Chapter 1

At the welcome party, the junior girl suddenly asked my autistic childhood sweetheart, "Hey, aren't you going to explain that thing where you touched my thigh just now?"

Just then, I saw the bullet comments.

Netizen A: [Here it comes, here it comes. Our female lead is really a genius when it comes to curing autism.]

Netizen B: [Don't be fooled by the male lead's reluctant look. He's actually over the moon. He's secretly fallen for our girl, hasn't he?]

Netizen C: [Ugh, the female supporting character is about to stop the female lead and ruin our main couple's flirting session.]

Netizen D: [Thankfully, even if the female supporting character butts in, she'll only end up annoying the male lead. She can't hold a candle to our lovely unexpected female lead.]

*****

The air turned icy. My autistic childhood sweetheart, Ryan Chandler, froze, panic flashing across his face. "I didn't do it," he stammered.

His knuckles whitened as he clutched his water bottle tightly.

The playground was packed with students here for the freshman welcome party performance. The girl's voice cut through the buzz, loud enough to draw every eye. Whispers rippled through the crowd as everyone turned to stare.

The girl, Claire Evans, fixed him with a blazing gaze, then let out a tinkling laugh. "Ryan, I thought you were a mute. Turns out you can talk after all."

Caught under the weight of whispered gossip and disdainful stares, cold sweat beaded on Ryan's forehead.

He rarely spoke due to his autism. Now, with so many eyes on him, he was completely flustered, unsure what to do.

Seeing Ryan stay silent, Claire widened her grin.

I'd come here as the student representative to give a speech. However, I never thought I'd end up getting Ryan into this kind of trouble.

So I activated my phone's recording function, held it up, and asked, "Excuse me, let's get this straight. Did you just say Ryan touched your thigh? If that's the case, I'll call the police right now and ask them to check the surveillance footage."

The moment the words left my mouth, Claire gaped at me, her brows furrowing unconsciously.

Ryan stared at me without a word, his Adam's apple bobbing once.

The live stream comments exploded.

Netizen A: [Emily's not playing by the rules. Did she really think this would make Ryan like her?]

Netizen B: [Stupid Emily, they're just flirting. Wait till Ryan's protective boyfriend mode kicks in. She'll regret it.]

Netizen C: [She's just jealous Claire can get Ryan to react. Total snake.]

Claire shot me a glare, her voice oozing fake hurt. "I was just joking. Emily, why are you being so uptight?"

But the triumphant glint in her eyes screamed that she thought I was meddling in things that didn't concern me.

I punched in the police number, my voice sharp with anger. "Do you even realize that spreading false rumors is defamation? It's a crime."

To my shock, Ryan spoke up--slowly, something he almost never did. "Don't... Stay out of this."

In his hurry, he even reached out to push my arm, stopping me from making the call.

My phone slipped out of my hand and flew through the air in a perfect arc.

Eyes darted over from every direction, and the whispers grew louder, mixed with all sorts of snide remarks.

Ryan was always quiet, but never once had he embarrassed me like this when I was sticking up for him. I took a deep, shaky breath to hold back the urge to slap him.

I bent down, picked up my phone, and turned to leave. I thought, "I won't meddle anymore."

However, the bullet comments were flooded with schadenfreude. Netizen A: [Emily must be fuming. Serves her right for being such a bitch.]

Netizen B: [The person involved doesn't even care. Emily's such a busybody extra.]

Netizen C: [She's been clinging to Ryan every day, and he's never once acknowledged her as his girlfriend. Total delusional clown.]

The next second, Ryan hurried after me. He tugged gently at my sleeve, just like he did every time he accidentally made me mad.

I turned around, and my eyes met his innocent, wide-eyed gaze. The live stream chat went crazy again.

Netizen C: [What's wrong with Ryan? Why's he chasing that idiot bitch?]

Netizen D: [Emily's such a scheming flirt. She's totally playing hard to get. Disgusting.]

Netizen E: [Ryan, come back to our Claire. One little wave and Claire will go with you tonight. What's so great about this scheming girl?]

I dropped my gaze, my chest tight with frustration. I knew Ryan thought differently from most people, but that didn't stop me from feeling thoroughly annoyed.

Besides, Helen Chandler, Ryan's mother, had looked after me all these years while my parents were away. I couldn't bring myself to snap at Ryan, no matter how mad I was.

But I refused to swallow my anger, so I pulled my sleeve out of his hand and said coldly, "I'm tired from the event. I'm going back to the dorm to rest."

The comments popped up again. Netizen A: [Ugh, such a fake bitch.]

Ryan blinked, then said, just like he did every time we parted, "Be careful."