Too Late to Love Me

3: 3

With grades and ability like Chester's, he could only apply to the low-bar schools that would take anyone.

Seven days later, one of them accepted his application.

Margot had been out with Chester nonstop lately. I barely saw her at all.

I forwarded her the school's paperwork, and she wrote back:

【It'll do, I guess. Chester says he's not picky.】

【Don't forget he starts in mid-September too, so the tuition has to be transferred over in the next few days. Then we can all leave together.】

As if letting me spend the money were a favor to me.

I sent back only two words: "Understood."

A few more days passed, and Margot called out of nowhere.

"Chester's inviting everyone to eat at the little restaurant his mom runs. He wants to thank you in person while he's at it."

"Remember to print out the acceptance letter and bring it. He'll need it for the visa and the entry process."

I was curled up in bed with a stomachache, and I turned her down. "Some other day. My stomach isn't feeling great..."

Her tone went a few degrees colder at once.

"Sebastian, lying is a really cheap thing to do. You just think a little restaurant isn't good enough for the young master, don't you?"

"Chester's been looking forward to seeing that acceptance letter ever since the application went through."

"Anyone in class who's free is coming too. Don't ruin it for everybody at a moment like this and let him down."

That last half a sentence was what she'd really meant to say all along.

I was quiet for a moment. "Fine."

At the long table in the little restaurant, the other classmates wore looks of envy.

"Wow, Chess, I didn't know you were this good. I heard the English test is really hard."

Chester was pressed close to Margot's side, grinning. "Nah, it's all thanks to the Henson goddess. She pulled all-nighters for a whole month, tutoring me over video."

"If I'd transferred into our class two years earlier, I might've gotten into a top school right here at home."

At that, my fingers tightened around my chopsticks without my meaning them to.

When I'd helped Chester submit his materials, I'd learned he had taken the English proficiency test in the same round as the rest of us.

Back then, there was an essay I couldn't quite make sense of, and I'd wanted Margot to walk me through it.

Without a flicker, she'd turned her phone face down, her expression cold. "Sebastian, if you don't have what it takes, then don't go abroad."

"You may be the Matthews family's little prince, but no one's obligated to be the knight who saves you. You can't always count on leaning on other people."

So it turned out she'd been helping Chester prepare since that far back.

And she'd still faked the whole thing, pretending to have him sit the SATs and fill out college applications just to keep me from noticing. That wish card was simply the opening she'd chosen.

Margot shot me an uneasy glance and prompted him. "Chester, Sebastian put in a lot of effort for you too. Thank him."

Chester's expression shifted, then he laughed. "You're right. Sebastian, thank you for being so generous and kind."

"All right, everyone, drink the pigeon soup while it's hot. Sebastian, to thank you, I had my mom set aside the plumpest pigeon just for you. It's very nourishing."

The others picked up their chopsticks one after another, praising how fresh and delicious the soup was, over and over.

My stomach was cold and aching.

I didn't think twice, lifted the bowl, and took a sip.

But all that filled my mouth was a sickening, greasy tang, laced with the taste of dish soap.

I spat it straight out.

"Seb, what's wrong?" my deskmate asked, concerned.

I frowned and answered honestly. "There's dish soap in the soup. It's like the water you rinse a pan with..."

Everyone traded glances. "Huh? No way. How come none of us tasted anything?"

My deskmate went to check, but Chester snatched the bowl away and smashed it on the floor.

His eyes rimmed red, wounded beyond words.

"Sebastian, I know a young master like you has a precious stomach and looks down on a little place like ours."

"But this soup is my mom's heart, simmered all afternoon. You don't have to like it, but do you have to slander it? Our family still has to keep this business running..."

I tried to explain. "I didn't..."

"Enough!"

Margot looked at me, disappointed.

"I was wrong. I should've seen it coming the second you faked a stomachache and didn't want to come."

"If you want a fancy meal, go crawl off to some five-star hotel yourself. Don't put on your precious little act here and trample on other people's kindness."

Except for my deskmate, everyone was watching me with complicated expressions.

Their faces said it all: too far, how could she do that, and why isn't he getting lost already.

My cheeks burned. I stood there humiliated, at a loss, then turned and rushed out.

I ran a long way before the tears I'd held back so long finally fell in big, heavy drops.

Butler Lawrence, the family's steward, called.

"Young master, are you transferring your and Margot's tuition tomorrow?"

Before I could answer, Chester posted a new update.

"Hehe, who knew the goddess wasn't just a great student but this caring too."

In the picture, his index finger had a small cut from a shard of the broken bowl.

Margot had her head bent, carefully sticking a bandage over it for him.

She'd replied underneath: 【That's because you're clumsy.】

Chester: 【Yes, yes, yes. Then I'll have to trouble the goddess to keep taking such close care of me from now on~】

Margot sent back an "okay" hand sign.

It felt like a power drill was churning through the flesh in my stomach, the pain so bad I couldn't straighten up.

I wiped my eyes and replied to Patrick Lawrence.

"Go ahead and transfer it. But only mine."

Since Margot wanted so badly to take close care of Chester, and thought so little of what I had.

Then abroad, I'd go alone.