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‘Eliza?’

‘Surprise!’ my sister exclaimed with her arms open wide, anticipating a hug.

I blinked once.

And again, to make sure my tired brain wasn’t imagining her there.

Once I finally got over my shock, I let out an inhumane screech and went straight into her arms. She engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug, and I hugged her back with just equal fondness.

Despite our six-year age difference, Eliza and I had always been close, with her being my go-to person whenever I needed some advice.

But it wasn’t until our parents’ divorce that we truly became inseparable.

While I was going through my emotions of anger, confusion, and betrayal towards my parents as an eight-year-old, Eliza became solace for me to vent out my rollercoaster of feelings—without me feeling scared of being judged by her or to justify myself.

When she had started applying to colleges during her senior year of high school, one of her top priorities in choosing one was how close it was to home—to me, so we wouldn’t be too far apart whenever I needed her, especially when the wound from the divorce was just starting to heal.

But knowing my sister as well as I did, I knew what her dream college was, and how hard she had worked ever since she made up her mind about going there and majoring in journalism.

I wasn’t going to stand in the way of that, especially not when I saw how happy she was when she got accepted into her dream college.

I remember the day when she was listing down the pros and cons of the few colleges she was considering—chosen from her pool of acceptance letters, all of them not too far from home.

‘What are you doing?’ my then eleven-year-old-self had asked, sitting down on her bed.

‘Just researching colleges,’ she answered.

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m trying to figure out where I should go, silly,’ she said.

‘I mean, why are you considering other colleges? I thought you got into Northwestern?’ I asked, slightly confused. Northwestern was her dream college, why was she thinking of going elsewhere, if she had already gotten in?

Eliza was silent for a moment, before she said, ‘I’m not going to Northwestern.’

‘Why not? Going to Northwestern is all you could talk about ever since I was old enough to understand what college is,’ I said, my tone exasperated.

‘Well, things change.’

‘Things change?’ I repeated. ‘What do you mean things change?’

‘I just—’ she broke off. ‘I just changed my mind.’

I stayed quiet for a few moments, gathering up enough courage to speak my mind. ‘Liar,’ I finally said, calling out her bluff.

Eliza stopped whatever she was writing and turned to me. ‘What did you say?’

‘I said, liar,’ I repeated. ‘You and I both know how badly you wanted to go to Northwestern, how badly you still want to go there. You wouldn’t have applied there in the first place, if you didn’t want to go.’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said in a slightly harsh tone, her shoulders tensed. ‘I was just trying to see if I could get in. I wasn’t planning on actually going there.’

‘Please,’ I scoffed. ‘Northwestern has always been the only choice, more so now that you got in. Why are you even considering other options?’

‘Clara—’

I cut her off. ‘I’ll be fine, Eliza.’ My voice was soft, finally addressing the real reason why she was listing off alternative colleges in the first place.

At that moment, I could see her internal struggle: choosing whether to follow her dreams, or be the responsible older sister she had always been.

‘It’s too far, Clara,’ she sighed, giving in to the fight. ‘I can’t just leave you behind like that.’

‘And I can’t let you say goodbye to your dream college for me.’

‘You’re much more important to me than my dream college,’ she said, her voice just as soft. ‘You know that.’

‘I do. But I also know how hard you’ve worked to have come this far,’ I told her. ‘I can’t let you do this, not for me.’

The room was silent as the words we had just spoken lingered in the air.

I opened my mouth and said the last part of the unspoken truth that I knew she needed to hear. ‘The divorce wasn’t your fault, Eliza. You shouldn’t have to bear the consequences of it for my sake.’

‘I had six more years with them together than you did, Clara. Me not going to Northwestern is a small price to pay,’ she replied.

I rose from her bed and went over to her, wrapping my arms around her. ‘I’ll be fine, Eliza,’ I repeated, trying to make her—and myself—believe the words.

She patted my arms as she said, ‘I know you will.’

And we just stayed like that, wrapped in each other’s arms, taking comfort in one another.

It still took a lot of convincing on my side to reassure Eliza that I would be fine on my own, and that she wasn’t selfish for choosing Northwestern for the next chapter of her life.

