01
On the day of the math competition, I stood outside the exam hall, waiting for Eddie.
The sun blazed down, and I held a bottle of ice water and some snacks, along with a bouquet of flowers.
I was nearly melting from the heat when I finally spotted him coming out with his classmates.
I rushed over, beaming with excitement, only to see Eddie frowning.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his tone flat.
I forced a smile and replied, “I came to cheer you on! Why didn’t you tell me about such an important competition?”
He didn’t take any of the things I offered and said dismissively, “What’s the point of telling you? You wouldn’t understand anyway.”
I felt a bit awkward, frozen in place.
Just then, one of Eddie’s classmates, Selena Daddario, approached us, her eyes scanning me before landing on the art portfolio slung over my shoulder.
“So, Eddie, is this your art student girlfriend?” she asked, a teasing lilt in her voice.
Eddie replied reluctantly, “Yeah.”
Selena waved her hand dismissively. “She’s pretty, I’ll give her that. Typical–men are visual creatures, huh? Guess you’re no exception, Eddie.”
I instinctively clenched my fists, stealing a glance at Selena.
It was my first time meeting her. Eddie never bothered to introduce me to his circle.
Every time I tried, he would impatiently say, “You’re not part of that world. What’s the point in knowing them?”
He was a math genius, while I struggled to keep up.
He could ace exams effortlessly while I battled through textbooks filled with numbers and diagrams that felt like a foreign language.
I worked hard, burning the midnight oil, but ultimately fell short by just three points, missing out on the spot at Kingdom University.
When Eddie was accepted, I chose an art school nearby just to be closer to him. He scoffed, saying, “That’s perfect for you.” He oft en remarked, “Studying art doesn’t require brains. It’s just rich kids throwing money at it, so it suits you.”
Eddie rarely shared his personal life with me, but he mentioned Selena several times.
She was fiercely determined; after being told in high school that “girls shouldn’t study math,” she decided to major in it out of spite.
Their names frequently appeared together on the school’s honor roll, dubbed the “dynamic duo” of the mathematics department at Kingsdom University.
