"When I went to college, I had only had one boyfriend. We were sixteen. When I started college I decided to completely focus on getting my degree. I was studying all the time. It was my routine. My parents didn't spend a lot of time with me, but they always encouraged me to go out and meet people. My teachers would call me them to school worrying about me being alone all the time. I never gave it much thought. I was studying and I created an imaginary book of rules and obligations that I had to follow. I would feel bad if I didn't." Beca nodded without taking her eyes off Chloe. The psychologist went back to her story:

"I had a favorite subject. It was a mixture of anatomy with psychological behaviors. My teacher spoke very well, he made some jokes and he liked to discuss our opinions. At first, I was very angry because I thought that everything written in books was the real deal. Books couldn't be contradicted. So, I had many fighs with him. And this lasted until the beginning of my sophomore year. Then one day he called me to his office. He told me he wanted to talk to me, that it made no sense to call my parents because I was an adult, obviously. But the conversation didn't go the way I imagined it would." Chloe looked down almost as if she was ashamed of something.

"He ... did he hurt you?" asked Beca, afraid of knowing the answer. Chloe shook her head.

"No. I mean, in hindsight, he did. But if you're wondering if he did something against my will, no. We were talking and I could empirically prove how one can go from hatred to love in a matter of minutes."

"Did you- I mean, did... you know?"

"Did we have sex?" Chloe suggested. Beca nodded with a slight blush covering her cheeks.

"Yeah."

"Not that day. We just kissed. However, it all started that day. I began to find him much more interesting, I was behaving like a teenager would. I was in some sort of relationship."

"A relationship no one knew about, right?" Beca guessed.

"Exactly. He always told me that he was waiting for me to finish college so we could be together, that he imagined a future for us, that we had very similar ambitions and interests. And he also told me that I was the most beautiful student he had ever had."

"Got one thing right." Beca whispered. Chloe focused her eyes on Beca again.

"What did you say?"

"A lot of beautiful words, right?" Beca said, glad that Chloe didn't get what she said before.

"Yes, indeed, he always knew what to say. As I was finishing the second year, I found out he was married, had children, and had no intention of leaving his wife for me."

"And then what happened?"

"I went to a different college, not that I needed to because he went to work abroad. But being in that place where everything reminded me of someone I completely gave myself to, it hurt. So I moved out of college, fortunately nobody knew anything and that's my story."

"Did you want to be with him?"

"No, I know it now. But it was very complicated at the time. I had put our plans in my little book of rules and obligations. Then I didn't know what to do. I wasted some time until I could help myself."

"Fucking idiot"

"Language." Chloe warned. Beca clenched her fists.

"Sorry. You've never seen him again?"

"Unfortunately, I see him frequently at some conferences."

"And it's hard for you, of course."

"It makes me look at him and wonder why there are so many people who can deceive others, create expectations even though they will never fulfill them."

"Crappy people."

"Not the term I would use, but it works."

"I'm sorry if I made you talk about something complicated."

"l think it's good for me to talk about this. It's like…

"Are you feeling a bit more relieved?" Chloe smiled at Beca before answering.

"Yes, something like that."

"Come here." Beca said, tapping her hand on the couch. Chloe left the chair and sat next to Beca, who immediately took her hand as she had done in the kitchen before. But then she pulled the psychologist into a sort of half-hug. Chloe had her head on Beca's right shoulder while Beca had an arm behind the psychologist.

"Are you uncomfortable?" asked Beca. The doctor whispered a "no" and got a kiss on the top of her head.

"We don't need to talk about it any more unless you want to. I don't like to talk about people who have no idea of what being human means. And I thought I had awful ex-boyfriends.", she grabbed the glass of wine and gave it to Chloe dramatically. "Here, you've won the cup." She felt Chloe's shoulders slightly shaking, and for a moment Beca feared she'd gone too far. However, when she looked at Chloe, she saw the doctor laughing, with the glass pressed to her chest as if it was indeed a cup.

"It's the first time I've won a cup in my life."

"We're on the same boat."

"Thanks, Beca. Not only because you've heard my story but also for realizing I needed to be comforted. I must have wrinkled your shirt by now."

"Chloe, it's me. I don't iron my clothes."

"A bad habit."

"Come on, let's watch TV. I wanna see if anyone falls."

"You're mean." Chloe didn't stop smiling and they saw the rest of the show exactly in the same weird hug.

It was almost midnight when the show ended. Beca hadn't realized Chloe had fallen asleep. She was more focused on the dance steps. She removed her arm from around Chloe's shoulders very carefully and stood up slowly, dropping the psychologist on the couch. She looked around, not quite sure why, until she looked down at a neatly folded blanket in one of the chairs. She debated with herself whether or not she should wake her friend. She was sure Chloe wasn't used to sleeping on a couch. But the couch seemed nice, it was comfortable, and the psychologist looked very relaxed. Beca unfolded the blanket, trying not to smash anything into the ground, and put it over Chloe, reminding herself to place one end of the blanket under the psychologist's feet so it wouldn't fall out of place.

She grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned off the tv. The house was completely silent. There was only the sound of cars passing outside, and the sound of a clock that was placed near the telephone. Not quite sure why, she sat down again, this time in the armchair where Chloe had read her text, and stared at the psychologist. Beca began to get overcome by images of a faceless man. At the same time she imagined Chloe slightly younger, with her hair a little shorter and messier. She imagined them talking, watched Chloe's eyes light up at the words the man was uttering. She saw them clasping their hands together, and when she was about to imagine them kissing each other, she shook her head and pushed that image away.

