Chapter 4: Ties That Bind

I shrugged it off. Just another weird night in college town. I honestly thought that would be the last I’d see of her. How wrong I was.

Midterms hit hard, and my days blurred into a routine of late-night study sessions and endless group chats for student council. Marcus and I barely saw each other, relying on texts and quick calls to stay connected.

By the next Saturday, I was counting down the minutes to see him. Marcus and I were both seniors now, staring down the barrel of graduation.

We’d met by accident, mixing up our garment bags at the freshman talent show. I ended up in his tux jacket, he got stuck holding my sparkly dress. We laughed so hard we nearly missed our call times.

Sometimes it still felt unreal—dating Marcus, the guy everyone wanted. Our worlds couldn’t have been more different. My family ran a thriving import-export business; Marcus’s parents owned a tiny hair salon sandwiched between a bubble tea shop and a print shop. Sweet people, but not exactly star stylists. The pandemic nearly wiped them out.

Wanting to help, I quietly loaded a hundred thousand dollars onto their salon’s prepaid card. I told them it was for future services, but really, I just wanted to lift some of the weight off Marcus’s shoulders.

It wasn’t charity to me—it was investing in us, in his peace of mind.

That Saturday, I strolled into the salon for my usual visit and froze. There she was—the same junior, now sweeping hair off the floor in a staff polo. She glanced up, then away, pretending not to know me.

Fine by me. If she wanted to act like strangers, I could play along. I leaned over the counter, asking Marcus about the new hire.

He shrugged, a hint of apology in his eyes. "She got fired after that thing at the steakhouse. Came here looking for work. My folks hired her before I even knew."

I nodded, understanding. Marcus never interfered with his parents’ decisions—he respected their independence. He only dropped by when I visited, and lately, he’d been buried in work for his startup.

After our lunch date, I didn’t give the girl another thought. Everyone needs a job, right? Like Mom always said, what can be stolen was never yours to begin with. Besides, I was the one funding Marcus’s studio now—my investment, my future.