Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I chased Julian Sterling for five years, and Ethan Sterling chased Vivian Hayes for five years.
Then on New Year’s Eve, I waited in the mall cinema and never saw Julian.
He waited at the amusement park and never saw Vivian.
Instead, we both got their official relationship announcements on social media at the same time.
In the end, Ethan and I talked it over. He said, “Why don’t we pair up? We know each other inside and out.”
I was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
After that, we hurried through everything—trying on wedding dresses, picking a venue, choosing a lucky date, writing invitations. We were going to get married before they did.
Later, when I was nearly overwhelmed by all the venue choices, Julian Sterling showed up at my house.
He stood outside the door with his jaw clenched, his eyes a little red, and asked me, “Are you serious? You’re really going to marry Ethan? Have you thought this through?”
On New Year’s Eve, I was in the mall off Central Avenue, watching balloons drifting up into the night and couples clinging to each other under the falling snow.
I had a movie ticket crumpled in my hand.
I couldn’t have said exactly what I was feeling. After liking Julian for so many years, it just felt like it had all ended badly.
My phone buzzed. I looked down.
It was Ethan, Julian’s twin brother. The preview on the chat screen read: She didn’t come either.
I had grown up with Julian and Ethan. Later, I fell for Julian, and Ethan fell for my roommate.
I’d helped Ethan with Vivian, and he’d helped me with Julian. We had been each other’s accomplices.
Too bad that on New Year’s Eve, he hadn’t waited for Vivian, and I hadn’t waited for Julian.
I let out a long breath and was about to leave when Ethan called me.
The line was noisy on his end, but his voice came through clearly, rough around the edges.
“Did you see the posts my brother and she put up?”
A bad feeling crawled up my spine.
My hand tightened around the phone. I stared at the screen and didn’t dare open it.
It felt like if I tapped in, everything would change.
In the end, I still opened it.
Plenty of people were showing off their dates and photos that night, so I only had to scroll a little before I saw it.
The moment I saw the picture, my shock drowned out the hurt.
The photo they posted together was an old school picture of the two of them in uniforms.
Julian and Vivian were standing on the school field, grinning at the camera and flashing peace signs.
They both looked so happy.
Julian never smiled that much when I took pictures with him.
Chapter 2
And Vivian never wanted to take pictures with Ethan either.
Vivian had been my high school classmate. There was a stretch of time when she fought with her family, so she lived at the dorm.
I refused to go home too, and my parents had no choice but to ask Julian and Ethan to bring things over for me. One thing led to another, and Vivian got to know them.
But when exactly had the two of them started feeling something for each other?
And how had Ethan and I ended up like fools, throwing ourselves at flames?
I couldn’t say anything for a long time. It felt like something was stuck in my throat, and it was awful.
Ethan was still on the phone, and neither of us spoke.
At last, he asked, “Are you still at the cinema?”
I hummed in agreement.
“Then stay there. I’ll buy another ticket, and we’ll watch it together.”
“Okay,” I said.
No matter how awkward it was, at least he was in it with me. That made it hurt less.
While I waited for Ethan to get there, I didn’t sit there picking apart every little clue from before. My mind was blank.
I didn’t cry. I just felt like everything had happened too fast.
I don’t know how long it was before my legs had gone completely numb and I finally spotted Ethan by the escalators.
He’d dyed his hair bright red a few days earlier. He’d said red meant good luck for the new year, and that it also meant good things were coming.
I’d wanted to dye mine too, but he’d beaten me to it, so I ended up with a caramel-brown shade instead.
When he saw me, he quickened his pace and came over.
I lifted a hand and waved weakly. “Help me up. My legs are numb.”
Ethan reached out and hauled me to my feet, studying my face. Then he gave a short laugh. “Well, good. You’re not crying.”
I hit my numb legs a few times, the pins-and-needles feeling sharp enough to make me grimace.
“You aren’t crying either,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said, waving it off. “Let’s go. Time’s about up.”
Neither of us brought it up again.
After the movie, he drove me home.
Once I’d washed up and settled in, I finally saw a message from Vivian.
“Chloe, Julian and I are together now. Are you mad at me?”
I closed my eyes and flopped back onto the bed, irritated. Then I sent back a reply with a flat face: No.
She was free to be with whoever she wanted, even if that person was Julian Sterling.
But I had treated her like a friend. I had told her, excited and happy, every single moment from the years I spent liking Julian.
She had never told me anything.
And now, after I’d chased Julian for so many years, they were together.
The hurt and anger were almost enough to fill my chest completely.
I wasn’t angry because she was the one with Julian.
I was angry because she’d never once told me she liked him too.
When I’d shared all those memories of chasing Julian with her, what had she been thinking?
Had she been laughing at how ridiculous I was?
The thought made her feel unfamiliar and frightening all at once.
The second I sent the message, it was like she had expected exactly that answer.
Chapter 3
“I’m sorry, Chloe. I’m really glad you don’t blame me. I didn’t mean to keep it from you, I just didn’t know how to bring it up…”
Her reply went on for a while.
I backed out of the chat and removed her from my pinned contacts.
After that, she asked, “Chloe, do you want to get barbecue on Main Street tomorrow?”
She was testing me, seeing whether I was really angry.
But I wasn’t going to be friends with her anymore. Whether I was angry or what she thought about it didn’t matter.
“No. I’m tired today. I’m going to sleep.”
A while later, she stopped messaging me.
Instead, Julian Sterling sent me a text.
“I was the one who pursued Vivian. I was the one who liked her first. Chloe, I hope you don’t blame her, and don’t take your anger out on her.”
How should I put it?
Back then, I really did like Julian a lot.
The kind of liking that filled my entire heart and almost spilled out.
But now, it was like everything had changed overnight.
I actually felt a little sick.
How could their feelings have just appeared out of nowhere? How could they just suddenly be together?
Meanwhile, they had watched Ethan and me like we were clowns, enjoying how good we were to them, then turning around and saying, thanks for liking me, but I don’t like you.
I could accept any ending.
What I couldn’t accept was that the person I’d liked for so many years had turned out to be a rotten human being.
In the end, I didn’t reply.
I just sent Ethan screenshots of both messages with one line: “Do you have this?”
After a while, Ethan sent me the message Vivian had sent him.
The gist was basically that she was grateful for his years of liking her…
Ethan said, “Tell me, in all five years, how did she never once tell me she liked my brother? Were we really that low? Knowing they liked each other and still going after them?”
We’d chased them for five years, but the liking had gone on for more than five.
I said, “It’s bad luck, that’s what this is. I ran into the wrong people. But I don’t want to see them again either. And I know tomorrow I’ll probably have to. Then what? We’ll have to say it’s fine, that it doesn’t matter. I hate that kind of thing, but they only feel better if they hear it.”
As I typed, irritation kept building until I wanted to delete both of them and block them outright.
“Same,” Ethan replied. “My brother even came to knock on my door just now and asked if I’d gone to sleep. I didn’t answer. Thinking about it is exhausting. The hurt’s one thing. I’ve already chased her for years, so I can live with that. But it still feels awful. Why did it have to be them?”
Why them?
Why could they do this to us?