The moment Adrian Shen asked me if that was what I thought happened, I realized something terrifying.
Maybe the memory I had protected for five years…
was not the truth.
I stared at him.
“What else could it be?”
My voice sounded colder than I expected.
“You stood there in front of everyone.”
“You looked at me.”
“And you said you didn’t like me.”
Adrian didn’t move.
But something in his expression changed.
Not anger.
Pain.
A strange kind of pain that made me uncomfortable.
Because Adrian Shen was never someone who showed weakness.
Not in high school.
Not now.
“Lucia.”
“Don’t.”
I grabbed my bag.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You spent five years hating me because of one sentence.”
“Because it was your sentence.”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
I froze.
“What?”
He looked directly at me.
“Because it was the sentence you heard.”
The room became silent.
Five years earlier.
I remembered that day perfectly.
Too perfectly.
The courtyard behind the school.
The summer sunlight.
The letter in my hands.
The nervous laughter of my friends hiding nearby.
I had spent three months writing that letter.
Three months choosing every word.
I wasn’t asking him to love me back.
I just wanted him to know.
Then Adrian appeared.
Everyone became quiet.
I handed him the letter.
He read it.
His expression didn’t change.
Then he said:
“Lucia.”
“I don’t like you.”
My heart shattered.
But the worst part came after.
“Don’t ever do something like this again.”
Those words.
That humiliation.
That was the memory I carried.
“You remember what happened after that?”
Adrian asked.
I looked at him.
“Of course.”
“Do you remember who was standing behind you?”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Who was standing behind you when I answered?”
I didn’t respond.
Because I didn’t know.
My memory had never focused on anyone else.
Only him.
Only those words.
Only the pain.
Adrian laughed softly.
Not happily.
“Exactly.”
He walked toward the window.
“You never looked around.”
“Because you were too busy trying not to cry.”
My fingers tightened.
“Don’t pretend you know how I felt.”
“I know.”
His voice became quieter.
“Because I was trying not to cry either.”
I stared at him.
That didn’t make sense.
Adrian Shen?
The boy everyone admired?
The boy who rejected me?
Crying?
Impossible.
“Why would you?”
He turned around.
“Because I had just destroyed the only chance I had.”
Silence.
“What?”
Adrian took a deep breath.
Then he opened the drawer beside the bed.
And took something out.
An old piece of paper.
Folded.
Worn.
My breathing stopped.
Because I recognized it immediately.
The letter.
My letter.
The one I thought he threw away.
The one I tore apart after he rejected me.
“How…”
“I kept it.”
My eyes widened.
“Why?”
He looked at the paper.
“Because I never rejected you.”
The words hit me harder than anything else.
“Then explain.”
My voice shook.
“Explain why you said you didn’t like me.”
Adrian was silent for a moment.
Then he answered:
“Because I wasn’t talking about you.”
I froze.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“The day you confessed…”
A pause.
“Your father was there.”
My heart stopped.
“My father?”
Adrian nodded.
“He had come to school because of me.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted me to transfer overseas.”
The room became quiet.
“And he threatened to cut off my mother’s medical treatment if I refused.”
I stared at him.
I had never known.
Not even a little.
Adrian continued:
“I knew your father hated me.”
“Because he thought I would distract you from your future.”
My throat tightened.
“So?”
“So when I saw you walking toward me with that letter…”
His expression became painful.
“I knew he was watching.”
I remembered something.
A detail I had forgotten.
A black car parked near the school gate.
A man standing beside it.
I never understood why my father had been there.
Until now.
“He told me if I encouraged you…”
Adrian looked down.
“He would make sure I disappeared from your life completely.”
I whispered:
“So you rejected me to protect me?”
His silence answered.
I shook my head.
“No.”
Adrian looked at me.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“That night.”
I froze.
“What?”
“I waited outside your house.”
The room became colder.
“I wanted to explain everything.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
His eyes lowered.
“Because I saw you.”
“You were crying.”
A pause.
“And you were telling your friends that you would never forgive me.”
My heart tightened.
“I…”
“I thought you hated me.”
The irony was almost unbearable.
We had both been hurt.
Both misunderstood.
Both walked away believing the other had chosen to leave.
Before I could say anything, Adrian’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression immediately changed.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then his face became serious.
“Are you sure?”
A pause.
“No one else knows?”
I watched him.
Something was wrong.
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
He didn’t answer.
“Adrian.”
He looked at me.
“The reunion last night…”
“What about it?”
His expression darkened.
“Someone put something in our drinks.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“The hotel security found the person who entered our room.”
I stared.
“Who?”
Adrian hesitated.
Then he said:
“Someone who knew exactly who we were.”
The silence between us became heavy.
“And Lucia…”
He stepped closer.
“The reason we woke up together wasn’t because of a coincidence.”
My heart started racing.
“What do you mean?”
He looked at the old letter in his hand.
Then at me.
“Someone wanted us to remember each other.”
Before I could ask another question, my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message.
Only one sentence.
“You finally found out Adrian didn’t reject you.”
My fingers froze.
Then another message appeared.
“But you still don’t know why he was forced to leave five years ago.”
I looked at Adrian.
He was staring at my phone.
Because he had received the same message.
Then the final message arrived.
A photograph.
Five years old.
A photo of Adrian and me in high school.
But behind us…
was someone I recognized.
Someone who should never have been there.
My father.
And below the photo:
“Ask your father why he destroyed both of your lives.”
I looked up.
Adrian’s face was pale.
For the first time since I knew him…
he looked genuinely afraid.
TO BE CONTINUED…
