Chapter 2
The assistant said Ethan Brooks was away on business, so right now all his personal accounts were being handled by his assistant.
It was a cover story from the guy I was supposed to meet.
My face turned red as I awkwardly explained what I was thinking.
But as soon as the assistant heard my request, he said he'd come get me right away.
"Mr. Brooks told me, if you ever ask for anything, I'm supposed to help," he said.
That was when I finally let out a sigh of relief.
And Alex didn't even bother with me. He drove off with Jessica, leaving me completely behind.
Someone snapped a pic of them snuggled up together in the car and dropped it in the class group chat.
Everyone was going wild, reminiscing. The chat was flooded with memories of the old days.
I was flipping through the chat in the car when my finger stopped mid-scroll.
Someone had just posted Alex's secret diary about his old crush.
On the first page, he wrote about how he met his crush right on his first day at college.
On the second page, he said he joined the student council just to be close to her.
On the thirtieth page, he finally confessed his feelings to her.
The person who posted the diary proudly bragged that these were screenshots from Alex's old profile.
[Such a shame he wiped it all on graduation day.]
[On that last page, he wrote a single line. He said, "So love fades after all."]
Someone asked: [Did he break up with Jessica right after graduation?]
[Ugh, they just slipped right past each other!]
Everyone was saying what a pity.
Alex, who'd barely said a word in the group for years, finally chimed in.
He replied to a comment about how it was a shame.
Alex: [True.]
My heart skipped a beat. I started typing out a long message, ready to spill everything.
But in the end, I just couldn't bring myself to hit send.
On graduation day, Alex and I had a huge fight.
When it was time for the graduation photos, Alex sat next to Jessica again, so nobody would suspect anything.
When I confronted him about it, all he said was this.
He said, "You failed a class in college.
"Me, the student council president, taking a graduation photo with you? We're just not a good match."
Just like that, he wiped away my identity as his girlfriend with a single sentence.
I broke up with him that day and spent the whole night alone on the rooftop.
When Alex finally found me up there, I could hear his heart racing.
His eyes were red with worry.
After that, both of us cut off all contact with Jessica.
But that day, Alex deleted the love diary he kept about us.
He said love had simply faded.
I stared at those diary pages for ages, and my stomach felt like it was on fire.
When I got out of the car, Ethan's assistant noticed how pale I looked.
He asked if I needed help getting upstairs, but I just waved him off.
The lights were on inside, and Alex was sitting on the couch, looking unhappy.
He stared at me, but didn't say a word.
I didn't want to deal with him, so I just headed straight for my room to shower and crash.
But just as I reached for the door, Alex grabbed my wrist, his hold rough and firm.
He leaned in, speaking in a hushed, breathy whisper.
"Jessica's asleep in the room. Don't wake her up," he said.
I looked up at him in disbelief, but his eyes were full of that same casual certainty, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
He said, "She was so drunk she couldn't even tell me where she lived, so I had to bring her back here.
"The two of you are best friends. Do you really mind her sleeping in your bed?"
"I do mind," I replied.
Alex paused, his expression turning icy, sarcasm lacing every word.
He said, "If it bothers you that much, why don't you just go shack up at your blind date's place?
"Let's see whether your dead mother would even take some stranger into this family."
I stared into Alex's cold, piercing eyes.
I couldn't believe Alex would say something so hurtful to me.
I gave a bitter, helpless smile.
Just as I was about to explain that my so-called date was actually a childhood engagement my mom arranged as a joke, a noise suddenly came from the room.
Jessica called out, saying her head hurt.
Alex immediately opened the door and rushed in.
Through the crack in the door, I saw Alex pull Jessica close and comfort her softly.
Jessica shot me a sly wink, then leaned in even closer to Alex's neck.
I laughed at myself and wondered why I should bother saying anything.
Nobody wanted to hear it anyway.