Zane followed Evelyn and sat at a table with three people: two women and one man. The woman on the left was white, with long black hair and green eyes, wearing a black cross-neck dress that reached her shins and black heels. The woman next to her was a slightly chubby black woman in an orange blouse, white pants, flat shoes, a black bracelet on her right hand, and a silver-white handbag lying on the table. Lastly, the white man wore a blue blazer, a white shirt, and brown pants.
"Zane, these are Emily, Judy, and Sean. Emily is a Lightning Mage; Sean is a Fire Mage, and Judy is a rare Diviner."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Zane said, shaking hands with everybody. Oddly though, Judy held his hand for too long, even staring a bit.
"I've heard many things about you," Emily said, her green eyes scanning him up and down.
"All good things, I hope."
"That's for sure. Evelyn mentioned how you were the class champion. That must have —"
"Zane?" Judy suddenly said. "Zane Skylar? From Riverdale Country School?"
"Hmm? You know me?"
"Yes, the beard is new, but I could never forget those eyes."
"And you are? I apologize, but I have a bad memory."
"For someone who can recite pi to the thousandth place, you'd think you would choose a better lie," Judy sneered, which made Zane blush.
"You two know each other?" Evelyn asked.
"We used to date back in high school — well, if you can even call it that."
"Judy Brown?" Zane suddenly asked. She looked different than 10 years ago, but after confirming her identity, he saw the resemblance. "How have you been? I haven't heard from you since high school." Zane reached out with a smile to hug her, but she immediately blocked him.
"Don't act like we're old friends."
"Oh," Zane uttered before sitting back down.
"I'm sensing some resentment," Emily stated with a smile full of amusement; it was as if she was bored and something entertaining was finally happening.
"Resentment? That would be an understatement," Judy sneered. "He was the worst boyfriend ever, even verbally abusive. He always corrected my grammar or vocabulary, called me an idiot at every chance he got, and God forbid I made a mistake.
"I still remember that day in chemistry class when he snapped after I made a minor mistake; he berated me for ten minutes, saying that if someone could successfully cross-breed the stupidest animal in the world, they would still be smarter than me."
Zane groaned softly; right now, he wanted nothing more than to bury himself one thousand feet underground and never come out — at least not until he's the only person left on Earth.
"And that wasn't even the full extent of his abuse. When I walked next to him, he had strict requirements for my posture. During outings or social events, I had to send him a picture of what I planned to wear for his approval. I could not wear anything he deemed unappealing or did not match what he wore. And then, there were the endless comments about my appearance, my nails, my mannerisms, and my weight."
Judy looked at him with fiery eyes, and for a moment, Zane wanted to avert her gaze. However, he exhaled to calm down and glanced her directly in the eyes.
"Listen, Judy, I'm truly sorry for what I did to you. Truly. Back then, I was dealing with my parents' divorce, and I took it out on you. Now, this is not an excuse for my action; I want you to understand where I'm coming from.
"But that was more than ten years ago. I'm not the same person I was. I don't know if it still means anything to you, but from the bottom of my heart, I'm truly sorry."
"Do you think an apology can undo all the hurt you've caused me?" Judy replied with a clenched fist. "Do you know that I developed an eating disorder right after graduation because of you? It took me years to build a healthy relationship with food after high school, but even that was only the tip of the iceberg of the pain you've caused me.
Judy's eyes suddenly welled with tears, but she refused to cry in front of this man. She reached for her handbag and used it as a fan, hoping the coolness would calm her and ease her agitation. Then, she turned back to look at him:
"You crushed my self-confidence so badly that I spent most of my life thinking I wasn't smart enough, that I would never amount to anything. Near the end of my freshman year, I almost killed myself because I thought I wasn't good enough for college, that I wasn't good enough to continue living."
The weight of her words came crashing down on Zane's soul. Everyone else who was enjoying the show immediately became serious.
"It took years of therapy for me to realize I wasn't stupid, to stop comparing myself to you, to realize you were just a freak, an anomaly, not the norm. For fuck sake, I am an Astrophysicist; I work for NASA — I'm fucking smart." Her voice was loud enough to draw a few stares from the nearby table, but no one there paid attention to anything else.
"I-I didn't know things went so bad for you," Zane uttered.
"Would it have mattered if you did?" Judy snapped.
"Of course, it would. I could have apologized sooner, maybe done my part in helping you heal."
Judy abruptly stood, pointed his finger at him: "I don't need you — not back then, not now, and not ever."
"I-I —"
"Alright, let's calm down," Sean suddenly said, motioning for her to sit down. "It's obvious he's sorry about what he's done. Maybe you should consider forgiving him."
"I don't owe him any forgiveness," Judy replied, staring at Sean with red eyes, tears dripping from the corners of her eyes. "It is my pain, my suffering, and my experience. I can choose to forgive him or wish that he rots in hell for an eternity. I don't owe him shit."
"I —"
"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but stay out of this," Zane sighed.
"I was just trying to help," Sean muttered under his breath.
Zane exhaled deeply before looking at Judy. "You are right: I'm not entitled to forgiveness, but I still want you to know how truly sorry I am. And if there is ever something I can do, something you need, you can come to me, and I'll help you to the fullest extent of my ability."
Judy did not answer. Instead, she closed her eyes, trying to control her emotions. She had imagined countless ways she would react upon meeting him, but none of them truly prepared her. Judy's never stopped fanning herself, as it truly helped. A taut silence fell over the table until she opened her eyes and asked, "Did you even like me?"
"What?"
"All those years, I could never wrap my head around the why: why me? Why treat someone you supposedly like in such a horrible way? Why did I deserve such treatment?"
Zane had no words.
"You said you would do your best to help me. Then, why don't you start with some honesty?" Judy said, her voice suddenly raised: "Tell me why — tell me the truth."
"…I don't think I liked you back then, at least, not in a traditional romantic way," Zane replied.
"Then, why me?"
"…Back then, I had convinced myself that if I could present a perfect couple to my family—to my father—maybe it could have stopped their divorce. And after considering all my options and my criteria, I-I chose you."
"What criteria?"
"Do you really want to open such old wounds?"
"Yes, I do," Judy answered, her eyes determined more than ever. "Now, tell me your criteria. You were the golden boy of that school — the genius destined to change the world; you had so many options, so why did you choose me?"
Zane exhaled softly, "First, it had to be a black woman. My father left my mother for a white woman, so I thought I needed to remind him of what he had given up. And as you know, our school didn't have many of our folk, especially women.
"Second, it had to be someone of decent appearance, good family background, and more importantly, they had to be…intelligent enough."
"Intelligent enough?" Judy asked, her eyes growing brighter with each passing second, like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
"Yes, intelligent enough. Your GPA placed you in the top 5 of our class, and you fit all the other criteria."
"Hehehe, intelligent enough — intelligent enough, he said — hehehehe, how amusing," Judy laughed, but there was no joy in her face. "I was 'chosen' because I was intelligent enough — oh, the irony. Oh, by the way, did I use irony correctly this time?"
A memory long buried deep in Zane's subconscious suddenly resurfaced, and he immediately lowered his head.
"Do you know an even better irony?" Judy asked, with ferocious eyes and a venomous face. "The true irony is how you tried to create this fake, perfect couple when you and your father are the same kind of people: destroyers of others' lives."
Zane suddenly stood and, in a stern voice, declared: "I am nothing like my father."