I Hope This Doesn’t Find You

by Ann Liang

He gently pushes the bottle back down. “No, thanks.”

“You’re prettier when you don’t talk.”

“You’re the only person worth paying attention to.”

“This is a very fascinating look into your thought process,” Julius remarks.

“I’ll fix it, I promise. I-I’ll find a new pot, the same brand as the old one. I won’t do it again

“Don’t talk to my mom like that,” I’d said. Quietly, at first, then louder. “You’re upsetting her. Just—just go away.”

“You all want me to go? Fine,” he spat. “I will.”

The people I sit next to in class, the faces I have to see at school every single day, the teachers who determine the grades that get sent to the university that determines the trajectory of the rest of my life.

“All you do is work and study and live for other people,”

“I never wanted you to have to grow up this fast.”

It’s like spending years of your life training for a game only to realize you understood the rules all wrong.

“I don’t care about them. I only care about

“I’ll give you the medal as a present,” he says, already turning around. “Just wait.”

he walks straight over to me. The gold medal swings from his neck, gleaming in the sunlight. He takes it off, then holds it out toward me. “Yours.”

“And Sadie is the light of my life,”

“The sun in my sky, the source of all my joy. She’s the reason I wake up every morning excited to go to my classes. Not a day goes by where I’m not grateful that she exists, that she’s there, that I get to talk to her and pass her in the halls and listen to her laugh.”

“Your wish is my command,”

“You really like that, don’t you? So you are the type

“Congratulations, Sadie. The torture is over.”

:(

I just want to be difficult. I just want him to keep talking to me.

Or the crease between his brows. The shadows under his eyes.

His smile is sharp, taunting. “The latter.”

Julius lifts his chin. “What if I also want to watch the game? I’m a huge fan of the—” He pauses just for a fraction of a second, and glances at the phone on the table. “The Hunters too.”

heard,” he whispers against my ear. Heat rushes up my neck, gathering around the point where I can feel his lips.

As I do, I can’t help noticing that it’s still open to the girl’s account—but he’s unfollowed her already.

A MAN A MAN A MAN

“Shut up, Julius,” I snap. “I’m talking.”

Like, something about his claws really worked for me.”

“Not just a debating championship or some points for a test or a fancy award or a spot in a competition—but my whole heart. My pride. God, my sanity. It would be all over. You would annihilate me.”

“Please, Sadie. I’m begging.”

A sharp intake of air. “You have to stop doing that, Sadie.” His hand tightens around my waist. “I won’t survive it.”

“It’s us, Sadie,” he says, like that’s answer enough. “When have we been bad at anything?”

An immediate flush races up my neck when I see Julius. His lips are swollen, his black hair rumpled from where I ran my fingers through it.

You were right, Sadie Wen. I am completely, helplessly obsessed with you.