Silence. A few seconds, then—
"You have to admit, overseas is tougher. It's normal that Nadine beat me. Same as five years ago when I came back and beat you—you'd never lost. If you're not good enough, you accept it."
I squeezed my phone, nails biting into my palm. "So what? She beat you once, not me. You gonna marry her for that?"
"Clara! I've never thought that." He reined it in, voice heavy. "But I made that promise publicly. If I don't follow through, it makes Nadine look bad. Let's stop here. We both need to cool off."
'Stop here.'
It hit like a slap.
The heat in my eyes finally broke. Tears slid down my cheeks.
So this was it. Five years. The wedding I waited for.
From start to finish, I was the only one in it.
I hung up and got in the car.
Everything I'd buried came rushing back, glitching through my head like broken code.
I met Julian seven years ago at the National Actuarial Case Competition.
I'd just turned eighteen—the actuarial world's golden girl, stacking wins back to back.
Eighteen years. I'd never lost.
I was the kid everyone compared their kid to. Perfect. Untouchable.
Then I met him in the finals.
Before that, he was just a name—"the guy who came back from overseas."
Then he sat across from me, running complex algorithms like it was nothing.
That's when I learned what it feels like to get completely outclassed.
He wasn't fast, but every move was exact, like a simulation.
Calm. In control.
I didn't get crushed.
But I lost. Clean.
After the match, he walked over and handed me a bottle of warm water. "Your model's creative, but too aggressive. Like a rushing river. You need more resilience in risk control."
It was the first time anyone had called out a flaw that precisely.
And the first time I felt that kind of curiosity about someone.
Later, I found out he was already known overseas as an actuarial genius.
From then on, I started showing up on purpose.
I used "asking for advice" as an excuse and followed him to every institute and library he visited.
He never turned me away. His explanations were clear, step by step.
Sometimes, he'd point out the spots I couldn't see.
"Clara, actuarial science isn't reckless projection. It's control. Like life—you have to know what to let go."
After that, we just... ended up together. The actuarial world's favorite duo.
People called us the perfect power couple. We even got named joint ambassadors.
In those five years, I gave him almost everything.
