Chapter 1

I turned right around to leave the cinema.

My boyfriend, Nathan Linden, chased after me and grabbed my arm.

"You're this angry over a movie ticket?" Taking out his phone, he jabbed at it for a moment before shoving the screen in my face. When he spoke again, his tone was rather dark. "There, I've bought a ticket for you. Is that enough? Hurry up. The movie's about to start, so let's not keep Candace waiting."

I stared at my seat number, noting how it was row 4, seat 5.

Theirs were row 8, seats 6 and 7.

Even now, Nathan still didn't seem to understand that the problem wasn't the individual ticket. It was the fact that he automatically assumed that the free ticket and the seat next to his belonged to my best friend, Candace Lane.

I retorted, "Nathan, don't you think it's rather ridiculous for three people to watch a romance movie together?"

He was momentarily surprised before he snapped, "You're suddenly saying that you don't want to watch the movie? Then, what about Candace?"

"Nate, you're always so mean to Lily. If she doesn't want to watch it, it's fine."

Candace squeezed her petite figure between us, once again playing peacekeeper.

Grabbing her hand tightly, Nathan turned to shoot me a frosty look.

"I'm not being mean; she's the one who's being ridiculous here. Forget it. She can do whatever she wants. We've already bought the tickets anyway, so let's go inside ourselves."

Candace chewed on her lip, but her hesitation didn't even last three seconds before she was waving at me.

"Lily, why don't you head back to the dorm first? We'll head to you once the movie is over."

I stood rooted to the spot for five minutes, but even after the ticket gates closed, no one appeared again, nor did I receive even a single call.

Subsequently, I took a cab back to the university campus.

We were in our final year, so most of our roommates had moved out, leaving only Candace and me.

Once I had calmed down, I sent a message to my senior at the internship company, Elena Swift.

"Elena, I want to give up on helping Nathan Linden and Candace Lane get an opportunity to join the R&D department in Japerton."

Elena was quite shocked. "Didn't you previously say that you wouldn't join the R&D division either if the two of them failed to get in? For the sake of keeping you here, I even specifically requested two more slots from the company."

I shut my eyes. Images of all the buy one, free one items flashed through my mind, and I steeled my resolve.

"Sorry, Elena, but my eyes are open now."

Time slipped by, and eventually, it was 10:00 pm. It had been seven hours since the movie ended.

At last, Nathan and Candace entered the room, smiling and laughing as they chatted with each other.

Candace threw her arms around my neck and cooed sweetly, "Lily, we neglected you today. To make it up to you, Nate and I bought you cake. Forgive us, please?"

Nathan placed a slice of blueberry mousse cake in front of me.

"It was the last piece. Candace managed to snag it for you."

A scoff burst from my lips as I replied, "I don't like mousse cake."

The one who loved to eat mousse cake was actually Candace.

He frowned. "Liana Suther, did you have gunpowder for breakfast today? You're like a lit fuse, exploding at every little thing! What should've been a nice date ended up a frustrating mess because of you."

I raised my head to stare at him. If he truly had been so frustrated, how had he still been in the mood to watch a movie and enjoy a lavish meal?

Despite hating seafood, he had ordered a whole bunch of seafood dishes for Candace, who loved them, and he had even used my account to leave a review after the meal!

Candace went over to tug on his arm. There was a helpless expression on her face. "Nate, Lily has always had a short temper. You promised me that you would accommodate her."

"Alright, alright. You've been nagging me the whole way here." Ruffling her hair fondly, he then walked over to her desk. "You told me before that your eyes hurt, right? I got you a new desk lamp."

It was only then that I noticed he was carrying a shopping bag. In the past, he would buy gifts to cheer me up. This time, he had bought a new desk lamp for Candace.

He carefully adjusted the angle and brightness of the lamp. The light magnified the wide smile on Candace's face.

I rubbed away the moisture in the corners of my eyes, only for my gaze to land on the glass butterfly hanging from my bookshelf.

It had been a gift from Nathan when he first confessed his love to me.

From sketching the blueprint and making the mold to forming it in the furnace, it had taken over a month to make.

Just as I was lost in a daze while staring at it, a hand suddenly reached over to pluck it away.

Nathan hung it on Candace's desk lamp. There was a smug and delighted look on his face.

"It looks so much nicer with a little decoration."

Candace shot me a timid glance. "Lily, could you give that to me?"