.”
Arthur’s voice cracked. “This has nothing to do with you.”
Ryan didn’t move.
“It does now.”
Then, from the doorway, Chloe’s voice rose again, wild and sharp.
“You all don’t even know the truth! She never loved Arthur. She only got close to him for the reward money. And Ryan, do you know? Arthur already had her for three years. Why would you even want someone like that?”
Her arm swung wildly as she shouted.
It hit a tall decorative ceramic vase by the entrance.
Someone screamed.
The vase tipped.
Time seemed to slow.
I didn’t even react before two bodies moved at once.
Arthur and Ryan both stepped in front of me.
The vase crashed down.
Shattering everywhere.