The Night He Forged My Signature, I Confirmed My Exchange Spot Chapter 08

The Night He Forged My Signature, I Confirmed My Exchange Spot Chapter 08

Just outside the school front entrance, my phone rang.

It was my mother.

Her voice was tight. “Bethany, your dad just heard you’re going overseas. He locked your suitcase. Nathan is here trying to calm him down. Don’t come home yet.

1 looked up.

Nathan stood a few feet away, phone still lit in his hand.

When our eyes met, he said quietly, “I was only trying to help your parents take a step back.”

When I got home, my suitcase sat in the middle of the living room.

My father was on the couch, face like thunder.

Nathan stood by the window, holding that old hoodie.

I looked at him. “You went into my room?”

He said, “Your mom asked me to find your transcripts.”

My mother quickly explained, “Nathan said the training needed old score reports, so I let him grab

them.”

I walked over and held out my hand. “Give it back.”

Nathan looked down at the hoodie cuff. “You already gave it to me.”

“I’m taking it to get rid of.”

His fingers tightened. “Bethany. Don’t say cruel things just to hurt me.”

My father slammed his mug on the table. “Drop the overseas talk. Your mother and I think it’s too soon for you to go that far.”

I asked, “Is it the two of you, or is Nathan uncomfortable with me leaving?”

Nathan met my eyes. “I’ll admit it. I don’t want you to go.”

The words landed softly, but they silenced the room.

My mother looked between us. “Bethany, Nathan’s already backed down. Can’t you two talk this out?”

Nathan placed a file on the coffee table. “I’ve contacted Broadwin University’s admissions office, You can transfer to a program near mine. The exchange can wait. I’ll walk through every step with

you.

I opened the file.

They’d changed my major track.

From Visual Arts to Finance and Management.

I looked up. “You chose a major for me?”

He said, “Art is unstable. You only liked drawing as a hobby anyway.”

I repeated, quietly, “Only a hobby?”

Nathan didn’t catch the shift. “I’m not dismissing you. I’m helping you avoid risk.”

My father nodded. “Nathan is thinking further ahead than you are.”

I remembered the dry-erase board I kept on my desk senior year. Every night, I doodled streetlights

and snow over bridges in the margins of my notes. Nathan saw them once and said we’d go see

those places together someday.

He’d never seen it as a future.

Just as a small break from studying.

I took the file and tore it in half.

My father shot up. “Bethany!”

Nathan’s face went white. “You’re going to destroy everything?”

I said, “My major. My program. My suitcase. They’re all mine.”

My mom’s eyes went red. “When did you become so stubborn?”

I looked at her. “I didn’t just become this.”

The doorbell rang.

I opened it to find the training instructor and the program assistant standing outside.

The assistant smiled. “Bethany, your temporary housing request came through. We’re here to take

you to the pre-departure dorm.”

Nathan’s whole body went rigid. “When did you apply for that?”

I said, “Last night.”

He stared at me. “You were already planning to leave.”

I didn’t answer. I walked back in to grab my suitcase.

The lock was different.

My father looked away. “I changed the combination. When you’re ready to think this through, I’ll

give it to you.”

The program assistant frowned. “Mr. Krause, those documents and her passport are her personal

property.”

Nathan stepped forward, voice low. “Bethany. Don’t make a scene in front of outsiders.”

I looked at him. “I’m not the one making a scene.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the new combination.

My father blinked. “Nathan-how did you get that?”

Nathan didn’t answer.

I didn’t ask either.

He always did this-locked one door, but kept a key to open it again, so I’d come back and thank

him.

I opened the suitcase, took out my passport, my documents, and that hoodie.

Nathan reached for the hoodie. “Leave that. Please.”

I pulled his fingers away. “Nathan. Stop trying to keep pieces of me.”

His hand stayed frozen in the air.

I dragged my suitcase to the door.

Behind me, his voice came thin and raw. “Bethany. If you walk out that door, you’re the one who’ll regret it, not me.”

I stopped and looked over my shoulder.

“Save that for yourself.”