The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 22

Monday

Liam still couldn't believe what he had seen last Saturday night. Kirsten and Kyle had hugged each other at the front door of her dormitory building. What had they been thinking? Kirsten had a boyfriend and Liam had ensured Kyle was aware about it by showing up with her at the café. So, what had the hug been for? And why had she hugged him back? Liam just couldn't get it.

When his phone screen woke from an app notification, he saw Kirsten's picture on his lock screen smiling and just looked beautiful as always. Jealousy had never seriously come between them since they always truly trusted each other from the beginning of their relationship. There was no rule of prohibiting each other from making friends with opposite sex human being.

The only person Liam was ever so jealous of was the one and only Kyle. Kyle was Kirsten's first love and Liam knew how tough it had been for her to get over him. That was what had been bothering him for the last couple of weeks. What if there had been a little spark between them when they got to meet each other again and she would choose Kyle over him?

No, he believed she wouldn't cheat on him. He knew she loved him as much as he loved her that they wouldn't hurt each other.

Walking to the bathroom in his apartment, Liam went to the porcelain sink then turned the faucet on and splashed water to his face with an effort to forget everything about that night and ignore the rage inside him. Ruining their relationship with jealousy was the last thing he wanted to do. Afterwards, he went back to the living room and grabbed his phone on the table.

Reading period had started today and he knew he was supposed to continue reviewing what he had learned this fall semester before the exam, but his knotty mind couldn't concentrate right now. So, he pressed the call button on his girlfriend's number instead. A few seconds later, her jolly voice on the other line greeted him that made him unconsciously smile. He never got tired of hearing her voice.

"Hi, babe," Liam greeted her back.

"What's up, babe?"

He cleared his throat. "Um, just wanted to hear your voice."

"Aww, babe. You're so sweet!"

"So, how was your day?"

"Same old, same old, except my professors gave me a pile of assignments today before reading period starts next week here," Kirsten replied. "How was yours? How's your reading going so far?"

"Hm, so far so good. I hit the books the whole day today. Kind of feel tired." He gave a weary sigh.

"Babe, are you okay?" she asked, concerned. "You sound different."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. "How about you?"

"Never better, honestly. I think with this thing between me and Kyle finally resolved, I just... I feel, like, I'm completely... relieved, you know. I'm just really glad we talked this through."

"Oh, did something happen between you two?"

"Yes, just like what I told you last night. Kyle and I had the talk and finally reached a closure."

Liam breathed deeply. "Hm, nothing else happened?"

"Um, no," she said hesitantly. A few seconds went by until she revised, "Well, actually, there's one thing I left out last night."

Tense, he tried to control his tone. "What's it?"

"Well," Kirsten slowly uttered at last after she seemed to think hard about what to say, "Kyle said to me... that when he saw me again at the game, he thought it was fate that we could have a second chance... yeah, something like that."