This Multiple Choice Question Only Had Me As The Answer Chapter 08

This Multiple Choice Question Only Had Me As The Answer Chapter 08

Time moved fast. Four years of college flew by. 

I graduated with top honors, was commissioned 

as a Second Lieutenant, and assigned to a 

classified defense research facility. 

Gavin was in the same cohort. We got assigned to 

the same base. 

Westwind Ridge. Out in the middle of nowhere. Miles of scrubland, with no city lights for hundreds 

of miles. 

But at night, the sky was full of stars. 

I still heard about Jordan sometimes, in bits and 

pieces from my mom. 

He’d done well at Ivy Coast, winning scholarships. 

every year. 

He and Yvonne had cut ties completely during his 

sophomore year. No one knew exactly why. 

After graduation, instead of grad school, he 

started a tech company. 

It grew fast. He’d just closed a Series B round a 

couple of years ago. 

“Mrs. Hayes says he’s never had a girlfriend since,” my mom said carefully over the phone. 

I took a bite of an apple. “Oh.“” 

“Chloe, are you really not going to see him again?” 

“No.” 

My mom sighed and didn’t bring it up again. 

That fall, Crestview City hosted the nation’s most prestigious technology and defense forum, the 

“Civil–Military Integration Summit.” 

Jordan was invited as a young tech entrepreneur. 

I was sent as a representative from my facility to present an unclassified briefing on one of our 

projects. 

To be honest, it never crossed my mind that I 

might run into him. 

The day of the forum, the auditorium was packed. 

Academics, generals, corporate executives. A seal 

of dark suits. 

I walked up to the podium. 

I was in my dress uniform. Captain’s bars on my 

shoulders, U.S. flag pin on my chest. 

The slides lit up. I clicked my laser pointer and began. 

From project background to technical approach. From breakthroughs to test data. 

Forty minutes. One hundred twenty–seven slides. 

The Q&A session was intense. A few academics grilled me hard. 

I answered each question clearly and professionally. 

When the applause came, I scanned the audience. 

In the front row, Jordan Hayes was staring straight at me. His gaze was intense. 

He wore a perfectly tailored suit. His jaw was sharper now. He wasn’t the boy I’d known 

anymore. 

Our eyes met. His slowly turned red.