For the next three days, Nicole played a game of cat and mouse. she changed her route to the library, skipped her favorite cafe, and arrived at her lectures at the very last second.
But Kenneth had always been better at physics and logic than she was. He mapped out her schedule based on the buildings he saw her entering.
On Thursday evening, as the sun dipped behind the Taipei 101 skyscraper, Nicole emerged from her late-night seminar to find a shadow leaning against a stone pillar.
"You're hard to catch, Nic," Kenneth said. He wasn't wearing his student hoodie anymore; he had a dark denim jacket on, looking more rugged, more like a man who had spent two years wondering why the love of his life had vanished.
"Kenneth. I told you, I'm busy. I have... a lot of family responsibilities."
"Is that why you ran? Because of your family?" He stepped closer, the scent of his familiar soap hitting her like a wave of nostalgia. "I didn't come to Taiwan for you, Nicole. I didn't even know you were here. But now that I've found you, I'm not letting you ghost me again."
Nicole looked at his eyes—the sincerity, the hurt. Her resolve began to crumble. "I... I have an hour," she whispered. "Just an hour."