After I pointed it out, Lillian seemed a bit hesitant. Just then, their homeroom teacher finally arrived after class.

After exchanging greetings with us, he said, "I've asked other students. Lillian's eraser was borrowed by her good friend and she forgot to inform her. The eraser they were fighting over indeed belonged to Alex."

Without me urging her, Lillian bit her lip and took the initiative to bow ninety degrees to Alex, apologizing, "I'm sorry, Alex. I misunderstood you."

Alex wiped away his tears and smiled, "It's okay."

With peace restored, the homeroom teacher was naturally pleased.

Once out of the office, the two kids reconciled and happily returned to class together.

I asked David to tell me her bank account, and I would compensate him for the stationery box.

Sliding my phone, I asked him, "Is fifty dollars enough?"

David, hands in his pockets, raised his head slightly and said, "Are you giving alms? Three thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight."

I widened my eyes in disbelief. "Is Alex's stationery box made of gold?"

David glanced at me with a look that said, "You know nothing," and continued, "That's an imported stationery box I just bought for him. Remove me from your WhatsApp blacklist, and I'll show you the purchase record."

Not wanting to argue further, I gritted my teeth, saying, "No need. Hurry up and give me your account number so I can transfer the money to you."

He remained still, insisting, "My phone is dead. I can't recite it. Remove me from the blacklist and I'll send it to you later."

"Fine, if it's really dead. I'll transfer the money to their homeroom teacher and tell him to pass it on to you."

With that, I walked away, not bothering to look back at him.

David caught up with me, matching my pace. "Ashley, is it fun making things so complicated?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? What are you implying? We're both married now, and does your wife have no issues with our becoming friends on WhatsApp again?"

Before he could respond, I continued, "My husband would have an issue even if your wife doesn't. So, let's just pretend we've never met today. My husband can get jealous..."

David looked at me with a complex expression; ultimately, he said nothing more.

To wrap things up for Lillian, I used the excuse of grabbing a meal and went to my sister Rebecca Amore's house in the evening.

Her husband, Logan Amore, went to pick up Lillian from school while Rebecca was busy cooking in the kitchen.

Glancing at her phone on the table, I said, "Rebecca, my phone is dead. Mind if I use yours?"

She was chopping vegetables and simply replied, "Sure."

I quickly took her phone to the guest room and locked the door.

After transferring the compensation for the stationery box to Rebecca's account, I then transferred it to Lillian's teacher.

To my surprise, the teacher promptly refunded the money.

He said: [Alex's dad said there's no need to compensate, as Alex accidentally broke the stationery box.]

[By the way, Alex's dad wanted me to tell you not to worry about kids playing around. It's all normal.]

I had to accept the situation and swiftly erased any traces from Rebecca's phone.

After returning Rebecca's phone to its place, I impulsively checked my WhatsApp blacklist.

There was only one person there.

I thought, "After all these years, he still has the same profile picture, a silhouette I took of him against the setting sun.

He took a similar one of me, and it became our couple's profile picture for a while.

I wonder if it's his generosity or his wife's that keeps it there."

Upon unexpectedly running into David and learning about his happily married life with a child, I felt a knot in my chest, which left my mind in disarray.

After returning home and finishing my evening routine, as I lay in bed, my thoughts spun wildly, refusing to settle.

For years, I had deliberately tried to avoid thinking about him, believing time could erase all traces of his past presence. Yet, upon seeing him again, I realized some people are simply unforgettable.

Our shared memories flooded back like a raging river, overwhelming me with their intensity.

Whether my eyes were open or closed, he was there.

Unable to contain it any longer, I decided to confide in someone, feeling it was better to share my emotions than to stew in them alone.

I opened the chat with my best friend Amy, typing out a flurry of words before feeling like I was making a mountain out of a molehill. I deleted and edited until only a few sparse words remained.

I said: [I saw David today.]

It took Amy a while to notice my message, and she promptly video-called me.

She was wearing a face mask, one hand holding her phone while the other adjusted the mask, murmuring, "Did you put on makeup today? Didn't lose your edge, did you?"

Dodging the question, I replied, "He's married to Abby Swan now, and their son is in first grade."

In my mind, I thought, "So, shortly after we broke up, he got married, and Abby was soon pregnant.

He had lied to me, claiming his relationship with her was purely innocent, but then turned around to marry her and start a family.

Men's words are as reliable as pigs flying."

Amy furrowed her brow, pondering for a while before saying, "That doesn't make sense. Bruce didn't mention anything in our group chat."

Bruce White, a close friend of David and me from college, was the one person who truly understood David's current situation among us.

As for the group chat Amy mentioned, it was our college class group chat. I had quit it after breaking up with David, only occasionally hearing updates about our old classmates from Amy.

"I saw his son at Lillian's school today, in the same class as her."

Then, I briefly explained the afternoon's events to her.

Amy, fuming, slammed her face mask onto her husband's face. "Damn, what a pair of scumbags! Thank goodness you were decisive back then; otherwise, they'd still be playing you. Disgusting!"

Noticing my troubled expression, Amy cautiously asked, "Ashley, you're not still hung up on him, are you?"

Feeling like a nerve had been struck, I raised my voice. "How could I be? Just the sight of that scumbag makes me want to puke. There's no way I'm not over him..."

Amy sighed in relief, "That's good. Oh, by the way, the group is planning a class reunion. Bruce mentioned David has no plans that day and might attend. You should come with me."

"I'll rent a super handsome guy online for you to bring as your fake boyfriend, guaranteed to impress. Let's show those shameless jerks what's what."