My college dreams were shattered, leaving me with no choice but to find work. Ashamed, I cut off contact with everyone. My yearbook was locked away in a drawer, gathering dust. Seven years later, I skipped our class reunion. My old best friend, Ava, sent me a message: “The campus king got drunk and said he had a crush on you.” I flipped open my old graduation yearbook, finding his message: “My ambition roams wide, love seeks the vital crossing, and you enter the deep village once more.” I always thought it was just some dramatic teenage poetry. But looking at the first character of each original Chinese line, I finally saw the clumsy acrostic: “I love you.” But by then, he was already an executive director at a public company. **1** The rain poured down, making the road a muddy mess. My heels sank into the mire, hard to pull free. I mentally cursed Mr. Hayes, my plant manager, for the hundredth time. If he hadn’t insisted I dress up, I would’ve just worn my rain boots. It wasn’t far from the plant to the train station, but the rain was too heavy; the driver wouldn’t speed up. Luckily, I left half an hour early, so I didn’t mess up the “big deal” Mr. Hayes kept talking about. The “big deal” was a collaboration negotiation with Liam Stone. He was the Marketing Director of a publicly listed company, and also my high school’s campus heartthrob. When my college dreams were shattered back then, I deliberately cut ties with everyone. Later, even though I joined the class group chat, I always lurked without speaking, and never attended any reunions. Yet, seven years later, I heard from my old best friend, Ava: “Liam got wasted at the last reunion, and he kept saying he’d had a crush on you for ages.” I sent a shocked emoji back to Ava. “No way. Has it been so long that he confused me with someone else?” Liam liked me? Impossible. **2** I’d looked Liam up online before. Sure enough, there were plenty of articles about him—stuff like “Sales Prodigy” and “Business Elite.” Back then, I didn’t feel much about it, just thought it was cool that my old classmate made the news. It wasn’t until his listed company proposed a partnership with our small plant that I felt like we were getting closer. Especially when our fifty-year-old boss, Mr. Hayes, looked absolutely thrilled, full of ambition, talking about how we were going to “take on the world.” He said he could tell just by looking at Liam’s face that the Marketing Director would be “easy to talk to.” I muttered under my breath, “He’ll only be ‘easy to talk to’ if there’s something in it for him.” Mr. Hayes might not have a lot of education, but his hearing was sharp. He launched into a rambling lecture about his people-reading skills. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I finally told him that Liam and I were high school classmates. A boss is a boss, after all. Mr. Hayes immediately decided I should be in charge of hosting Liam. “Chloe, dear, we train our soldiers for a thousand days to use them for one moment. Now’s your time to shine for the plant! Be bold, sweet-talk him, and do a great job. I’ll give you a raise later.” “Alright, Mr. Hayes. He’s my classmate; it’ll be fine.” That’s what I said, but I was freaking out. There was no guarantee Liam would even recognize me. In high school, Liam and I were separated by three desks. I was the kind of girl who looked like she tried really hard but got pretty average grades. I never stood out. Liam was the “academic ace of the back row”—a guy who sat in the very last row but somehow got incredibly good grades. In our brief interactions, he always came across as intimidating, someone who didn’t take no for an answer. **3** When I got to the train station, Liam’s train hadn’t arrived yet. I found a seat in a coffee shop. Mr. Hayes said he’d expense it, so I ordered two coffees. They weren’t for Liam. They were just to make the receipt look like I was treating a client. As I sipped my coffee, I saw Liam walk out, carrying his bag, with a young woman trailing behind him. The woman seemed to be Liam’s assistant, trying to take his bag from him, but he kept refusing. They bickered gently until they were right outside the coffee shop window. I quickly turned my back, but I could still hear their voices. “Director Stone, please, let me accompany you. This is just a small factory; it’s not worth your personal attention.” “Audrey, this is a strategic company matter. I’ll handle it myself. You go back and sort out other things, then keep me updated on the progress.” As their voices faded, I thought they had left. I turned around and found myself face-to-face with that handsome guy. Liam had been voted the school heartthrob in high school. His desk drawer was always overflowing with love letters, and other girls would constantly come looking for him. But they always kept their distance because his good looks came with a hint of rebellious charm. I rarely interacted with him, except when we were putting up the blackboard newspaper; that’s when I’d be close to him. Back then, as I wrote and drew on the blackboard, I always felt like someone was watching me. I’d turn around and my eyes would lock with his. And he would quickly, awkwardly look away. In those moments, he wasn’t so intimidating; he was kind of cute. A light tap on the glass snapped me out of my thoughts. I walked out of the coffee shop, a coffee cup in each hand. He reached out to take a coffee, but I sidestepped him. “Sorry, both of these are mine. I’ve already had a sip. If you want one, I can go buy another.” He shook his head, a knowing smile playing on his lips. “Don’t tell me you bought these under my name again?” My face flushed hot as he hit the mark. “Liam, let’s just head to your plant.” “Wait a minute, the ride-share hasn’t arrived yet.” He smiled, a puzzled look on his face. He probably hadn’t expected us to use a ride-share service instead of a company car to pick him up. I gave an awkward laugh. “Small plant, limited budget. But we’re absolutely here