He Fell For My Sister From A Class Photo Chapter 09

He Fell For My Sister From A Class Photo Chapter 09

The second Ethan showed up, it was no longer appropriate to keep talking about this with the guy in front of me.

I led him up two flights of stairs before turning him down.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m not looking to date anyone right now.”

Then I added quietly, “Thank you. That’s the first time someone’s said I’m special to my face.”

Someone had said it online before.

Back in the chaos of my senior year of high school, late at night over text.

I asked him why he wouldn’t put his phone down.

He said he couldn’t bear to go to sleep.

[You reply faster at night. Tomorrow during the day you’ll barely talk to me again.]

He made me laugh.

[You’ve got tons of friends. Can you really be that short of someone to talk to?]

He said no.

He said: [You’re the most special one. I don’t want to talk to anyone else.]

He said: [I only want to talk to you.]

The guy in front of me looked disappointed.

He smiled helplessly. “I figured you’d say no.’

He added, “But you probably never noticed-we’re in the same class. I saw you on the first day of

enrollment.”

At the end, he told me he wanted to start by just being my friend.

But he never got that chance.

Because the next day, during a big Engineering lecture, the seat next to me was hijacked by Ethan

again.

I sat on the inside, against the wall.

He sprawled out on the aisle seat, legs wide, with an empty chair between us.

But he wore such a cold, unapproachable expression that no one dared take the empty seat between

I couldn’t figure out Ethan’s recent behavior.

With finals creeping up, I stopped trying to analyze his weirdness.

By then, it felt like the whole college knew Ethan and my sister had split.

So whenever Ethan showed up to class brooding, everyone chalked it up to him being down about the breakup.

The night before finals, I was reviewing in the library until midnight.

Someone suddenly sat down across from me and set a small cake on my desk.

I stared at the beautifully packaged box before slowly lifting my eyes to Ethan’s face.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

He came up with a perfectly straight-faced excuse.

He slid his problem set toward me and said, “I need to know something.”

He kept his eyes lowered on his notebook, refusing to meet my gaze.

He nudged the cake closer. “Consider the cake a thank-you.”