Seven Years of Us, One Year of Me Chapter 09

Seven Years of Us, One Year of Me Chapter 09

Adrian West didn’t see that letter until three months after the breakup.

He had never opened the flash drive.

The letter had been pressed under everything in his dorm drawer.

When he was packing up after graduation, he found it. The envelope was already wrinkled.

He opened it and read it.

Then he opened the flash drive.

He went through the chat records all night.

Not the ones between him and Madeline.

The ones between her and himself.

From freshman year of high school to senior year of college.

“Math was so hard today. Are you good at math?”

“Not bad. I’ll teach you after school.”

“Okay.”

“Princeton’s score requirement is so high.”

“You can do it.”

“Then wait for me.’

“I’ll wait.”

“It’s raining today, and I forgot my umbrella.”

“Where are you? I’ll bring one.”

“No need. My roommate has one.”

“Okay. Remember to bring one next time.”

“Are you busy?”

“Yeah. Student council dinner.”

“Okay. Drink less.”

He didn’t reply.

“Good night.”

After that, she didn’t send anything else.

He scrolled to the last message.

It was her saying good night.

It had been one day in the spring semester of sophomore year.

After that, she never said good night first again.

He had actually never noticed.

He opened the journal she had written.

March 12. He brought up Madeline again today. Three times. I counted.

May 20. He gave me a bracelet. Madeline gave me the same one. He said Madeline helped him pick it. I took it off. He probably won’t notice.

September 1. He changed his profile picture. In the group photo, Madeline is standing next to him. His old profile picture was the one I took. He didn’t tell me. I didn’t ask.

December 31. The start of a new year. At midnight, he posted on social media. Not with me. With Madeline. She said Happy seventh year. Our seventh year, and she wished him happiness. He replied.

January 10. Today, he bought milk tea and got full sugar. I like thirty percent sugar. Madeline likes full sugar. I didn’t tell him. I drank a few sips and threw it away.

May 20. He got drunk and called Madeline’s name. I was there. Madeline was there too. There was a smile at the corner of her mouth. Very faint. But I saw it.

June 20. Graduation day. We broke up. I gave him back the necklace. He stood there, holding two

bouquets of sunflowers. In that moment, I suddenly wasn’t sad anymore. Not pretending not to be

sad. Truly. Seven years. I had finally waited enough.

He finished reading the last line.

The laptop screen dimmed.

He sat alone in his dorm room.

On the day he had to leave campus, he went to the city where she worked.

He didn’t contact her first.

After his plane landed, he took a cab to the apartment complex she had once mentioned.

He stood across the street and looked at her window.

The light was on.

The curtains were drawn.

There was a pot of flowers on the windowsill.

He couldn’t see the color clearly.

He stood there for a long time.

He wanted to go upstairs, but he didn’t know what to say.

In the end, he left.