Gary was rather surprised. He stared blankly at Celeste and asked with a frown, "Don't you want me to come for a visit? I don't think it would take me much time to travel there. It's only a few hours, tops."
He observed Celeste's expression before continuing, "Celeste, is something wrong? Are you mad at me because I can't be with you?"
"I'm not mad. What makes you think that I am?" Celeste's smile remained plastered on her face.
In truth, she wasn't mad at all, but she was a little disappointed.
How could she not feel that way after he refused her suggestion? However, it was par for the course to feel some dejection, but she wasn't angry.
It was up to Gary whether or not he came to visit her.
Celeste was just upset that she wasn't a good enough reason for him to come to the UK, but there was nothing she could do about it.
If he didn't want to come, then he wouldn't want her to go to Boston either.
Celeste smiled. Naturally, she didn't have the nerve to bring up the idea of going to America again. Perhaps the fact that Gary didn't even think about the possibility of them studying together made Celeste feel a little sad.
Maybe she was too naive when she suggested it back when she was 16. Back then, she had no idea about what Gary wanted. She even insisted on bringing Ernest together with them.
She never mentioned it again after that.
Celeste figured that Gary might have been bothered by the incident although he'd never explicitly expressed it. However, this seemed to be the real truth behind the matter.
When they were sixteen, he could stop her from going to Boston with the excuse that he couldn't control his urges for her. What about now?
The two of them consummated their relationship when they were 20, but he still refused to let her go to America, and he wouldn't come to the UK either. Obviously, Celeste was very bothered by this.
However, she figured that it was much better to work at improving herself instead of letting her life revolve around Gary.
Gary didn't realize what Celeste was actually thinking and assumed she understood what he meant as she was smiling. Then, he nodded, "Celeste, three years are going to pass very quickly."
"Yeah, they will. So, I guess we're in agreement. Let's not see each other outside of the holidays, and it's better for us to focus on our studies. At the very least, we'll be able to spend more time together during our next break, right?" Celeste grinned.
"Does this mean that you don't want me to visit you next month?"
"Yup," Celeste nodded.
Gary pondered on her words for a moment. When he saw how serious Celeste was being, he felt that something was off. In short, things were slipping out of his control, and he frowned as frustration filled his body.
"If you insist on that, then I'll respect your decision."
Celeste burst into laughter, "Okay, thank you very much for respecting me! It's a deal, then."
After they finished speaking, there was a sudden silence as they ran out of things to say. Then, they mutually agreed to hang up.
Celeste paused briefly before she got up and focused on her thesis.
After Gary hung up, he was upset as he felt that something was off. However, he was swamped with work after that day and didn't even contact Celeste for the next few days.
On the other hand, Celeste didn't take the initiative to contact him either.
In a flash, two weeks passed before Gary finally realized that something was amiss. Celeste didn't call him at all, and he felt that it was very strange.
A fortnight after his return to Boston, he couldn't help but video call Celeste again.
Meanwhile, Celeste was attending an event in the school auditorium. When the phone rang, she glanced at it and declined the call immediately.
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