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“Yes, baby?” I pull him onto my lap.

“Your friend just left.”

What? What friend? Is he talking about Johanna?

“Johanna? Why didn’t she come to say hello?”

“No, Mummy. The one that stayed with me while you were working here,” he clarifies.

That’s...Arthur?

“Oh.” I am at loss for words.

“Yeah, he said hello, and then he left. I think he was sad, Mummy.”

My jaw slacks open, and I look at Jake. He has a brow cocked upwards, and I know I’ll have to answer his questions in the future. He will be all about who the hell is the person Dylan was talking about, and that is one conversation—well, another one—I don't want to have.

“I don’t know, baby; maybe something happened to him. I’ll ask him when I see him. Have you finished your dessert?” He nods in response. “Good. We can go home now.”

We both pay for lunch and thank Shilah for having us. When we exit the diner, I see my professor leaning against a car and smoking. His face is hunched down and shaking from side to side. From afar, I can’t be sure, but it looks like he is muttering something to himself.

Just as I’m about to look away, he lifts his head, and we lock gazes. He seems pained, but I can’t understand properly why. This man is the most mysterious and confusing one I’ve ever met. Why is he here? And why does it seem like he is waging a war with himself?

Seeing him like this reminds me of the night we talked to each other out here after my shift. How he showed his intentions for us to become...friends?

Maybe I was a fool to refuse it, to refuse him because now it looks like he needs one.

TWENTY-THREE

Liam

“Whenwillyoucomehome, baby? We miss you so much,” my mum coos, hoping I’ll visit soon.

“Probably around Christmas or the New Year. I’ve been working a lot.”

Well, I’ve been willingly drowning in work so I don’t think about other things. So I don’t think abouther.

And yet, she’s still living there rent-free.

Fuck!

“That’s still two months away from now. If you’re not coming over, we’ll visit you.”

“Now’s not a good time, Mother. I would barely have time to be with you guys. I promise if I have a weekend or something, I’ll visit.” A blatant lie.

I love my parents. I honestly do.

But ever since Mason left, spending time with them has been overbearing. Insufferable. If we both used to be scrutinized, now, I am the sole target. I am hit with it double.

All hell breaks loose when they mention my brother. He left because of them—because of their self-centred egos and their constant pursuit of proper appearances. For the perfect life.

The irony, huh?That wanting everything to be—to look—perfect is what broke us all apart. Just thinking about it angers me, knowing that I was the lucky one because of a degree choice. Ultimately, I lost my brother.

“Liam? Are you listening to me?” My mother’s voice sounds from the other side of the phone. My thoughts got so loud—as usual—that I missed everything she has been telling me for the last few minutes.

“I was telling you that your father finally gave in.”

“Gave in on what?” Even if deep down, I knew.

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