You Were Better When I Was Gone Chapter 10
Halfway through the exhibition, Sophie’s presence was becoming impossible to ignore.
She kept drifting toward Nathan. “Oh, this painting is so interesting, don’t you think, Nathan?” / “This venue is so big, do you come to places like this often?”
Nathan was polite but kept his body angled toward me.
I noticed Sophie’s jaw tighten slightly.
As we left the gallery, she stopped me. “Sarah, can we talk for a second?”
Nathan looked at me. I nodded, and he walked off to take a call.
Sophie pulled me onto a bench in the corridor. “Sarah, I really missed you.” Her voice was low, eyes reddening. “After you left, I realized how hard it is without you.”
I looked at her. “Hard how?”
“Like…” She looked down, twisting her fingers. “No one at work plays with me anymore. And Luke’s been blaming me, saying I’m the reason you left.”
“Isn’t that true?”
Her head shot up. “Sarah, you think this is my fault too?”
I didn’t answer. The tears started streaming down her face. “I know I did wrong in the past, but you’re my best friend”
“Sophie.” I cut her off. “Your way of being my best friend was calling me Dummy in front of everyone, mocking me when I messed up, killing my deal, and then impersonating me to call my client.”
She cried harder. “I didn’t mean it… I really didn’t know you cared so much…”
“You didn’t know I cared?”
“I thought you wouldn’t get mad”
“Because I’d never gotten mad before, right?”
She froze, tears still on her face.
“Sarah never got mad,” I said. “But not because I didn’t care. Because I was scared.”
Her lips moved like she wanted to say something.
“And Sophie, I have one question for you.”
“How did you know I’d be at this exhibition?”
Her hand, wiping tears, stopped. “What?”
“You said ‘what a coincidence.’ But this exhibition wasn’t publicly promoted. It’s private, invite only.”
Her expression shifted. Just for a split second, but I saw it.
“I asked the organizers. Your name wasn’t on the guest list.”
I stood up.
“You flew all the way from China, not to see me.”
She stopped crying. The tears were still there, but she wasn’t sobbing anymore. When she looked up, her eyes had changed, not wounded or pitiful. Cold.
“So what?” she said quietly. “You think running to London means you can leave everyone behind and start over?”
“Sarah, without me and Luke, you’re nothing.”
When I heard those words, my heartbeat didn’t even quicken. My pulse stayed flat, like my body had already known she’d say it.
“Sophie, I’m doing really well in London.”
“Work is good. Friends are good. I don’t need someone to help me ‘build courage.’ I don’t need someone to speak for me. And I don’t need anyone calling me Dummy.”
“I know you don’t like it because you’re used to me being your background prop.”
“But that person is gone.”
Her jaw tightened. Her lips pressed into a thin line. Then she laughed a light, bitter laugh.
“Look at you, Sarah. All grown up with wings now?”
“Fine. Just you wait.”
She stood up, grabbed her bag, and walked out. Her heels clicked on the gallery floor, louder with every step.
I stayed there, watching her retreat.
No panic. No fear.
I just remembered a line: The one who gets left behind will one day end up ahead.
Nathan walked back from the distance. He glanced in Sophie’s direction. “Everything okay?”
“Fine.”
“Then let’s go? There’s a good sushi place nearby.”
“Let’s go.”
That night, I deleted both Sophie’s and Luke’s contacts. Not blocked, deleted.
Blocking means you still care. Deleting means you don’t need them anymore.
Emma saw my face from the couch. “What happened?”
“Tied up loose ends with the past.”
“And?”
I leaned against the hallway, looked at the warm light of the apartment, at the sunflowers I’d bought for myself on the coffee table.
I smiled. “And then nothing.”