Chapter 2Gone in the Snow

The woman was Tina Childe, an intern working for James.

When he first mentioned her to Lisa, he would talk about how unhappy he was with her—that she was slow, cowardly, and gave patients the wrong prescription.

Later, when James went abroad to celebrate Lisa's birthday with her, he spent the whole night supervising Tina as she did her rounds.

And when he finally hung up, James smiled at Lisa, praising Tina for improving and saying that she was cute.

Lisa's eyes were fixed on the candles, however, as she asked quietly, "Can you stop?"

James promptly stopped smiling, staying silent for a while until he quietly said, "Fine."

When she tried to casually bring up Tina later, he told her they weren't in touch anymore.

Clearly, he had lied to her.

-

It was snowing a little, so Lisa's clothes were wet when she arrived home.

She typed in the passcode deftly at the door—it was the date she and James started dating.

It opened as expected—James hadn't changed it.

The floor heater kept the entire interior warm, and as Lisa looked around, her eyes paused a long while at the glass shelf at the center of the living room.

Her heart clenched, and her tears started raining as the yellow light was illuminating the many plane tickets inside the glass shelf.

Each was arranged chronologically, and there were 988 of them.

James had proudly sent her a photo of it, calling it a proof of his love—that she would return home when he gathered a thousand.

Then, he would propose, after which they would live happily ever after and never be apart.

Lisa's heart was pounding harder and more painfully with each beat as she remembered the many nights she had spent abroad.

She was always at the library, working hard so that she could graduate sooner.

Her classmates called her a bore because she simply wouldn't spend time socializing, though she never minded, because she just wanted to return to James sooner.

She never told James when she fell sick from fatigue while trying to finish her thesis, popping a ton of pills like they were candy.

She would still smile at James like nothing had happened, telling him that she really, really missed him.

But now that she had finally returned home like he wished, reality told her that it was too late.

In the end, James' heart had changed.

-

When James got home and found Lisa trembling as she cried on her knees, he frowned and reached for her. "What's wrong?"

Lisa pushed him away, however.

Closing her eyes, she could feel her nails digging into her palms as she fought to stay calm. "I heard Tina over the call."

It took all her strength just to say those words, and she was heaving as she continued, "Why are you still seeing her this late at night?"

When she looked into James' eyes, all she found was coldness she had never seen before and a sense of utter weariness.

"Do you have to talk about that now?" he growled coolly as he straightened, suddenly keeping his distance. "We're just colleagues, and we bumped into each other. It isn't whatever filth you have in mind."

If they were just colleagues, then how would he explain that hug?!

Still, before Lisa could say it, James turned and revealed the jewelry box behind him and the beautiful cake in a velvet box.

He had to brave the snow to get both.

Lisa was dumbstruck, her heart skipping a beat as bitterness and delight both erupted at the same time.

That was until he said coolly and harshly, "Tina is a good girl—quit being so malicious toward her.

"She's also independent and hardworking, staying entire days at the lab… Unlike you, as you always complain to me how tired you are from your studies.

"She's also very rational and keeps everything personal out of her work—unlike you, as you always interrogate with suspicion.

"We're perfect partners. She knows me best."

Then, pursing his lips, he finished, "I still love you, Lisa, but I'm only human. Keep starting meaningless quarrels, and I'll get sick of it too."

And with that, he dropped everything into the bin, the white buttery cake crumpling into a pile of mess that was no different from their unseemly love.