He raised his hand to hit me again, but Sienna quickly stepped in. "Dad, Henry is my fiancé. Let me handle this."
She pulled me out into the corridor, found some ice cubes and carefully pressed them against my swollen cheek.
I lowered my head and muttered, "I didn’t push him…"
"Yeah." Her voice was quiet and calm, neither angry nor questioning.
I knew her too well. That silence… was her loudest denial.
If she truly believed me, she would have spoken up for me without hesitation.
But if she did not… she would just stay silent.
Still, if she did not believe me, then why was she being so gentle?
My tears fell before I could stop them, landing on the back of her hand one after another.
She suddenly pulled her hand away as if burned, then stood up. "If you want to stay here and keep watching Daniel and the baby suffer, then go home first."
I panicked, grabbing the hem of her shirt, my voice shaking with tears. "Just believe me, for once, please?"
She let out a long sigh, then slowly pried my fingers off her one by one as if utterly disappointed.
"Henry, I let a lot of things slide because I love you. But the least you could do is be honest with me."
Just then, her phone rang. It was Daniel’s custom ringtone. How far must I go to reach your heart? How long until I’m close to you…
I had asked her ince, "Isn’t it strange to have a special ringtone for a coworker?"
She looked confused. "Daniel likes the song. I just set it for him. Don’t overthink it."
Now, I watched her walk away to answer his call without looking back even once.
I sat down on the bench, my face throbbing, half-red and swollen. Then, without warning, I started laughing through my tears like someone slowly realizing they were beyond saving.
She said I should be honest, but had she ever been?
I went back to get my suitcase and was ready to head to my parents’s place when a video call came through.
My father appeared on the screen, clutching his chest, trembling as he pointed at me and shouted.
"The Bailey Family said you went to the hospital, caused a scene and even hurt Daniel while he was helping the new mother. What were you thinking? The hospital director is a friend of mine. He messaged me in the group chat asking what happened. You’ve completely embarrassed the Cameron Family!"
My father went on and his voice grew more strained as he spoke. My mother hurried to give him his medication, then turned to glare at me.
"Sienna explained everything clearly. She and that young man are just colleagues. You’re really trying to force people together out of nothing?"
Then, catching sight of the injury on my face, she sneered. "Serves you right."
"What did I do that was so wrong that all of you are blaming me?" I took a deep breath, voice raw. "Why is it so easy for you to believe outsiders instead of your own son?"
"Believe what, exactly? Tell us," they both snapped back in unison.
Seeing their cold, unshaken expressions, I suddenly lost the will to keep arguing. "Forget it."
I ended the video call without another word.
I could not let them see my tears again. If they did, I would only hear the same familiar scolding. "What else can you do besides cry?"
Right now, I did not even know where I was supposed to go.
Then my phone buzzed. It was a message from Clara James.
[Henry, when can I take her place?]
[Now.]
I answered without even thinking.
She had been the lowest-ranked student in class once, but something changed in her final year of high school. She pulled herself together and followed me to the same university.
From then on, it was a relentless pursuit. For years, she confessed to me again and again and I rejected her every time, maybe a hundred rejections for a hundred confessions.
Who would like someone even worse than the worst student in school?
Even if she looked like an angel and her smile made your heart skip a beat, it still was not enough.
After college, I got together with Sienna Bailey.
Clara went abroad to study in Switzerland, but she never stopped reaching out.
From casual check-ins to everyday updates to asking the same question every few days. [Henry, when can I take her place?]