with full sincerity to discuss this partnership.” **4** Ten minutes later, the ride-share arrived. As we got in, he insisted on holding the umbrella over me. He waited until I was seated before closing the umbrella and getting in himself. His shoulder was a little wet from the rain, but he didn’t seem to mind. Seven years had changed us both. He had become even more considerate. When we arrived at the plant, I found Mr. Hayes had actually rolled out a red carpet and arranged a group of female workers with flowers for a welcoming committee. There was even a huge banner: “WELCOME, DIRECTOR STONE, FOR YOUR GUIDANCE!” Liam probably hadn’t seen such a display before. He looked a bit awkward, especially after being surrounded by the women, completely flustered. For this negotiation, Mr. Hayes had even brought in his niece, Blair, who was an accountant, to help out. The young girl was inexperienced and completely starstruck when she saw Liam. But Liam paid little attention to her. Instead, he asked Mr. Hayes, “My assistant is too busy and couldn’t make it this time. Could the plant temporarily assign me a helper?” I didn’t expose him, even though I’d just seen him dismiss his assistant at the train station. To my surprise, Mr. Hayes turned to me and said, “Then Chloe will do. You two are classmates, so you’re already familiar.” “Chloe, remember you’re part of the plant team! Don’t go turning traitor just because Director Stone is so charming, alright?” Mr. Hayes joked. I, however, didn’t want to be Liam’s assistant and rolled my eyes. “Mr. Hayes, you can’t make me do everything, can you?” But Liam cut me off. He turned to Mr. Hayes. “Thank you, that would be perfect. Having Chloe as my assistant is absolutely ideal.” “Excellent, excellent!” Mr. Hayes beamed proudly. A shiver of unease ran down my spine. In my less-than-pleasant high school years, Liam wasn’t exactly a fond memory. “Hey, aren’t you going to ask for my opinion, the person actually involved here?” I almost shouted my thoughts. “Even though I’m just a wage earner, I have my pride!” “Anyway, I’m not doing it.” But Mr. Hayes changed my mind with just one sentence. “Triple pay during your assistant duties.” “Alright, boss! Who cares about pay? I’m ready to contribute to the plant!” My rapid change of heart seemed to catch Liam off guard. An elite like him wouldn’t understand the struggles of us working stiffs. After Mr. Hayes’ enthusiastic welcome, Liam asked me to take him to the dormitory arranged for him at the plant. We walked beneath the tree-lined paths of the plant campus, moonlight dappling the ground. Liam suddenly stopped, turning to face me. “Are you really that unwilling to interact with me? Did I ever offend you?” I took a step back, putting a bit of distance between us. “Director Stone is making me triple my salary. How could I be unwilling?” “Just for money?” He took a step forward, once again invading my personal space. He reached out, his hand hovering over my head. I tilted my head to dodge, and a single raindrop fell, landing precisely in his palm. It splattered into a tiny spray right before my eyes. Liam suddenly turned, saying to me, “Then, for your triple salary, make sure you do a good job as an assistant.” **5** Behind him, I silently clenched my fist, cheering myself on. I had to earn that triple pay for as many days as possible. Liam seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He added, “Don’t push yourself too hard. If you need anything, just ask, old classmate.” I wasn’t touched. I just thought he was a bit bipolar, and I felt like being his assistant wouldn’t be easy. After seeing him back to his dorm, I went back to the office building to organize files. Part of it was not wanting to lose my job, and part was not wanting to lose face in front of Liam. I worked until past midnight, finally shutting down my computer and stepping out of the office building. The profound silence made me a little scared. But at the building entrance, I ran into a familiar figure: Liam. He told me he couldn’t sleep, so he came out for a walk and bought two coffees. I knew he was lying. His dorm building overlooked the office, and the coffee shop was several hundred feet away from the plant entrance. There was no way he would have just “stumbled” upon it. And the type of coffee was exactly what I’d ordered when I picked him up earlier that day. Liam said with a half-smile, “I bought these myself. I should get one, right?” He was so petty! It was just a coffee I didn’t give him! As we drank our coffees and walked towards the female dorm building, Liam suddenly said, “It feels a bit like high school boarding, with separate dorms for guys and girls. There were always guys walking girls back.” I knew he was being considerate, acknowledging I hadn’t gone to college. High school had a strict no-dating policy, so guys walking girls back openly like that happened more in college. After that, Liam was silent until we were almost at my dorm building. He hesitated before speaking. “Do you still have your high school yearbook?” I nodded, then realized it was dark and he might not see me, so I added, “Yeah, I still have it. Why?” “Do you… do you ever flip through it?” he asked, his voice trembling slightly. I found it a little strange, but I answered honestly, “No, not really. After my college dreams were shattered, I packed it up and kept it with me, but I never opened it.” He looked a little disappointed, and his expression was complex as he said, “Could you… go back and open it? Maybe then, you’ll understand some things.” “I want you to know, the feelings I had back then? They’ve lasted all the way until today.” With that, he turned and walked away without looking back. **7** I was puzzled. Back in my dorm, I couldn’t sleep. I searched through my boxes and pulled out that old yearbook. Since I hadn’t opened it, it still looked pretty new. Back then, it felt so modern, but now it seemed a bit outdated.
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