A Two-Seater Was Never Meant for Three Chapter 01

A Two-Seater Was Never Meant for Three Chapter 01

The line for the gondola stretched all the way down the switchback trail, and by the time we reached the front, only two seats were left.

Julian politely negotiated with the tourist ahead of him.

“Excuse me, the person next to you is my friend.”

“She’s always been afraid of heights, and today’s her first time riding a gondola. She’s here to make a wish before her grad school exams.”

“Would you mind swapping seats with me? I’d like to sit next to her, in case she gets scared.”

The tourist glanced at Chloe Wren’s slightly flushed cheeks and laughed good-naturedly.

“Sure thing, son. That’s exactly how I won my wife over back in the day.”

Then his eyes slid past Julian to me, standing behind them. “Is she with you two as well?”

Julian, already settled into the cable car, seemed to remember he had a girlfriend at all.

He glanced back at me through the open door, indifferent.

“Don’t know her.”

I stood there frozen, watching the small cabin ascend toward the peak.

Seven years. I’d followed in their wake like a shadow.

Chasing their laughter as they ran ahead. Chasing the same express train they took. Chasing art films I didn’t even like.

This time, the road ahead was dark, and I found, quite suddenly, that I no longer had the nerve to keep following.

I turned around. Maybe the way down would be easier.

—

Staff pulled the red caution tape across the entrance. The loudspeaker announced this was the last gondola of the day.

Julian had known that. That’s why he’d rushed to swap seats for Chloe.

I stood helplessly in the lodge, scrolling through the group chat—three of us in it, but only two people in the photos.

[Made it to the summit safe! Wendy, hurry up and join us~]

[Someone insisted on standing in that ridiculous line for a lucky charm. Couldn’t drag him away.]

[A man about to turn thirty still believes in this stuff. So immature. I’d never date a husband like that.]

In the photo, Julian stood at the back of a long line, oddly out of place among the tourists around him.

Before we’d left, I’d mentioned in the chat that the charms sold at this overlook—for love, for luck—were supposed to be especially powerful.

A good omen, I’d said.

I’d begged him to come with me.

Julian had replied, coldly: [Boring.]

And now here he was, waiting in line of his own accord.

A few minutes later, Chloe sent a video.

[Got it! Wendy, this one’s for you~]

A green charm engraved with the words “Career Advancement”.

In the corner of the video, something flashed in Chloe’s hand—gone in an instant.

But I’d seen it clearly enough. It was the one I’d actually wanted. The love charm.

I couldn’t put a name to what I felt.

On one side, a boyfriend of four years. On the other, a best friend of eight.

And somehow, no one was actually listening to me.

I turned my phone screen off, found a corner of the lodge, and sat down to wait for them to come back down the mountain.

Three hours later, my phone buzzed violently in my pocket, jolting me awake.

The driver’s furious voice exploded through the speaker.

“What the hell is wrong with you people? You said eleven o’clock sharp. Look at the time!”

“You know I’m a driver, not your personal chauffeur, right?”

“I’ve got another booking tomorrow morning. If this makes me late, are you going to cover it?”

One accusation after another slammed into my drowsy brain. I checked the time. It was already past midnight.

I apologized to the driver over and over, then scrambled to call Chloe. No answer.

I tried Julian, again and again. On the ninth call, he finally picked up.

“Where are you two? Still at the summit? Did something happen?”

A light laugh echoed from the other end.

“Told you I’d win. Pay up, pay up~”

Julian’s voice came through, helpless.

“Chloe bet you’d come looking for us if we hid.”

“We’re behind the sunrise overlook. Come find us.”

Sunrise? Hide and seek?

I asked, dazed.

“Didn’t we agree not to stay for the sunrise? You have the express train tomorrow, and I have work…”

“Wendy.” Julian cut me off, his voice gone cold.

“”We’re all finally out here together. Can you not ruin it?”

My throat tightened like a stone was lodged there.

I pressed my nails into my thigh, forced my voice to hold steady.

“Julian. I didn’t make the last gondola.”

He said, “Then figure it out yourself.”

Laughter and chatter swirled in the background. None of it was for me.

The old me would have exploded. Screamed, made a scene.

This time I just looked around the empty lodge and felt something go hollow inside my chest too.

What was there left to figure out?

I wasn’t like Chloe—clever, driven, willing to grind through a top university application in secret rather than admit defeat to her own family.

Going home to teach in a small town had been a peaceful, contented life.

The only person I had ever fought that hard for was Julian.

The dazzling boy I’d fallen for as a teenager had kept me getting back up, again and again, chasing his shadow.

But every time I caught up, he only seemed to get farther away.

This road toward his heart had always been a dead end.

I closed my eyes and listened to my own voice, very quiet.

“Julian. Let’s break up.”