Finally We Got Lost - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

This would be the last time. If there had been any other way to get back to Seattle, I wouldn’t have waited here at all. After unlocking the car, I sat in the backseat.

“Alina’s not coming back, so you should sit in the front,” Vincent said quickly.

I paused, a complex mix of emotions rising within me.

“I’m more comfortable in the back,” I replied, closing the door.

Vincent sat in the driver’s seat but didn’t start the car. He looked at me in the rear view mirror, an uneasy, unsettled expression on his face.

“Kaylee, during the parade, people were cheering, and I had no choice but to kiss Alina. Can you not be mad?”

His tone was half apologetic, half expectant, as if I’d be unreasonable to be upset. I felt a chill settle in my heart, freezing even my anger, leaving only exhaustion. I just wanted to go home.

“Alright,” I replied softly, masking the crack in my voice.

Looking at my weary expression, Vincent hesitated but didn’t explain further. He mounted his phone on the holder, ready to check the route back to Seattle. Then a new message appeared on WhatsApp.

“Vincent, we lost sight of Kaylee after the parade. Do you think she got upset after seeing us kiss and left in a huff?”

Vincent typed back quickly.

“She’s been waiting for me. Don’t worry–she likes me too much to overthink it.”

I stared intently at the messages between Vincent and Alina. The confident words on the screen felt like an invisible hand tightly gripping my heart.

So he had always known how deeply I felt for him. Was that why he could so recklessly joy my affection while being ambiguously involved with other women? I closed my eyes again, though it was the height of summer, I felt a chill creeping over me.

I didn’t say a word as the car left the Disneyland area. Vincent thought I was just tired, so he didn’t disturb me. A short while later, the phone connected to the car’s Bluetooth rang.

Vincent answered, and Alina’s crying voice came through the speakers: “Senior, I fell down the stairs as soon as I left Disneyland, and I’m bleeding a lot. Could you take me to the hospital? I’m so scared.”

Vincent tightened his grip on the steering wheel and slammed the brakes. The force of the sudden stop threw me backward, my head hitting the seat with a sharp pain.

“Kaylee…” Vincent’s face was panicked as he hesitated to speak.

He was consumed with thoughts of Alina, her injuries, while I was left in the backseat with my head throbbing. I forced myself to calm down, piecing together my shattered emotions, and spoke quietly, “You should take her to the hospital, after all, you brought her to Disneyland.”

My face was hidden in the dark, and Vincent couldn’t see my expression. He didn’t have the time to guess what I was thinking either. “Wait for me here. I’ll take her to the hospital first. As soon as she’s stable, I’ll come back to pick you up, and we’ll go home together.”

I didn’t say anything more. I opened the car door and stepped out. The car sped off, its exhaust fumes choking me, making me cough violently, and my tears flowed freely.

I rubbed my sore nose and slowly looked up at the night sky, forcing myself to swallow the remaining tears. It didn’t matter. I had known all along that he cared for Alina. This was just one more confirmation. The past was already irreparably collapsed.

I didn’t wait for Vincent. Instead, I hailed a taxi and went back to Seattle. In the taxi, I couldn’t tell if the cold air from the air conditioning was turned too low or if in was something else, but I felt empty inside, like there was a giant hole in my chest, and endless cold wind was blowing into it, making me shiver uncontrollably.

“Miss, are you okay? Why are you shivering on such a hot summer night?” the driver asked kindly.

I shook my head, pulling my clothes tighter around me. “Please drive faster, I just want to get home. Thank you.”

At 3 a.m., I finally arrived home. But even by the next morning, Vincent still hadn’t come back, despite promising to return. He sent me a WhatsApp message: [Baby, her condition is unstable, and I can’t leave her right now. I’ll come back tomorrow and make it up to you. Love you.]

Looking at the message, I felt a burning emptiness in my stomach. How could this man say he loved me while casually staying by another woman’s side?

I didn’t reply. I glanced at the time on my phone: 1 p.m. on June 29th. There were less than eighteen hours left until I was supposed to meet my mother at the airport.

I packed all the gifts Vincent had given me over the years and laid them out in the living room. Everything he had given me was being returned. Including that love that had soured. I didn’t want any of it. None of it.

Nine hours left.

I printed out the Instagram posts Alina had sent and the WhatsApp messages she had sent me, and placed them on the coffee table.

Since they were a perfect match, I might as well play matchmaker for them, giving them the chance to break the awkward tension.

Six hours left.

I cleaned out every last item from the house and threw them all away. Things that were no longer wanted should be discarded. No one can hold on to the old while embracing the new. The house was empty, with no trace of me left.

From now on, I would no longer exist in this place. Three hours left. I took a blank sheet of paper and wrote a note for Vincent.

“Vincent, let’s call it quits. You can now be with your Sailor Moon openly. I wish you both happiness. From now on, with the mountains high and the roads long, we will never meet again.”

I signed it. Kaylee, and took one last look at the house that held my four years of youth. I grabbed my suitcase and left without hesitation. No turning back. No regrets. The way to the airport, I deleted all contacts with Alina and Vincent, along with his friends and classmates.

I also deactivated our shared couple’s account. When I arrived at Blue Sky Airport, VIP staff guided me to the private hangar. On the spacious runway sat a blue luxury private jet, gleaming in the sunlight.

Dozens of bodyguards in black stood by the aircraft, some taking my luggage, others guiding me up the boarding stairs. My father, Robert Anderson, and my mother, Margot Anderson, stood by the cabin door, excitedly watching me.

“Kaylee, once you board this plane, it’s the start of your new life.”

I nodded, my eyes slightly misty. “Okay.”

From this moment on, from the moment I stopped loving Vincent, from the moment I stopped wanting Vincent, I, Kaylee, was reborn. From now on, I wouldn’t have a lover, but there would be others who loved me even more.

I climbed the last few steps of the staircase, holding my parents‘ hands. Life moves forward, and flowers bloom toward the sun.

From now on, my life would shine brightly.