I won’t lie, though I was happy she ended up going to Northwestern, there were moments during her college years when I wished she was just a two-hour drive away, instead of a two-hour flight away—moments when life got a little too much. But it also gave me the space that I needed to grow on my own.

While Eliza might not be there physically, she was always one call away.

Since starting her freshman year in college, Eliza had made sure to always block out time from her full schedule each week to give me a call and for us to catch up, with our conversations ranging from big announcements to small daily occurrences.

And her coming down to visit me was definitely something I would’ve remembered if she had told me.

‘Come in!’ I invited her, after we pulled away from our hug. ‘What are you doing here? And how come you didn’t tell me you were in town?’

‘Well, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if I had told you,’ she said. ‘And it was a last-minute thing. There’s a conference here and one of the journalists who was supposed to come withdrew her place because she got sick, so I thought I would fill in.’

She then added, ‘Plus, it’s an all-expenses paid trip to see you for a weekend. I couldn’t possibly say no to the opportunity.’

I laughed at her. Leave it to Eliza to fully optimize all the opportunities sent her way.

‘Where’s Nina?’ she asked as she made her way to the living room, settling herself on the couch.

‘Training,’ I answered back while rummaging through my fridge for some beverages. ‘Do you want anything to drink?’

‘Water, please.’

Taking out a glass from the kitchen cabinet, I filled it with water before heading toward her.

‘Here you go.’ I handed her the glass and took my seat beside her.

‘Thank you.’ She instantly took a huge gulp, her eyes catching the open Word document on my laptop. ‘What are you doing by the way?’

‘Just some assignments.’ I shrugged. ‘I’m almost done though; I just need to do my conclusion.’

‘Well, I’ll tell you what. You finish this up and I’ll treat you to dinner as a reward.’

I arched an eyebrow. ‘You mean, you weren’t planning on taking me out to dinner?’

‘Of course I was,’ she said, putting down her glass on the coffee table. ‘But at least this way, you’re motivated to finish the assignment and not procrastinate.’

‘Oh, come on,’ I whined. ‘I only have one part left; I can finish it tonight.’

‘Nope,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘We’re not leaving until you finish.’

‘Ugh, fine,’ I groaned before picking up my laptop and started getting to work. My brain rejuvenated with the promise of good food as the reward.

As I was finishing up the last paragraph, I heard another knock on the door. I was about to get up and see who it was when Eliza stopped me.

‘I’ll get it,’ she declared, standing up to greet whoever was at the door.

Letting Eliza handle the distraction, I continued my work, my attention laser-focused on finishing this up, as I was getting closer to the end.

I was typing out the last line when I heard Eliza call out to me. ‘Clara! There’s someone here to see you.’

I wrote out the last word and the final full stop, and saved the document. Standing up from the couch, I headed to the front door to see who it could possibly be.

My eyes widened in surprise when I saw who it was.

It was Colton.

‘Colton,’ I exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here?’

From my peripheral vision, I could see Eliza’s eyes darting between Colton and me. ‘I’ll let you two talk,’ she told us. When she passed me, she whispered, ‘He’s cute.’

I quickly shushed her, scared that Colton might’ve picked up on what she said.

Eliza just let out a small laugh. My gaze followed her as she went back to her spot on the couch, leaving me and Colton alone at the door. Once I was sure she was out of ear range, I let out a small exhale before turning to face the unexpected guest at the door.

Colton greeted me with a beautiful smile and butterflies immediately started erupting in my stomach.

I missed that smile.

‘Hey, partner,’ he said.

I gave him a big smile of my own in return. ‘Hey, partner.’

I couldn’t help but start fidgeting, not really knowing where I should put my hands.

After spending so much time with Colton, I had gotten pretty comfortable around him.

But the last time we had seen each other was for the not-date previous Saturday, and this was the first time we were seeing one another since.

I was just fully unprepared for his unexpected arrival—in my apartment of all places.

I tried coming up with something to say, when it hit me that he might have just gotten back in town from the away game. ‘Did you just arrive back in town?’

‘Yeah,’ he nodded. ‘Just a little over an hour ago.’

‘Oh! And congratulations on winning the game by the way,’ I continued, as I remembered them winning against the opposing team. ‘I know I already texted you, but I thought I would say it in person.’