I chased Alfred Henson for eight years.

Everyone said I was his little shadow, trailing behind him wherever he went.

But on his twenty-seventh birthday, I stopped following. If anything, I found myself instinctively avoiding him.

He noticed.

That day, he stepped in front of me with a cold expression, blocking my path. Then, for the first time in all the years I'd known him, he actually offered an explanation.

"I didn't stand you up on purpose. Maud was sick. She's all alone in this city with no one to turn to. I had to take care of her."

"Things were hectic, and I forgot to let you know. That was my fault."

So it was because of Maud Matthews. Again.

I shook my head lightly. "It's fine."

After all, I was marrying someone else next week. After that, we'd be strangers.

——

Seeing how reasonable I was being, no tantrum, no scene like the ones I used to make, Alfred raised an eyebrow. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, though underneath it, I caught the faintest trace of relief.

"Maria, I knew you wouldn't take it to heart."

"To make it up to you, tonight I'll take you to a movie—"

I shook my head before he could finish.

"No need. Go take care of whatever you need to."

"Your time is valuable. You shouldn't waste it on me."

Alfred stared at me in silence for a long time, his brow furrowing again.

"Maria Sullivan, what's gotten into you?"

He probably thought I was being too agreeable. Unreasonably so.

Maybe it even unsettled him.

That was fair.

Because for the past eight years, everyone around us knew the same thing: Maria Sullivan was the shadow Alfred Henson couldn't shake, following him with tireless, unwavering devotion.

It started when I was nineteen. I'd been working a part-time job when a group of drunks nearly dragged me into a dead-end alley. Alfred appeared out of nowhere, like some kind of hero dropping from the sky, and saved me.

After that, every time I looked at him, my eyes lit up like stars.

When he started his internship at a company, I pretended to pick up a part-time gig nearby and trailed him at a careful distance. When he met clients at five-star hotels, I stood outside handing out flyers, craning my neck every few seconds to catch a glimpse of him through the doors. When he got into a fight, I was the first one to throw myself in front of him.

Even though I was terrified, I planted myself between him and danger without a second thought.

Until a bottle smashed against my head and everything went black.

When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed. The first thing I saw was Alfred's scrutinizing gaze fixed on me.

"Maria Sullivan, why would you do something like that?"

I stared at him, completely lovesick. "Because..."

The words I like you were right on the tip of my tongue.

Then the sharp click of heels echoed from the hallway.

"Alfred, I heard some girl saved you. I came to check on you..."

A woman walked in carrying a fruit basket. The moment she appeared, I watched Alfred's perpetually cold face soften into something warm.

He stood and introduced her. "This is my friend, Maud Matthews."

Then he turned to Maud, his voice gentle. "Didn't you say you were busy today? How'd you find the time to come?"

Maud draped her arm casually over Alfred's shoulder. "We grew up together. You and me go way back. You think I'd just sit around when I heard you got hurt?"

She must have noticed me staring, because she quickly added, "Don't get the wrong idea, sweetheart. We've known each other since we were in diapers. That's all it is."

In that moment, I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat.

A woman's intuition is rarely wrong.

Sometimes all it takes is a single glance to know exactly what two people are to each other.

And in that instant, I knew.

Maud Matthews was the one Alfred loved.

And sure enough, over the eight years that followed, he proved that suspicion right more times than I could count.

"Maria?"

Alfred frowned and waved a hand in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What's wrong with you? You're white as a sheet."

He reached out and took my ice-cold hand.

"Did something happen?"

I forced the corners of my lips upward and slipped my hand free of his without making a scene.

"It's nothing. I think my period just started. I'm not feeling great."

Alfred relaxed. He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times.

"I ordered some delivery for you. Pads, some hot cocoa, things like that. Hopefully it'll help."

With that, he left my apartment.

I watched his retreating figure. He never once looked back.

The bitterness crept in again, slow and familiar.

How easy it was to fool him.

If Alfred truly cared about me, he would have noticed that my period had already come and gone last week.

A lie that flimsy, and he believed it without question.

It only proved one thing: after three years together, he had never really known me. Never really cared to.

My hands were freezing. I gripped my phone and headed upstairs.

All I could think about was getting the apartment lease terminated before next week so I could wrap up everything here and go home to Harbor City.

But just as I stepped onto the stairs, my phone rang.

It was Sophie Chavez, an old college classmate I'd been close with. When I picked up, her voice was buzzing with excitement.

"Maria, have you heard the news?"

"Maud Matthews is back in the country!"

I already knew, of course.

But hearing that name spoken aloud still sent a jolt through me.

My silence must have given Sophie the wrong idea, because she launched into an eager explanation.

"Don't tell me you forgot who Maud Matthews is! Drop-dead gorgeous, killer figure, voted the most beautiful girl on campus? Ring any bells?"

