Chapter 10: The Tenth Goodbye

“I’m leaving for school tomorrow.”

A month later, Ethan called me.

The chat said he’d held back for a long time.

Group Chat: He checks his phone every day, just to see if you messaged him.

Group Chat: The cold guy finally stepping down from his pedestal—who wouldn’t fall for that?

Group Chat: But why does Anna sound so indifferent?

I answered with a soft hum.

My gaze drifted over the low fence to the gardenias blooming in Matt’s yard.

They were in full bloom.

He was sitting on the porch, lost in a book.

The light from his phone screen glowed on his face, making him look young and tired all at once. The neighbor’s dog barked at a squirrel, and the world felt big and quiet and a little bit empty.

“When I’m settled over there, let me know when you come.”

Ethan continued.

“Anna, you’ll be an adult in college. Your parents don’t make money easily.”

“Don’t make a big show of things, like you’re afraid people don’t know your family is rich.”

I was stunned for a moment, suddenly finding him unbearably annoying.

Never struggled?

I’m not stupid.

“My parents make money pretty easily.”

When you reach a certain level—

And in that moment, I realized he’d never stopped seeing the gap between us, even when I’d tried so hard to close it. The past clung to us like old perfume—faint, but impossible to wash away. I pressed the phone to my ear, but my hand was shaking. I wanted to say something to break the old spell between us, but the words stuck, sour and heavy.