The next day Kate saw Max. He was gaunt and melancholy. His changes made her feel pain inside.

Sitting on a bench on the campus, looking at Ed standing by the car in the distance and seeing Kate, who was wearing new clothes, Max asked carefully, “Kate, now you and that man live together?”

Kate nodded.

“Sorry,” Max said sorrowfully.

“Don’t say that. Everything will be over soon.” She used these words that she wasn’t even sure of herself to comfort her brother. The term three years emerged in her mind.

“Is he good to you?”

She nodded.

“Does he have a family?”

She was startled. She never thought of...