Deboned Fish for Her, Left No Room for Me Chapter 03

Deboned Fish for Her, Left No Room for Me Chapter 03

The room froze.

Cecily’s expression shifted.

Then she edged closer, careful and tentative.

“Marlow, don’t say things because you’re upset. If you’re still mad about yesterday, I’ll make Keaton apologize.”

Keaton had a temper, but Cecily only had to tug once for him to come over.

“Marlow’s hurting right now. Just let her have this.”

The shock in Keaton’s eyes had already turned into impatience.

“Why am I always the one who has to give in?”

“We’ve spoiled her rotten.”

“If she wants to break up, fine. I’ll give her what she wants. She’d better not come crying for me in two days.”

Keaton still did not know.

Once I decided to let something go, I never looked back.

Keaton pulled Cecily out, and the hospital room finally went quiet.

But my phone was still lighting up nonstop.

It was our old high school group chat.

Our former AP physics teacher, Mr. Vardell, had congratulated Keaton and Cecily for landing offers at Helion Aeronautics.

Classmates who had been lurking suddenly flooded the chat.

[Keaton and Cecily are unreal. Of course Helion took them.]

[Smart and gorgeous? Please. Just date already, for the rest of us.]

[Hey, don’t forget Keaton has been Team Marlow since high school.]

I stared at those words.

Team Marlow.

For a moment, I felt dazed.

Back in high school, I often woke up late and missed breakfast.

He hated knowing I had skipped breakfast, so he kept my breakfast in an insulated bag so it would still be warm when I arrived.

Every time progress reports came out, he cared about my scores more than my parents did.

He stayed up late changing my study plans.

Everyone said he was going to spoil me so badly I would not know how to survive alone.

Keaton never cared.

He just twirled his pen and said,

“I’m Team Marlow. We’re never splitting up.”

The IV bag above me finally ran empty.

Calmly, I called the nurse.

Then I opened my laptop and started filtering job postings.

They were going north.

Then I would go south.

Just like they wanted, I would remove myself from their future.

Someone in the group chat asked for job-hunting tips.

Cecily thoughtfully sent over a document.

One glance at the wording and I knew Keaton had made it.

It was packed with notes, reminders, and interview details.

Even more detailed than the study plans he had once made for me.

The timestamp showed it had been created a year ago.

So they had planned to leave me behind that long ago.

I scrolled through the chat history without thinking.

The message telling Keaton and Cecily to date had been deleted by an admin.

And Keaton happened to be one of the admins.

I glanced at it calmly, then turned off my phone.

I opened my laptop and started revising my résumé.

After three days of applying everywhere, I found a decent-paying job with weekends off.

The company wanted me to start in one week.

I moved out of student housing and booked my flight.

After checking in my huge suitcase by myself, my entire arm ached.

A thin sheen of sweat formed on my forehead.

When I lifted my head to wipe it away, I saw Cecily skipping through the airport in a dress, a tiny purse over her shoulder.

Keaton followed behind her with two suitcases, handling them with effortless ease.

Our eyes met.

Keaton’s lips pressed into a thin line.

His eyes darkened with something I could no longer read.

Cecily rushed over and hugged me, delighted.

“Marlow, I knew you would come see us off!”