[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":9},["ShallowReactive",2],{"viewer-data-260311FB68BF-3":3},{"id":4,"number":4,"name":5,"content":6,"isLocked":7,"price":8,"hasRead":7},3,"Chapter 3: A Promise Lost in the Frost","\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">That night, I trudged back to the empty house, all by myself.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Curled up on the sofa, I scrolled through my phone, replaying those sweet photos of us.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Again and again.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I stared until my eyes burned, but Benjamin never showed.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I felt like a fish on ice, surrounded by a world of frost and nothing else.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Despair. It was an endless, suffocating blanket.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I'd always thought having a home would fix this feeling.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Guess I was wrong.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">After all these years, I still didn't have a real family.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I was still that kid nobody wanted.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The tears just wouldn't stop.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I cried until I was completely spent, then finally crashed.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I dreamed of my seventeenth birthday.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">That's when I first met Benjamin.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He'd come back to our school as a super successful alum to give a talk.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He was on stage, in the auditorium, his voice booming with passion about the future and dreams.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Me? I was stuck in the mud, going nowhere.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">My parents split, and neither wanted me. I was just tossed around.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Benjamin was like this blinding light, showing me life could be beautiful, pulling me, a creature of the dark, towards him.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Then he asked, \"Any students want to share their future dreams with us?\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Without thinking, I shot my hand up, reaching for the sky.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">That was my first move towards him.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Maybe the red sweater Grandma knitted was my lucky charm that day.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He saw me.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He beckoned me over.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Speaking in front of everyone was terrifying, but I held the mic like it was gold.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"I... I want to be an animation concept artist,\" I stammered.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">His eyes lit up. \"Awesome! I'd love to welcome the future you to apply at my company.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Benjamin's company was HUGE in the gaming world.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I remember swallowing my fear and saying, super carefully,\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"I will. Senior, let's meet again in six years.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Six years later, I graduated.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"I'll be waiting!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He smiled back, his eyes full of promise.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">That simple promise, just him playing a part, was enough to make seventeen-year-old me fall head over heels.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Those three words fueled six years of grinding.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I drew day and night, pouring my whole soul into my art.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">This silent, all-consuming crush? I gave it everything.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Finally, I got into a top art school and landed a job at Benjamin's company.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">First day, we shared an elevator. He was in a sharp black suit.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">My heart was doing cartwheels. I stepped forward, ready to spill.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I wanted to blurt out, \"Senior, remember me? You came to our school that year...\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">A million things were on the tip of my tongue, but not a single word came out.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">His gaze was ice-cold, totally dismissive.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">That's when it hit me. He'd completely forgotten me.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I was just a blip, a nobody, and I'd been delusional enough to think I meant something more.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">In that second, the whole world turned to ash.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I forced a smile. \"Sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else...\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I shoved that feeling of being special, deep down, and kept my head down at work.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">It wasn't until a year later, after I'd proven myself, that I channeled all my feelings into drawings. I created a comic.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">It started with that school speech and ended with me standing tall, meeting his gaze as an equal.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Six whole years.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I poured every ounce of my being into that confession.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He just stared, his eyes scanning my face, my features, searching and searching.\u003C/p>",false,0,1774272933070]