Chapter 19
His expression was cold and detached as he glanced my way, but the hatred that once filled his eyes was gone.
He had, it seemed, gradually come to see me as a complete stranger.
I quickly looked away, my palms still sweating.
By the time I entered middle school, Ethan no longer attended the same school as me. I didn’t know where he had gone.
Any remaining tie I had to the Miller family was now completely severed.
Even those rare chances of catching a glimpse of a Miller family member picking Ethan up from school were gone.
Studying biology had taught me one thing–my connection to that man was in my very bones, in the half of my blood I shared with him.
No amount of cutting my eyebrows or picking at my scars could ever change that.
For the rest of my life, I could never rid myself of his shadow within me.
I would always live alone, until I got accepted to Riverside City’s best high school.
At school, almost none of the old faces remained. Almost no one knew my past.
Those who did know no longer spoke of it. No one deliberately isolated me anymore.
But I was still used to being alone. I still had no friends.
The only constant in my life was studying. My grades were still always first.
Whenever awards were handed out after exams, the teacher would call each name, and some classmates would cheer or playfully jeer.
But when my ame was read did a silent, awkward stillness fall over the room.
The teacher would sometimes add, almost as an afterthought. “Let’s give a round of applause for Emily.”
The classmates would then clap very deliberately.
And so I continued alone, until the second semester of tenth grade.
One rare summer PE class, the teacher allowed free activities. I stayed in the classroom alone, working on a test.
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I had just finished a set of math problems when Sophia, the class monitor, suddenly walked in, her face pale.
She leaned over her desk, letting out stifled, irregular gasps.
I glanced at her and noticed large beads of cold sweat rolling down her forehead.
I thought about asking if she needed help, but I instinctively felt she wouldn’t welcome it,
That thought stuck in my throat until her face turne even paler and she pushed herself up from the desk.
It seemed she wanted to go to the infirmary.
I gripped my pen tightly but couldn’t help asking, “Do… do you want me to help you?”
She look startled, as if I’d said something unbelievable, and stared at e wide–eyed.
I instinctively felt uneasy and lowered my gaze, pretending I hadn’t said anything.
But then she spoke, her voice tinged with hesitancy, “C… could you?”
That had to mean she didn’t refuse. I immediately set my pen down and, using my sleeve, supported her as we walked out of the classroom.
She told me she had sudden abdominal pain from her period.
Chapter 19
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The pain seemed unbearable. Leaning on me, her weight gradually pressed more and more onto my shoulders.
Over the years, I had grown taller but thinner.
By the time we reached the stairs and headed toward the infirmary, I was beginning to struggle under her weight.
Along the tree–lined path, a group of boys passed by carrying a basketball.
I forced myself to speak, “Please… could you give me a hand?”
One of the boys stopped and turned his head toward me.
To my shock, I recognized a vaguely familiar face. It was Ethan.
The last time I had seen him had been in elementary school.
He had changed a lot. He must be over six feet tall, much thinner, his skin seemed paler.
His face had lost its boyishness, replaced by a cold sharpness.
It had never occurred to me that he would be attending this hig school.
The instant the words were out, I was hit by a wave of intense regret.
Chapter 19