I tugged at the corner of my mouth. A bitter smile escaped.

How could I ever forget?

Before I could get a word in, Sophie barreled on.

"Plus, she's Alfred's childhood sweetheart. Back at Cloudvale University, everyone who saw them together called them the golden couple."

"People swore up and down they were dating. The rumors were everywhere."

"But the two of them never said a word about it. Flat-out denied the whole thing." She paused for dramatic effect. "Maria, do you think it was actually true?"

Sophie was an old classmate, but we'd been living in different cities for years.

She had no way of knowing.

About my three-year secret relationship with Alfred.

I nodded, even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah, I know who she is. But whether they were together or not, I really couldn't say."

Maud Matthews.

I turned the name over in my mind, and the bitterness swelled again.

When I was nineteen, I saw it with my own eyes: how close Alfred and Maud were. How deep that childhood bond ran.

When Maud got her heart broken by another guy, Alfred was the first one there, offering his shoulder to cry on.

When Alfred got into trouble, Maud was the first to come running.

Their relationship was intimate. More than that, it was something hard to define. More than friends, not quite lovers. A bond that lived in that impossible space between.

Back when I used to trail after Alfred like a shadow, he always turned me down with perfect, gentlemanly politeness.

"Maria, you're a wonderful girl. But there's already someone I like."

He told me he was saving all his firsts for the girl he loved.

Then, the year we graduated from college, Alfred bought nine hundred and ninety-nine roses and started setting up a confession.

Only to catch Maud kissing another man.

Alfred lost it. He charged forward like a man possessed and slammed his fist into the guy's face.

But in the next second, Maud stepped in front of the man, shielding him, her brow furrowed in irritation.

"Alfred, what the hell is wrong with you? You're acting like a rabid dog!"

Alfred stood frozen, disbelief etched across his face. "You're defending him. Over me."

"Defending him? He's my boyfriend."

Maud looked at him like he'd lost his mind. Then she looped her arm through the other man's and walked away.

After that, Alfred watched helplessly as the girl he loved drifted further and further from his world.

Maud started wearing high-end makeup, spending more and more time with men outside their circle.

She even—

He saw her with his own eyes, climbing into a Porsche late one night.

They had the worst fight they'd ever had, followed by a brutal cold war.

"Maud, what happened to you? You've become so shallow, so materialistic. You're not even the same person anymore."

"Who are you to judge me?" Maud shot back with a bitter laugh. "Alfred, take a good look at yourself. You're acting like you own me. Am I your girlfriend? Because last time I checked, I'm not."

"I'm not your girlfriend. Save your breath."

In a blaze of anger, they severed ties completely.

The day Maud left the country, she walked into the airport on another man's arm, laughing and chatting without a care in the world.

Alfred stood not far from the entrance, watching her silhouette disappear. The rims of his eyes were red.

His knuckles were white from clenching.

That night, he drank himself into oblivion.

He was dead weight, slumped like a ragdoll. I tried to get him home but couldn't carry him no matter what I did.

In the end, I booked a room at a nearby hotel.

The moment I hauled him through the door, Alfred found some reserve of strength I didn't know he had. He pinned me against the wall, then pressed me down onto the bed.

His voice came out raw and hoarse.

"Maria. Be my girlfriend."

"I can tell. You like me."

"You've been by my side all these years because you wanted this, didn't you? Well, here's your chance."

That day, I genuinely believed that fate had finally tipped in my favor.

But it wasn't long before Alfred looked at me with that cold expression of his and said, "Let's keep this between us."

I didn't quite understand. "You mean... a secret relationship?"

"Yeah."

He took a sip of his drink, his tone still detached.

"I'm not ready to announce it to everyone. We'll wait for the right time."

He knew that whatever he asked of me, I'd agree.

So keeping our relationship hidden—

I wasn't going to refuse that, either.

Like a fool, I savored my hard-won happiness in secret, tasting every stolen crumb of it.

Until the night we were tangled together, and Alfred let a name slip from his lips without thinking. "Maud..."

It hit me like a bolt of lightning.

The whisper was barely audible.

But I heard it. Every syllable. It was Maud Matthews' name.

My boyfriend, in our most intimate moment, had been fantasizing about another woman.

Sophie kept chattering away on the phone, jumping from one topic to the next.

"Maud just got back to the States last month. Word is, some of the old classmates are throwing a reunion. You'd better not skip it."

"Besides, Alfred was basically the golden boy of Cloudvale University. I heard he's going too."

I looked around my apartment at the boxes packed to the brim.

"I probably... won't be able to make it."

"I'm heading back to Harbor City before the end of next week."

Sophie's interest perked up instantly. "Harbor City? What for? Oh wait, that's right, Harbor City is your hometown, isn't it?"