Chapter 3

Serena and Ethan arrived early, carrying heavy grocery bags.

Ethan came to me first to apologize.

"Chloe, we bought all your favorite foods. Don't be mad anymore, okay?"

I didn't answer.

When dinner was served, the table was covered in Serena's favorites: mashed potatoes with sausage, ratatouille, and red wine braised beef.

Serena gasped.

"Oh my gosh, these are all my favorites! Thank you, Ethan, for driving all the way to get them, and thank you, Mrs. Miller, for cooking them!"

But in front of me sat only a single ceramic pot.

I lifted the lid. Inside was a bowl of live, crawling garden snails.

I almost knocked the bowl off the table.

Back in elementary school, some boys had stuffed snails into my backpack.

When I reached in to grab my books, my fingers brushed against that slimy, wriggling texture.

I had screamed and cried, and from that day on, they gave me a nickname:

"Snail Girl."

Since then, I had been utterly terrified of them.

But when my mom found out, she started forcing me to eat them.

"It’s because you haven't had them enough. Eat more, and you won't be scared anymore."

Once, she forced me to swallow one. I vomited so hard I ended up in the ER with acute gastroenteritis.

Back then, Ethan had snuck into my hospital room, gently stuffing a chicken leg into my hand.

"Chloe, move in with me in the future. I promise I will never force you to eat anything you're afraid of."

"It's okay to be a little cowardly."

The sincerity in his eyes back then was the exact reason I fell in love with him.

But now, he picked up one of the crawling snails with his fork and dropped it into my bowl.

"They look scary, but they’re actually super nutritious. You can even eat them raw."

I stared at the crawling snail in my bowl, picked it up, and dropped it into Serena's bowl.

"Then she should eat it."

Ethan immediately grabbed it back and put it in my bowl.

"How can you do that? Serena thinks they're disgusting. Just looking at them gives her goosebumps."

My mom slapped the back of my head.

"Just eat it and stop dragging your feet. Who are you pulling that miserable face for?"

I stared at the bowl for a long time. Then, I picked up the snail and put it in my mouth.

I felt like throwing up.

But I forced myself to swallow. It turned out... it wasn't actually that scary.

They watched me, their faces filled with satisfaction, like scientists looking at a successful experiment.

The dinner continued to be lively.

Ethan picked the bones out of the fish for Serena, and my mom scooped soup for her. I sat there like an unwanted piece of furniture.

Halfway through the meal, Ethan suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, by the way, Chloe. For your team’s project presentation tomorrow at the office... why don't you let Serena do it?"

"You get so nervous in front of crowds. You'll probably stutter."

For once in my life, I caught on instantly. I knew exactly what Ethan was doing.

He pretended to care about my anxiety, but he also knew this project was a huge deal. He wanted to hand the spotlight to Serena.

But I had stayed up for three consecutive nights to finish that deck.

I didn't care about showing off, but I wanted to try. Just once, I wanted to stand at the front.

"I want to present it myself."

The table fell dead silent for a second.

Ethan frowned.

"Are you sure? There will be a lot of people tomorrow. Don't freeze up on stage."

My mom gave me another disappointed look.

"You can't even speak clearly in front of your own relatives. Why bother?"

"It's fine if you embarrass yourself, but don't embarrass Ethan."

I looked at them seriously.

"Haven't you guys always wanted me to be braver?"

Serena tried to smooth things over. "I think it's amazing that Chloe is taking this step. I support you!"

That night, I stayed up until 2:00 AM practicing with the slides.

But I never expected that when I stepped onto the stage the next day, several key data slides would be completely blank.

I froze on stage.

Ethan sat in the front row, watching me calmly for a few seconds.

Then he stood up and spoke to the room. "Having the courage to stand on stage is the first step. But professional capability is about mastering your data and improvising under pressure."

At the same time, my phone buzzed in my hand. It was a Snapchat message from Serena:

"Ethan and I deleted those two slides on purpose! In the real world, clients throw curveballs at you all the time. You need to learn how to improvise without panicking!"

Dozens of eyes stared at me.

My hands shook uncontrollably.

No slides. No data.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I stumbled through it. I tripped over my words three times. It wasn't a masterpiece, but I finished it.

When I was done, Ethan and Serena looked visibly stunned.

Stepping off the stage, I received a text from Lucy:

"We’re leaving for the mountains the day after tomorrow. Have you made up your mind?"

I replied: "Yes. I already bought my ticket."