Chapter 4

Lily found it kind of ridiculous.

Ryan had no right to tell her to apologize.

And she said it out loud.

Ryan's face instantly turned stormy. Lily couldn't tell if it was because of the weird tension between them, or just because she wouldn't say sorry.

"You did something wrong. Emily's still in the hospital because of you. Shouldn't you be the one to apologize?" Ryan said.

Lily suddenly laughed, but there was no warmth in her eyes. If anything, her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

"Ryan, do you really see her as just a friend? Would you really go through all this trouble, dragging me out in the middle of the night just to make me apologize, if she were just a friend? I got hurt too. Why am I the only one who has to say sorry?" she shot back.

Ryan froze for a moment, finally noticing how swollen Lily's cheek was. Even with the ointment, it was clear the injury was still pretty bad.

His voice softened a little.

"Are you still jealous of Emily? I wanted to wait until we got our college acceptance letters before telling you how I feel, and then let my parents know once everything calms down. Could you wait for me just a little longer? Don't you trust me? There's really nothing between Emily and me. You know that," he said.

Ryan advanced on her, his tall figure casting a shadow over Lily, and she couldn't help but retreat a few steps.

With a snap, he shut the door behind him.

"Lily," he said.

Lily shivered at the sound of his husky voice.

Then, Ryan yanked her into his arms, sending her tumbling onto the soft bed.

His burning lips claimed hers, and the familiar cedar scent overwhelmed her senses and left her dizzy.

She kept pushing against his solid chest, trying to resist, but her strength was no match for his. Ryan easily caught her wrists and pinned them above her head.

By the time his kiss left Lily breathless and dazed, Ryan finally released her.

As he breathed in the citrusy scent lingering on her skin, his Adam's apple worked, and his large, cool hands found her waist.

"Can you do it for me? Just say sorry, please. There's really nothing between Emily and me, I swear. I'll show you how much you mean to me," he murmured.

Lily felt like she'd just been slapped in the face.

She shoved Ryan away. Her hair was a wild mess around her shoulders, and her eyes turned red.

"Ryan, don't you think what you're saying is absurd?" she snapped.

They'd promised to save the most precious thing for their wedding night, but tonight, just to get her to apologize to Emily, he was willing to make this kind of "sacrifice."

What a joke.

She was done with Ryan, but seeing him play the martyr for love still made her heart ache, and it felt like it might just stop beating.

He was actually able to fake it this well for someone he didn't even care about.

In the end, they parted on bad terms. Lily threw Ryan out of her house.

The next morning, Lily, who hadn't slept a wink all night, was jolted awake by a phone call.

She frowned, hung up, and tried to go back to sleep, but the caller just kept calling. Finally, she picked up and saw it was Sophie.

"Lily, something's wrong. You need to get to the school gate right now," Sophie blurted out.

Sophie was stumbling over her words, clearly flustered and anxious. Lily was a bit worried.

As soon as Lily got to the school gate, she saw a crowd gathered around, all talking in hushed voices.

The moment they spotted her, everyone went quiet, but their stares were strange.

Lily finally saw what was happening in front of her.

Ryan had a skinny, glasses-wearing guy pinned to the ground, raining punches down on his face.

The guy's glasses were smashed, blood streaming from his eyes and nose, and he looked like he was barely hanging on.

But Ryan was out of his mind, eyes blazing red, completely losing it. No matter how many people tried to pull him off, he just wouldn't stop.

"Who told you to do this?" Ryan roared.

The guy on the ground barely managed to choke out a few words, his voice weak and shaky.

"I-I'm sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn't have Photoshopped those pictures and spread fake news," he stammered.

"Lily, look," Sophie shouted, rushing over.

She was clutching a handful of photos in her hand.

Lily's face went pale the moment she saw them.

They were all scandalous photos of her, shot in a dark, shadowy forest. From the angle, it looked almost like she'd taken them herself.

If that guy hadn't admitted to photoshopping them, nobody would've believed they were fake.

Lily was shaking all over. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm.

"How many of these photos have been spread around?" she asked.

Sophie shook her head.

"That guy was spreading them all over the place. We already called the cops, and they've collected every copy that got out. Don't worry, we all know these are photoshopped," she said.

Lily finally let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

But for some reason, Lily couldn't shake the feeling that the background in those photos looked oddly familiar.

Before she could figure it out, the guy who'd been knocked out suddenly stirred awake, starting to plead desperately.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made up rumors about your friend. Please, just let me go. I'm sorry," he wailed.

"Ryan, stop it," Lily said.

Her voice was shaking.

Ryan had practiced boxing, and he was going all out. Lily could see that if he landed one more hit, that guy was as good as dead.

The whole thing blew up, and both sides ended up getting hauled off by the cops.

The other guy was so badly beaten that he had to be hospitalized, so the cops just took Ryan down to the station for now.

After his parents found out what happened, they wanted to smooth things over behind the scenes. The other family, knowing their kid started it, was willing to negotiate.

Ryan sat on the bench at the police station, watching as Lily wrapped his injured hands, his gaze full of hope.

"Ryan, was all this really necessary?" Lily asked.

He didn't even care about her. Why go to such lengths?

Her words were soft. Ryan almost didn't catch them.

Looking at her serious look and slightly flashing eyelashes, Ryan felt his heart give a little flutter, like a feather had just brushed past it.

"Lily, I'm hungry," he said quietly.

Lily sighed and headed out to get him his favorite spaghetti.

When Lily got back to the station, she spotted Ryan's buddies sitting with him from across the room, all looking pretty agitated.

"Ryan, weren't you the one who told that guy to spread those photos? Why did you beat the guy up so badly?" one of them blurted out.