Ellie smirked and reached behind her neck, unclasping a red cord necklace.
A jade luck pendant hung from it.
I had one too.
We'd gotten them together when we were seven, both families visiting the same temple.
One for each of us. We'd worn them since we were kids, never once taken them off.
She'd called them tokens of a promise.
On our wedding day, we'd exchange them.
Now she placed hers in Neal's hand.
He held it up to the light, turning it over, his eyes crinkling into a grin.
"Pretty. Mine now. And so are you!"
I wiped the water off my face and looked at Ellie.
She glanced back at me, the smile dropping from her lips.
"What? I need your permission to give away my own things?"
No explanation. Just a bucket of cold water and a room full of people who wanted to watch me drown.
The girl who'd once fought the world for me was gone.
Someone shouted, "Let's go, let's go! Karaoke's next, I already booked a room!"
The crowd headed for the door.
As Neal passed me, he stuck his foot out.
I pitched forward, my knee cracking against the door frame. The pain tore a sharp breath out of me.
He glanced back with that bright, poisonous smile of his.
"Oh, my bad—didn't even see you down there."
Then he looped his arm through Ellie's and walked out.
She let him pull her along, passing right by me.
She looked down at me once.
It was brief. So brief I couldn't read what was behind it before she turned away.
And followed him out.
I knelt on the cold floor, blood seeping through the skin of my knee, water dripping from my hair and hitting the ground.
Drop after drop. Like all those years I'd poured into her, hitting nothing.
I didn't dare go home.
Looking like this, my dad would worry the second he saw me.
I found a hotel and checked into a room.
The hot water ran for a long time before I finally felt warm again.
When I came out, there were several messages on my phone.
From Ellie.
Your dad called. Wanted to know when you're coming back. I said you were with me. Head home soon.
Where are you? Are you safe?
Then a video call request.
I hesitated, then picked up.
Her face filled the screen, still beautiful, a dimly lit hallway behind her.
She frowned. "You're at a hotel?"
"Yeah."
"Which one?"
"None of your business."
A few seconds of silence. Then:
"Just stay put. I can't be covering for you with your dad."
"Ellie."
I looked at her. "That jade luck pendant—you actually gave it to him?"
She didn't answer.
"You said when we were kids. You said it was a token of a promise. That we'd exchange them on our wedding day."
"…"
"You gave it to Neal. So what about me?"
Her lips parted, but all that came out was:
"It wasn't worth anything."
I laughed.
"Yeah. Not worth anything."
"Neither am I, right?"
"Bertram—"
I hung up.
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang.
A delivery.
A tube of ointment for scrapes, and a bowl of hot porridge.
I sat on the hotel bed. The class group chat kept buzzing.
Videos were going around.
Neal and Ellie, doing a duet at the karaoke lounge.
He was leaning against her shoulder, both of them holding microphones, singing some love song I'd never heard.
The messages piled up underneath:
Omg the way Neal looks at Ellie?? He's literally whipped
Please I am BEGGING you two just kiss once, do it for us
Kiss!! Kiss!! Kiss!!
