He Changed My Major And I Changed My Entire Life Chapter 04

He Changed My Major And I Changed My Entire Life Chapter 04

Katherine flinched. The box slipped from her hands and crashed to the floor. The butterfly specimen inside fell out. Its wings shattered, mixing with broken wood and spilled beer. It was ruined.

I couldn’t breathe. My whole body shook. That specimen was Sean’s eighteenth birthday gift to me. He knew I loved butterflies. On my birthday, he went all the way to the wetlands to catch it for me. When he came back, his pants were soaked and his shoes were covered in mud—him, the cleanest person I knew. His eyes were a little red as he handed me the box.

“Here. It’s yours.”

“I still don’t think you’re cut out for biology research. But it’s your birthday. What makes you happy matters most.”

That was one of the few soft things he’d ever said to me. I’d treasured that specimen more than anything. Now it was lying in filth, just like our twelve years together.

Sean froze too. His fingers twitched. His voice came out dry.

“Joanie… I…”

I stayed where I was, not moving, just staring at the mess on the floor. Katherine waved her hands frantically.

“I’m so sorry! It was an accident. I didn’t expect her to just explode like that. That’s why I dropped it…”

Sean pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he ruffled her hair.

“It’s okay. Not your fault. She’s just hot-tempered.”

I watched him be so gentle with her, and it hurt. Tears welled up. I reached out to pick up the broken pieces but didn’t even know where to start. Sean stepped closer and knelt down next to me. His voice was rough.

“I’ll help you clean it up.”

The second our fingers almost touched, I pulled my hand back. “I don’t want it anymore.”

“Sean, how could you give my things to someone else without asking me?!”

Sean’s face went cold. Any softness left in his eyes disappeared, replaced by annoyance.

“Katherine’s never seen a specimen before. She was just curious. What’s wrong with letting her take a look?”

I could barely get the words out. “Taking things without permission is plain theft!”

“How was I supposed to know it would break?! This is all because your irrational outburst!”

Sean stood up, towering over me, his voice like ice. “Joanie, it’s just a stupid butterfly. Do you really have to blow everything out of proportion?”

“Can you stop being so dramatic?”

Just a stupid butterfly. My eyes stung with unshed tears, but I went quiet. What was the point anymore?

The comments scrolled by.

[He already regrets that. Watch—he’s gonna spend the next month figuring out how to make it up to her.]

[She doesn’t even know he’s about to go catch her a whole new set, does she lol.]

[It’s fine. Angst over, fluff incoming.]

I smiled bitterly and ignored all of it. I didn’t want this harsh, prickly kind of love.

“Fine. I’m done making scenes.”

“And I won’t do it again.”

With those last words, I stepped right over the broken butterfly and walked out without looking back. Sean yelled after me, furious.

“Fine! Don’t come begging for my forgiveness later on!”

I didn’t stop. I went back to the Blair house, apologized to Mrs. Blair, and took my mom home.

We never talked to each other after that night.

On the morning of move-in day, Sean showed up at my front door carrying a large, beautifully wrapped box of butterfly specimens.

“Hey. Cheapskate.”

“Come on. We’ll miss your outbound flight headed for Harvard’s campus.”

He knocked for a long time. No one answered. The noise got so loud that our next-door neighbor Mrs. Hale popped their head out, confused.

“You looking for Joanie? She left two days ago. Went overseas with her parents for college. Didn’t she tell you?”