Chapter 2The Man Who Lost Her Too Late

Liam’s gaze was like a net, and there was hatred in that look.

There was also love that had burned itself to ashes.

And there was a trace of confusion that even he himself had never noticed.

He did not understand eight years ago, and now, he understood even less.

My thoughts were instantly pulled back to that muggy summer night.

In the study room of the university library,

I was clutching an acceptance letter from an Ivy League school.

It was the dream I had earned by staying up countless nights and giving up all entertainment.

"Lena, what are you looking at so seriously?"

Liam’s voice came from behind me.

He pressed a bottle of ice-cold Coke against my face, and I snapped back to myself with a jolt.

"You scared me."

"What are you thinking about, future big designer?"he asked with a smile as he sat down beside me, his eyes bright as if they were filled with stars.

He had never doubted my talent, and he believed even more firmly than I did that I could stand on the world stage.

"When we graduate, I’ll open a tiny architecture studio."

"You’ll be my chief designer."

"We’ll rent a small apartment downtown, and it doesn’t have to be big, just big enough for your drawing board and my models."

"Then we’ll get a cat, a fat one, like a little pig."

He rambled on about our future, and every word crashed into my heart and into the acceptance letter in my hand.

Silently, I folded that piece of paper and tucked it into the deepest part of my book.

It was like burying a grand dream.

I turned to meet his gaze and said with a smile,

"Okay."

"It’s a deal."

But in the end, I still broke that promise.

"Lena?"

Zoe’s voice dragged me out of my memories.

"Liam is asking you a question, where are you working now?"

Her tone was barbed, and everyone’s eyes focused on me once again.

Some wanted to watch the show, some were waiting for me to embarrass myself, and some were gloating.

Liam let go of Willa, held his wineglass, and strolled over to me.

He looked down at me from above.

"What, you can’t say it?"

He let out a soft laugh, with seven parts mockery and three parts satisfaction.

"Then again, the top student in our department back then had such high standards, so how could an ordinary job be good enough for you?"

"Maybe you married some incredible man and got hidden away at home."

With every word he said, the laughter around us grew louder.

Willa leaned against him and added another cut at the perfect moment, her voice soft and innocent.

"Liam, don’t talk about Lena like that. Maybe she’s just low-key."

I raised my eyes and calmly looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar face in front of me.

Eight years was enough to grind a sunny young man into a man covered in thorns.

I picked up my coffee cup and lifted it toward him with composed movements.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"I’m just making a living at a small company."

My calmness seemed to make him even angrier.

"A small company?"

He sounded as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, and his pitch rose.

"Lena, that wasn’t what you said back then."

He took a step forward and pressed closer to me.

"Didn’t you say I couldn’t give you the life you wanted?"

"What, eight years have passed, and now you’re willing to ‘make a living’ at a small company?”