Chapter 36: Gone

Flashback

By the time they sat for their university entrance examinations, the rivalry had become almost legendary.

Sienna wanted first place. Of course she did.

Callahan wanted it too. Of course he did.

For years, she had measured herself against him so relentlessly that the thought of entering university without him somewhere in the race felt strangely incomplete.

And she was irked by the feeling. She hated the fact that she had grown accustomed to him.

She hated that if someone mentioned an achievement, she immediately wondered whether Callahan had done better.

And more so, she hated that whenever she imagined her future, his existence somehow occupied a corner of it.

And yet, as soon as the examinations were over, something changed.

For the first time in years, there was nothing left to compete over.

Sienna thought she would be relieved. Instead, she found herself noticing his absence.

It was ridiculous because she had spent half her life wishing he would disappear.

Now that he was not required to be around, she found herself wondering where he was.

Then, somehow, they started meeting anyway. Sometimes it was intentional and sometimes it wasn’t.

They went out with mutual friends and somehow ended up walking beside each other.

Sometimes, they would bump into each other in the library, sometimes business parties, sometimes it was the casual gatherings.

They argued about what they should eat and then ended up sharing the same food.

They spent one entire afternoon wandering through a bookstore, arguing over which books were overrated. There was no rivalry left to hide behind.

And without it, Sienna discovered something she had never allowed herself to notice.

She actually liked talking to him and she liked being around him. She liked the strange quiet that sometimes settled between them when neither of them felt the need to argue.

That realization unsettled her more than any of their fights ever had.

One evening, Sienna found herself sobbing and trembling as anxious thoughts crept in her heart.

She sat alone on a bench outside the old school building, staring at nothing as tears slipped down her face.

She heard the sound of footsteps but she did not look up. She could tell who it was just by looking at the shoes, "If you’re here to annoy me, go away."

Callahan sat beside her anyway.

She wiped her face quickly, "I said go away."

"I heard you the first time."

"Then why are you still here?" she looked at him.

"I don’t know." For once, there was no smug answer.

She looked away, but another tear escaped.

A white handkerchief appeared in front of her. She took it from his hand.

For a while, neither of them spoke. Then Sienna laughed weakly through her tears.

"Do you know why I’ve always tried so hard to beat you?"

Callahan glanced at her, "To put me in place?"

Sienna laughed a little and then lowered her head, looking down at the handkerchief twisted between her fingers.

Her voice trembled, "I thought if I could always be first, if I could become the best at everything, maybe I could save my family."

She swallowed, "Back then, I thought my parents would be proud enough to stay together. I thought if I became successful enough, if I gave them something to be proud of, maybe everything would stop falling apart."

She laughed again, except there was no humor in it.

"And now they’re getting divorced anyway."

Callahan said nothing.

Sienna expected him to make some stupid remark or mock her for entertaining such childish thoughts.

But he did not say anything.

She leaned back against the bench and stared at the darkening sky.

After a while, she asked quietly, "Which university are you going to?"

He looked at her, "Which one are you going to?"

"I asked first."

"You always do."

She rolled her eyes, "Imperial University."

It was the most prestigious university in Amethyst City, the sort of place people spent years preparing to enter.

Its business program was particularly renowned, and Sienna had chosen it partly because it would allow her to remain close to her family, no matter what the future held for them.

"Business," she added.

Callahan was quiet for a beat. Then, he spoke up, "Same."

Her eyes widened, "Seriously?"

He nodded.

For some reason, happiness flickered through her, "So I’m not getting rid of you."

He smiled faintly, "You wish."

Both of them ended up laughing but the smile on his face faded first as he looked at her, "Sienna, there’s something I—"

’Ring’

Sienna glanced at her phone screen. It was a call from her father’s driver.

The moment she answered the call, all the color drained from her face, "What?"

She stood so quickly that the handkerchief nearly slipped from her fingers, "What do you mean she’s in the hospital?"

Callahan was already standing.

Sienna ended the call with trembling hands, "My mother is in hospital..."

Callahan reached for her, "Don’t be scared."

She looked at him, frightened and disoriented by then.

"My grandfather knows the best doctors in the country," he said. "I’ll make the arrangements. We’ll meet at the hospital."

Sienna nodded.

For the first time in years, she did not argue with him. She simply let him hold her hand till they reached the car and he helped her inside.

She never saw him again that night.

At the hospital, everything seemed to be suffocating her, everyone seemed to be in a rush. And watching her mother’s pale from behind the glass door terrified Sienna.

Somewhere in between, she rushed to the reception desk.

"There should be someone coming," she said breathlessly, "A boy. Tall, dark hair, probably wearing a black suit," She told her his name, and then her name.

The receptionist checked the records, "No one has arrived."

Later that night, her mother’s condition worsened and her father’s medical team arrived.

Everything after that happened too quickly. Sienna barely understood what the doctors were saying.

She only knew that she was beside her mother when the monitors began to slow.

She knew her mother’s hand felt abnormally cold and there was no response from her when Sienna begged her to open her eyes.

That night, her mother was gone.