Part 3Fate Let You Go

On the highway home, Chad called.

I ignored it, treating it like a spam call. My brother was focused on driving and didn’t notice. He brought up the dinner again. I finally broke, my voice hesitant.

“Joshua… how do Chad and Chloe know each other?”

My brother sighed, lost in thought. “Ah, Chloe. She’s Chad’s ‘one that got away.’ His dream girl. He’s been single all these years, just waiting for her to come back to him. In high school, he even got suspended for her. She was waitressing, and some customer was harassing her. Chad grabbed a beer bottle and smashed it over the guy’s head. He broke the guy’s ribs, got his own leg broken in the fight, and they both ended up at the police station. Since Chad was a minor, they settled it with money, but because he’d skipped school to be there, he still got suspended.”

He shrugged. “That’s what I heard, anyway. I wasn’t at the same high school. You were away at that summer camp, so you probably never heard about it.”

My heart, already at rock bottom, plunged into an abyss.

So that’s what happened.

That summer camp. We were camping at a national park. That night, a few workers from a nearby construction site snuck into our campground. I can still feel it—the calloused hand on my thigh, the sticky, nightmarish feeling that clung to me like a disease.

There were screams. I wasn’t the only one.

The other girls’ parents arrived one by one, demanding answers. My parents were overseas. My brother was at his dorm and couldn’t get there quickly. I didn’t want to bother Chad’s parents.

The only person I could think of was Chad.

When I called him, my hands shaking, I expected him to drop everything and come right away.

But his voice on the phone was vague. “…I’ve got something going on over here. Can you just hang tight for a bit? Okay? I promise, you’ll see me first thing in the morning. I swear it.”

Disappointed, I agreed. The camp put us up in a hotel. I couldn’t sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could smell was the stale smoke on that stranger’s clothes.

The next morning, an exhausted-looking Chad appeared at my hotel room door.

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I threw myself into his arms and sobbed.

He stumbled back, sighing with a mix of helplessness and affection. “Hey, hey, I’m here now, aren’t I? What’s with all the tears?”

It was only after I’d cried my eyes out that I noticed he was on crutches.

He told me he’d injured himself playing basketball. That he had to sneak past the nurses at the hospital to get here.

I was flooded with guilt and sadness. I gently touched his injured leg. “Does it still hurt? I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

He gave a wry smile. “It hurts,” he teased. “But if you kiss it better, it might stop.”

He froze after he said it, as shocked as I was. Because I actually stood on my tiptoes and placed a soft, fleeting kiss on his jawline.

I tried to pull away, mortified, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his arms. His breathing was heavy, his voice suddenly thick and raspy, as if he was fighting for control.

He spoke through gritted teeth, each word deliberate. “Lily! Kissing… that’s the guy’s job.”

I just mumbled, “Oh,” my mind a complete blank.

“Why are you crying?” My brother’s worried voice pulled me from the memory. He was about to pull over, but I grabbed a handful of tissues and quickly wiped my face, inventing an excuse.

“…I was just so moved by Chad and Chloe’s love story.”

Joshua looked at me, half amused, half exasperated. “You girls are so sentimental. It’s that easy to make you cry?”

He was about to say more when his phone buzzed. The screen lit up with Chad’s name. I turned to stare out the window, terrified my expression would give me away.

Chad’s deep voice, laced with a strange anger, filled the car through the speakers.

“Joshua, do you have any idea where your sister is?”