The Lie of My Childhood Friend

Thin, continuous pain registered belatedly.

Originally I would not have been so upset, I told myself it was just a betrayal by a friend and that it was no big deal.

But the line called friendship was the one Lena had chosen to cross first.

The day we decided to transfer schools together, she pulled me to a bar to drink and celebrate our liberation.

Ambiguous lights lingered around us, and I watched the person I had quietly liked for years and felt a little dazed.

So when she leaned in and kissed me, I did not refuse.

Affections suppressed for years had suddenly run wild in an instant.

I could not contain myself and blurted out, “Lena, what are we now?”

Lena affectionately kissed my lips again and said, “Silly, what else could we be?”

Cheers rose in the private room, and the atmosphere was warm, like the stirring in my chest.

I had not expected that only two days later I would hear Lena personally shatter my one-sided wish.

I smiled, but tears uncontrollably streamed down my face.

So that ambiguous retort had also been Lena’s way of coaxing me away quickly for Michael, hadn’t it?

The wind jingled the wind chimes in my bedroom and dried my tears.

My broken heart also slowly began to mend.

Lena was wrong.

She was merely the illegitimate daughter of the Shaw family, and I was the Chase family’s only heir, indeed we should not have clung to each other.

Because we did not match.

The transfer application in my hand had been stained by my tears, the ink had spread and the paper looked filthy.

But it did not matter, if this one was dirty, I would replace it with a clean one.

The Chase family never lacked alternatives.

I reprinted a form, but when I reached the line for the destination school I called my mother.

“Mom, when you said you wanted me to study abroad, which high school did you have in mind? Yes, I would go alone.”

The wind chimes in the room made a clear, pleasant sound, as if celebrating for me.

I closed my eyes slightly, and this time the face that appeared before me was not Lena’s.

A woman who resembled Lena quite a bit but was gentler and more attractive smiled at me, the same certainty and seriousness as two years ago.

“Harry, sooner or later you would give up Lena and choose me.”

At the time I thought she was joking.

Now I silently repeated it in my heart.

Lena, I truly did not want you anymore.

After filling out the new application, I took a deep breath and felt a quiet calm descend.

Then someone suddenly knocked at the door.

I was stunned—this house had always been mine alone, and the only person who knew the code would be…

I opened the door and indeed saw Lena’s face.

Her tone was gentle as usual. “Harry, you haven’t come to say goodbye to your friends in a long time, I was worried about you.”

I forced myself to speak calmly. “My stomach wasn’t feeling well, so I’ll pass.”

Just as I was about to send them away, out of the corner of my eye I saw an unexpected figure.

Michael, coward and pretentious, shrank beside Lena and flinched slightly when our eyes met.

Lena watched his every move and immediately held his hand.

“Harry, you scared Michael.”

Again with that act—Michael always put on a frail look as if I were a monstrous bully, as though I had done some unforgivable thing.

But I had done nothing at all.

My expression turned cold. “I said I did not like others coming to my house.”

Lena frowned slightly, displeased. “Michael is not an outsider. Besides, he had come because he’s worried about you.”

Before I could retort, Michael began his perform suddenly.

“Harry, I’m sorry. I know you always looked down on me, but I showered every day.”

He added with a face full of grievance, “I wouldn’t dirty your house…”

Hearing this, Lena immediately knitted her brows and looked at me with displeasure. “Harry, Michael was only poor in family circumstances, but he was not as hopeless as you thought.”

“You treating him like this really disappointed me.”

Michael timidly lowered his head, forgiving and full of understanding.

“Lena, I’m fine, don’t argue with Harry…”

He sniffled and showed a wronged but stubborn smile.

“After all, Harry said you two were childhood friends—how could I compare to that status…”

“What nonsense are you saying? You were unique already.”

Lena soothed him in a soft voice.

Then she turned to me, her face cold as if frozen, and said heavily. “Michael isn’t feeling well. I’ll take him home first. You can reflect on what you’ve just done. Don’t forget, you need a stamp on the transfer application.”

I did reflect seriously on my poor judgment of character.

Then I went and changed the code to the front door of the house.

The bottled-up anger in my heart finally eased a little.