Goodbye, My First Love

None of my friends could understand why I was so infatuated with Charles.

So infatuated that I gave up my early admission to an Ivy League university.

It all started when I first saw him on the first day of high school.

That moment marked the beginning of our ten-year entanglement.

Charles wasn’t good at academics, so I would copy my notes again and secretly leave them on his desk after school.

Charles loved basketball, so no matter how hot it was in the summer, I’d bring a foam box filled with iced water to the court to cheer him on.

Even when my face turned red from the heat and sweat dripped down my forehead, I felt proud every time he made a clean shot.

I’d lift my chin triumphantly, silently declaring to everyone:

Look! That’s the man I chose.

But Charles was so aloof.

I could chatter away beside him for ten minutes and get at most two sentences in response.

It didn’t matter, though. As long as he allowed me to stay by his side, I was happy.

My grades were excellent—I could’ve gone to any Ivy League school.

Charles’s grades, however, meant he could only get into a second-tier university.

After the Regular Decision results came out, I asked him out for dinner.

I wanted closure for my three years of feelings.

Charles elegantly cut into his steak. “I applied to Everreach University,” he said.

“You...” I hesitated, thinking this was his way of rejecting me.

“If you also go to Everreach, we could try dating for three months,” he added casually.

I thought I must’ve misheard.

Dating? With Charles?

That was something I never even dared to dream of.

I nodded frantically like a pecking chick, afraid that if I delayed, he might change his mind.