Two Thousand Kilometers South, Away From Everyone I Loved Chapter 05

Two Thousand Kilometers South, Away From Everyone I Loved Chapter 05

The Miami wind carried the warmth of the southern coast. I handed the signed form back, got my

dorm keys and campus card.

“Need help with your luggage?” The student volunteer pointed at my small suitcase.

“No, thank you. I can manage myself.” I smiled and refused.

Pulling my suitcase along the palm tree-lined path, I turned on my phone. The screen was instantly flooded with missed calls and message notifications. Lucas had sent over a dozen voice messages.

The first was still relatively calm. “Have you arrived? I’ll go pick you up at the station.”

By the third, he was getting impatient. “Stella, don’t be too much. Everyone’s busy helping Anna make her bed. Are you determined to play missing at a time like this?”

The fifth carried real anger. “Do you want me to beg you? Fine, I’m begging you. Get over here right

now.”

The last one had been sent ten minutes ago. “Stella, if you don’t answer the phone again, then don’t ever bother calling again!”

I listened to them all with a blank expression. Then I opened Leo’s chat. The same screen full of

accusations.

“Where the hell did you go? Mom and Dad couldn’t find you and were worried sick. Anna’s dorm AC is broken. Hurry up and bring your electric fan over for her to use.”

I didn’t reply. Instead, I opened my dorm room door and started carefully wiping down the desk and

chair, making my bed.

It wasn’t until eight in the evening, after I’d showered and was sitting at my clean desk, that I dialed

Lucas’s number.

The call connected almost instantly.

“So you finally know how to call back?” Lucas’s roar made my eardrums ache. “Where exactly are you? I checked the train station-there’s no record of you getting off. Did you even get on the train

at all?”

In the background, Anna’s tearful voice could be heard. “Lucas, did Stella run away from home

because of me?”

I held the phone a little farther away. When he finished shouting, I spoke, my voice flat.

“I didn’t go to Chicago.”

Dead silence on the other end for two full seconds.

“Are you kidding me?” Lucas’s voice sank low, with an undertone of gnashing teeth. “You applied to Northwestern. If you’re not coming to Chicago, where are you going? Do you think the university is run by your family and you can just decide not to go?”

“I applied for a transfer to the University of Miami.” I looked out the window at the glittering nightscape of the Florida coast, my voice carrying not a single ripple. “At three this afternoon, I already completed registration.”

“Impossible!” Lucas blurted out, his tone filled with absurd disbelief. “You pulled countless all-nighters to get into Northwestern-how could you possibly go to Miami? Stella, if you’re going

to lie, at least make it convincing. Are you hiding in some hotel in Chicago, trying to force us to

come coax you?”

He was still convinced I was playing some hard-to-get game. Still convinced I couldn’t live without

him.

The phone was suddenly snatched away by Leo.

“Stella, have you lost your mind? You’re throwing away your future just to compete with Anna for attention? Miami is two thousand miles from home-what’s a girl like you doing running off so far? You quit right now, retake the exams, and come back.”

Listening to Leo’s self-righteous commands, I suddenly found it utterly laughable.

“Quit? Retake the exams? Leo, UMiami and Northwestern are both excellent schools. Why should I quit? Weren’t you all saying I stole Anna’s spotlight? Now I’m two thousand miles away from you.

She can be as glorious as she wants. No one’s competing with her. It’s perfect. Peaceful.”

“You-“Leo was choked speechless.

The phone went back to Lucas. He seemed to finally realize I wasn’t joking. His breathing grew

heavier.

“Stella, do you even know what you’re doing? You’re treating your own future like a childish game out of spite. Do you think just because you went to Miami, we’ll feel sorry for you?”

He used his coldest tone to deliver his final ultimatum. “I’m telling you, if you drag yourself back

right now, I can still pretend nothing happened. But if you insist on staying down there, then no matter what happens to you in the future, don’t come crying to me!”

I lowered my eyes and looked at the brand-new textbook on my desk.

“Fine. I won’t come to you.”

I said it, then directly hung up the phone. I opened his chat. Block. Delete. The actions were fluid,

without a shred of hesitation.

Then Leo. Mom and Dad. Anna. I severed every single channel through which they could contact me.

When it was all done, I let out a long, deep breath.

The wind in Chicago was too cold. I didn’t want it anymore.