Late December
I found the messages by complete accident.
Kai's laptop was open on the kitchen table he'd left for his morning run and forgotten to close it. I was just going to move it so I could eat breakfast, but the screen lit up when I bumped the mouse.
A text conversation filled the screen. With someone named Rachel.
I shouldn't have read it. I knew I shouldn't. But my eyes caught on my own name, and then I couldn't look away.
Rachel: "So you're really doing the distance thing? That's ambitious."
Kai: "I don't have much choice. I can't ask her to give up med school."
Rachel: "But five years? Kai, be realistic. You'll meet people here. She'll meet people there. At some point, someone's going to move on."
Kai: "Maybe. But I have to try."
Rachel: "Because you love her or because you feel obligated?"
Kai: "Does it matter?"
Rachel: "Yeah. It really does. If you're only staying with her out of guilt, you're doing both of you a disservice."
Kai: "I'm not… it's complicated."
