Chapter 2

It had been two months since I cut off contact with Lawrence.

I went back to being as bold and flashy as I used to be, and I slipped right back into the social circle where I belonged.

The more time I spent in normal, easygoing settings, the more I realized how stupid I'd been the last two years.

Lawrence once said I looked too rich, so I threw out all my designer clothes and switched to cheap knockoffs. They gave me rashes and bumps all over my skin. I scratched so much that I broke the skin and left scars.

Then, when he said he didn't like my friends, I pushed them away. Instead, I wasted money buying gifts and kissing up to his friends. In the end, they only laughed at me and called me a pathetic lapdog.

Thank God I woke up when I did. Otherwise, I couldn't imagine how much more misery I would've gone through.

"You know what? The school rejected Lawrence's application for his project base, and the funding got pulled. He's at the admin office right now making a scene," Nydia told me.

I was stunned. I had completely forgotten about that whole thing.

"Lawrence probably just realized you were the one who built that project from the ground up. Now that you're not backing him anymore, everything is falling apart," Nydia whispered in my ear.

However, my heart felt calmer than I thought it would.

"I wonder if he regrets not treating you better. But regret won't save him now—you don't care about him anymore. Guys like him think once they've got someone's love, they can do whatever they want. They never think about how to hold on to it," Nydia went on.

She was absolutely right. Lawrence only treated me like that because he knew I liked him.

Now that I didn't anymore, he meant nothing to me.

After class, Nydia and I planned to go shopping.

As we stepped out of the academic building, we saw Lawrence standing in front of my Ferrari, stiff-faced and cold.

Nydia blinked in surprise. "What is he doing? Trying to scam us?"

I shook my head and walked right past him with Nydia.

Just as I was about to get in the car, Lawrence finally moved toward me and muttered, "Haven't you made enough of a scene?"

I frowned at him.

He went on, "It's been three months. You know my patience has limits. Keep this up, and we'll have to break up."

Wait. I thought we had already broken up.

Still, I thought for a second and realized I'd never actually given him a clear answer. So I said, "Then let's break up."

With that, Nydia and I started to get in the car.

But Lawrence blocked the door. "Shirley, I've had enough with you. You told the school to reject my application and your dad to cut the funding. You just wanted me to come beg you to get back together, right? Well, I'm here now. You should be happy. Don't push it."

I smirked, not knowing how to respond.

Before I could speak, Nydia chimed in, "Lawrence, get real. The school never believed in your trash project in the first place. Shirley was the one under pressure, helping you all this time. Now that she's done, the school is just going by the rules.

"Three years—three years you dumped over three million dollars into that project with zero return. Go find me one other businessperson who burns their investors' money like that.

"Shirley's dad didn't even make you pay the penalty fees from the agreement—he already cut you a break. Don't push your luck."

Nydia's words made Lawrence's face turn red, then pale.

He clenched his teeth and looked at me. "Shirley, you tell me yourself."

I stayed calm. "Nydia is right. Your project has no investment value at all. My parents did nothing wrong."

His eyes burned with anger. "So what are you saying? You really want to break up, huh?"

I had no idea how he even connected the project to our breakup.

But either way, I wasn't going to spoil him anymore.

I nodded. "Yes. We're breaking up."

He exploded and snapped, "Fine, Shirley. You're the one who wants this. Don't come crawling back to me."

Crawling back to him? No way.

I must have been blind to ever like him. Now that I'd snapped out of it, there was no way he could ever show up in my world again.