As she looked again at Chloe, she couldn't help thinking how deeply unfair it was to have no friends. Not that it was unfair only to her, but also to all the people who didn't have the chance to meet someone like Chloe. She felt genuinely lucky, as if someone had offered her a lottery ticket and, oddly enough, she had won the first prize.

But Beca's thoughts kept running wild inside her head. She began to think of everything that brought her to Chloe. How had it been possible to choose her name from a list of more than twenty psychologists? At that moment Beca could already be at home, with Marty asleep in her lap as she was dreading another visit to a weird psychologist, with twenty notebooks containing an endless number of details about Beca's life. No, she was at her former psychologist's home, now a friend, who had shared with her perhaps the most important story of her life.

Chloe stirred in her sleep and Beca paused to think about what she would say if she woke up. "Yes, I'm looking at you while you're sleeping, it's a perfectly normal behavior amongst friends." But Chloe didn't wake up and seemed to be smiling in her sleep.

"I take it you're not dreaming about that son of a bitch." Beca decided not to stretch her luck and started picking up her things to go back home. She turned off all the lights and started tiptoeing towards the front door, as if she was a ballerina in the "Nutcracker" or the "Swan Lake". As she was about to turn the doorknob, she heard a noise and saw Chloe with her eyes half open.

"Are you leaving?" she asked, her voice slightly husky.

"Yeah, I didn't wanna wake you. You looked very peaceful."

"Is there another any way to sleep?"

"Well thought. So, now that you're awake you can go to your room. I don't want you having any back pain tomorrow. And you can lock the door, which is really good." Chloe got up, rubbed her eyes, and walked towards Beca.

"Thank you for worrying so much about me."

"That's what friends do, Chloe. Of course I worry about you."

"And to think I was afraid to be your friend."

"I knew we would be really fast friends. It's so good to be right."

"You really were. Thanks for everything."

"Thank you, it looks like I built you a swimming pool or changed a lamp in your office. I just want you to be okay."

"I'm very well. I mean, sleepy, but well. But if the offer to change the lamp in my office stands, I won't say no. I'm a mess with those things."

"Call me and I'll bring my toolbox. And now go to sleep, you're very out of your routine."

"I'm beginning to think that routine can be very boring."

"And you're right, my friend. You need surprises in life, otherwise it's all too boring."

"You surprised me."

"Damn, I don't know where to put so many compliments. I don't have enough pockets in my coat."

"Stop being sarcastic about everything. Will you text when you get home?"

"Sure, but you'll be asleep by then. And it would be awful if the first thing you read in the morning was my text."

"That's a good way to start my day." Beca squinted her eyes, trying to understand the meaning of those words. She moved closer to Chloe and wrapped her arms around her again. This time she didn't leave her hands in the air, she tightened her arms around Chloe's waist. When they parted, Beca adjusted the backpack on her shoulder.

"Good night", she said at last. Chloe didn't answer right away. She moved closer to Beca and kissed her on the cheek.

"Good night, Beca." The young woman heard the door closing behind her but didn't even look back. She rushed to her car trying to hide the blush in her face, even though nobody was watching her.

Chloe folded the blanket and put it back in the chair. She didn't have to do anything in the kitchen; Beca left it spotless. As carefree as she was, Beca shared with Chloe a taste for perfectionism.

The house was silent, as if that night hadn't gone beyond a mere imaginary construction coming from Chloe's mind. But upon remembering her conversation with Beca, Chloe felt happy, as if she had achieved one of the most important goals of her life; have a friend besides Aubrey. She'd always thought she wouldn't share the story of her greatest love with anyone, as if it wasn't a story worth telling. It was curious how Beca was interested in people's stories. A conversation they had in a cafe once came to Chloe's mind, when an old woman walked in and sat down alone with a bundle of letters. Beca stared at the lady with deep curiosity. And then she began to ramble over the woman's supposed life story. That she might be reading family letters, reading love letters she had received at another time in her life, or even things she had written and kept in a drawer because she wasn't brave enough to send them. Chloe was surprised, to say the least. Beca apologized for daydreaming and focused again on the conversation they were having before the lady entered the cafe.

Chloe stood in the middle of the room for a few minutes. When she came back to reality, she walked down the hallway towards the bathroom. She had a quick shower, put her nightgown on and tied her hair. She lay down on her bed, and pulled the duvet over until her shoulders were covered. She rolled over in bed for a while not being able to fall asleep. Though sleep already weighed on her eyelids, she was feeling uneasy. She heard her phone ringing and she grabbed it as fast as she could. It was a text from Beca:

"From Beca: Doctor Beale, I'm already in my royal quarters. Marty wishes you a good night, and so do I. Thank you for dinner and for trusting me with such a complicated story. When you think about it, remember that he was the one who lost. Everyone who doesn't have you in their lives is a loser. And if you're reading this in the morning, good morning!"

When she finished reading the text, Chloe realized she was crying. She wiped away the tears and smiled as she reread the text. She put her phone down, and as soon as she leaned her head back on the pillow, she fell asleep.

So, you finally know what happened to Chloe. I'm sorry it took me a while to update the story but I had to record some videos and I didn't have time to finish this chapter. There're a lot of mistakes in this one but everytime I look at it I think "maybe it's not that bad even though it sounds a bit weird when I read it out loud."

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed it and thank you for your all kind comments and messages.