Chapter 1

The day Wendy Lane jumped off the roof was the same day Tyler Grant and I got married.

She screamed at Tyler against the wind, "Tyler, I was the one who hummed to you when you lost the swimming competition. I was the one who took care of Muffin with you online. I was the one who said I'd go to Capital University with you. It was me. It's always been me!"

After Wendy jumped off, Tyler held her body, his eyes red as if they were about to bleed. "Jessica Hart, are you satisfied now?"

From that day on, he lost his mind. When he was lying next to me on the bed, he'd keep replaying those voice messages of Wendy humming to him.

I put up with it for a month, then stole his precious phone, deleted all the chat records, and smashed the phone to pieces.

Then fate played a cruel joke on me—it was like hitting the reset button on my life.

At the moment, Tyler was gripping his love letter tightly as he slid it onto my desk. "Jessica, will you be my girlfriend?"

His voice was low, filled with cautious hope, so different from his usual swaggering and show-off style.

The classroom suddenly became lively, everyone teasing and shouting, the whoops rising and falling like a wave.

"Say yes. Say yes!"

"Tyler finally gets it!"

"The class beauty and the school bad boy, what a perfect match!"

I stared at the pink envelope on my desk, feeling like my heart was being squeezed by an invisible hand.

Last time around, it was on this very day that I blushed and took that letter, only to have my whole world collapse six years later.

Back to the present, Tyler was looking at me, his eyes burning with hope. He was ridiculously good-looking, with sharp eyes and a high nose bridge. He was the kind of guy who made every girl turn her head when he walked in the school.

However, he was the same person I'd see six years later, with the same face, lying on our wedding bed, listening to Wendy's voice messages and rubbing my nose in it.

I took a deep breath, lifted my head, and met his gaze. "Tyler, are you sure you like me?" My voice was so calm that it surprised myself.

Tyler froze for a second, seemingly not having expected that. Then he nodded vigorously. "Absolutely! Jessica, I've liked you since the very first day you transferred here."

"What exactly do you like about me?" I asked.

The room went quiet for a while. Tyler clearly hadn't expected me to ask that question. He scratched the back of his head, giving me a cocky grin. "You're pretty, smart, and you've got a great personality. Honestly, I like everything about you."

"That's pretty shallow. I'm not interested in you," I said, tilting my head at him.

The moment I finished speaking, it was like the air in the classroom froze.

Everyone's eyes went wide, like they'd witnessed something unreal.

"Holy crap, did she just say that?"

"The class beauty turned down the school bad boy?"

"Jessica called Tyler's feelings shallow..."

The gossip spread like wildfire, whispers coming from every corner. Some people were stifling their laughter, others looked totally shocked, and a few had already taken their phones out, fingers flying as they typed every detail for everyone to see in the WhatsApp group.

Tyler's face turned dark so fast that you could see it happen.

He stood there in front of my desk, his tall frame looming over me. Everyone's eyes were glued to him. After all, the school bad boy got refused and was called shallow in front of the whole class. By lunchtime, the whole grade would be talking about this.

His ears were burning red, his jaw clenched so tight, and his fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white.

"Jessica, what do you mean by that?" he said, his voice low and tight, like every word was forced out through gritted teeth.

I met his gaze, not backing down. "There's nothing more to it. We're not close, and I don't want to be your girlfriend. That's it."

"Not close?" He let out a cold laugh, his eyes burning with humiliation and anger. "Jessica, what are you playing at? You've been all over me on WhatsApp every single day, and now, you're pretending we're just classmates? Are you messing with me?"

As soon as he said that, the class went wild again.

"Wait, they've been chatting on WhatsApp behind the scenes?"

"So why did Jessica still turn him down?"

"I don't get it. Is she playing hard to get or what?"

I didn't answer him but gave him a perfectly confused look and frowned. "Tyler, what are you talking about? I've never swapped numbers with you on WhatsApp."

He froze.

In the next moment, his eyes were practically burning with anger. He stared at me, with his jaw clenched so hard.

He obviously didn't believe me, thinking that I was pretending in front of everyone and making him look like an idiot, with everyone watching and laughing at him. "Jessica, you—"

Just then, the bell rang, cutting off our standoff.

I felt a bit disappointed. If I'd had a few more minutes, I could've told Tyler who his real online girlfriend was.

Tyler's words got cut off by the bell. He looked down at me, with his chest heaving and fists clenched so hard that you could almost hear his knuckles crack.

He clearly wanted to keep grilling me, but the homeroom teacher's footsteps were already coming down from the hallway.

In the end, he backed off and went back to his seat. But even from a few rows away, I could feel that his eyes were still staring at me, like knives stabbing into my back.

The snickering and gossip around me hadn't let up.

Some people kept shooting him sneaky looks, smirking like they enjoyed every second of his embarrassment.

Tyler looked absolutely miserable. He'd probably never been this humiliated in his life.

At this time, Wendy leaned in, hesitating for a few seconds before finally lowering her voice and saying, "Jessica, you really put Tyler on the spot just now."

I flipped open my language textbook, acting like I couldn't care less. "Oh? Really?"

She lowered her voice more, sounding concerned enough. "Tyler's got a pretty bad temper, you know. And I heard his family's got a lot of pull. Aren't you worried he might get mad and come after you?"

I picked up on the threat hidden in her words, but I didn't give her the reaction she wanted. Instead, I turned to her with a reassuring smile. "Relax. If Tyler wants to cause trouble, he'll come for me alone. You won't get caught up in it."

After a brief silence, Wendy's face quickly looked hurt and upset. "Jessica, do you think I'm that kind of person? Come on, we're friends, aren't we?"