Chapter2

When Vanessa dragged me into the crowded club rush quad, my right shoelace trailed along the pavement for half a block.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" she yelled back at me. "If we're any later, he's going to leave!"

The Business School's Entrepreneurship Club booth sat at the very back of the square, its neon-green poster flapping in the wind. A tall man stood behind the folding table, wearing a navy-blue jacket, turned sideways to converse with a middle-aged man in a suit. Vanessa shoved me straight to the front row. My knees knocked hard against the plywood edge of the booth, and I sucked in a sharp breath from the sudden pain.

Just as I straightened up, intending to say something, my gaze crashed directly onto the hollow of his collarbones. A thin, silvery-white necklace was mostly obscured by his collar, leaving only a tiny jagged edge exposed.

I stood frozen in place, instinctively gripping the object hidden beneath my own collar.

"Ethan!" Vanessa's voice rang out right next to my ear. "This is the girl I told you about, Maya!"

He turned his head, his gaze dropping briefly to my neckline before smoothly pulling away.

"We finally meet." His voice was low and gentle. "Vanessa talks about you every day."

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

My eyes dropped back to his collar. Because he had shifted his stance, the fabric pulled taut against his shoulder, exposing a wider gap. The fracture on the pendant was slanted, its edges unmistakably rough.

"Your..." My voice trembled. "That chain you're wearing."

He looked down and let out a very soft chuckle, his thumb lightly brushing across the jagged break.

"It's been a long time." He raised his eyes to meet mine. "Something from when I was a kid. I've never taken it off."

A deafening roar rushed through my head. The musty stench of the warehouse and the image of that little boy squatting in front of me in the freezing basement all flooded back in a single fraction of a second.

"Did you know—" My voice abruptly caught in my throat.

Someone shoved past from the neighboring booth. A tall guy in a hoodie, carrying a heavy stack of cardboard boxes, walked right behind the table.

"Excuse me," he said. The boxes were slammed violently onto the ground next to the booth. I instinctively stepped half a pace back toward Vanessa, forcing my eyes away from Ethan's collar.

The guy straightened up after dropping the load. He wore a hoodie and thick framed glasses, his hood pulled down low. He raised a hand, violently tugging at his collar to wipe the sweat off his neck.

The exact moment the fabric lifted—through the gap of his collar, something shifted. It looked like a sliver of heavily tarnished metal.

Then he dropped his collar, turned, and just walked away. As he squeezed past my right side, he tilted his head slightly. Behind the thick lenses, his eyes swept impassively in my direction, completely devoid of expression.

He dragged a sudden gust of wind with him as he brushed past me. A sharp scent of sweat layered over cheap laundry detergent washed over my senses. For a split second, my peripheral vision caught something—the moment he turned away, a thin, curved outline slipped out from his neck and instantly fell back in.

"—That chain," Ethan's voice rang out in front of me again, "is something I got from someone when I was little."

I violently snapped my gaze back to him. Ethan was currently watching me, the corners of his mouth pressed tight, as if carefully calculating my reaction.

"But I forgot her name." His tone suddenly softened. "You look a little pale. You should go get some rest."

He leaned in slightly toward me. "If you want to know more, I can find some time for us to talk. My roommate was rushing me to move the supplies—" He tilted his head to glance at where the boxes had just been dropped. "—Whatever, he's gone anyway."

"Okay," I said.

Vanessa leaned in from the side and hooked her arm securely through mine, her palm forcibly squeezing my freezing fingers. "Why are your hands so cold? Come on, let's go get you something hot to drink."

I let her pull me away.

Vanessa clung to my arm, resting her chin lightly on my shoulder. "I told you from the start. I just knew you two would hit it off."

"...Yeah."

"He's exactly that kind of guy," she murmured softly. "He doesn't say much out loud, but he remembers absolutely everything in his heart. Insanely nostalgic."

As she spoke, her breath fanned warmly against my ear.

I clutched firmly at the half-chain hidden beneath my collar. As we wove through the dense crowd, a gust of wind swept by, sending the club rush banners violently flapping up and down in its wake.

Vanessa's phone buzzed. She glanced down at the screen, and a deeply inexplicable smile curled the corner of her mouth.