CHAPTER ONE

LILIAN

My phone rang just as I stepped out of the jewellery store, the gift bag containing Michael's two-thousand-dollar birthday present swinging from my hand.

“Hello?”

“Make sure you bring something nice,” Michael said.

“I will,” I replied.

“And dress nice too.”

He laughed. “I don't know what you're going to do about your appearance and those scars on your face, Lilian. At least put on enough makeup to hide them before you come to my party.”

My smile faded.

The call ended before I could answer. My fingers brushed against my cheek before I lowered my hand and continued toward my car.

Michael's birthday was tonight, and I wanted to give him something special.

I had spent two thousand dollars on his Rolex. I had also paid for the house, the decorations, the food, and the cake.

Maybe tonight would be different.

Maybe tonight, Michael would finally see me as someone worth choosing.

By evening, the rented house was packed with students from the university. Music blasted through the speakers while Michael's friends gathered around him, and I stood across the room with his birthday gift clutched in my hand.

I had paid for the house, the decorations, the food, the cake, and the Rolex. I had spent so much on his birthday because seeing him happy had always been enough for me.

I walked toward him and held out the gift bag. “Happy birthday.”

Michael took it and opened the box. His teammates immediately gathered around when they saw the Rolex.

“Damn, that's a Rolex.”

Michael smiled as he slipped it onto his wrist. “Of course she bought it.”

I waited for him to thank me.

He didn't.

I reached for his hand, but he pulled away before his friends could notice. “Don't be clingy, Lilian.”

I lowered my hand and said nothing.

Soon, everyone gathered in the living room for Truth or Dare. I sat near Michael as someone placed a bottle in the middle of the circle.

The bottle spun several times while everyone laughed and shouted. Then it stopped in front of Fiona.

My stomach tightened.

I still wasn't used to seeing Fiona in my life. Three months ago, my mother had brought her home from an orphanage and claimed she was the daughter she had lost fifteen years ago.

She said Fiona had been kidnapped at seven and had spent years in an orphanage. A DNA test had supposedly confirmed that Fiona was her biological daughter, so my mother brought her home and enrolled her at the university I attended.

Then my mother told me I was adopted.

She said a plus-sized girl like me could never be her daughter. Since then, Fiona had been treated like the daughter my parents had spent years searching for.

“Truth or dare?” someone asked.

“Dare.”

A guy laughed. “I dare you to spend the night with one of the guys in this room.”

Fiona looked around the room.

Her eyes stopped on Michael.

“I'll spend the night with Michael.”

My heart dropped.

“Fiona, Michael has a girlfriend.”

She looked me up and down, her eyes lingering on my body before meeting my gaze. “But he has never acknowledged you as his girlfriend.”

The room went silent.

One of Michael's friends laughed. “I thought Lilian was just some girl who fancied you.”

He looked at Michael. “I thought you were using her because of her money, so how come she's referring to you as her boyfriend?”

Michael laughed.

I stared at him, waiting for him to defend me.

He didn't.

Every dollar I had spent on him came rushing back. My allowance, the expensive gifts, everything I had given him because I thought it would make him happy suddenly felt meaningless.

I picked up my purse and turned toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Michael asked.

I turned back to him. “To Alex.”

I didn't even know how those words had left my mouth. The moment they did, regret twisted inside me.

How could Alex possibly be interested in someone like me?

I cursed myself silently, knowing I had dragged another person into this just to prove to Michael that I no longer cared.

His face changed.

“Technically, he's been asking me out,” I said. “I'm going to say yes to him.”

Michael laughed, and his friends joined him, looking between us.

“You?” Michael asked. “You think Alex wants you?”

I held his gaze. “I was waiting for you to misbehave before I told you.”

Michael's smile disappeared. “So you mean you've been with my cousin?”

I shook my head. “He made it clear he wanted me.”

Before I could say anything else, Fiona wrapped her arms around Michael.

The crowd erupted.

“Spend the night with Fiona!”

“The hockey organisation owner's daughter!”

“The hottest girl in the university!”

Phones immediately came out as students tried to capture the moment.

“Are you shocked?” I asked after the voices died down.

Fiona laughed.

“What will Alex, the hockey captain, actually do with you?” she asked. “You're a fattie, Lilian. There are other hotter girls in college.”

Michael joined her laughter.

I turned to leave.

And there stood Alex.

I gasped, speechless as the students stared at him. Someone looked at him and asked, “Is it true that Lilian is your girlfriend?”

I stared at him carefully, feeling my insecurity creep back in. Alex was hot and fit, and I had seen him at the gym several times when I tried going there to please Michael.

Once, some girls had tried to approach him, but he had stopped them. His friend had called him a celibate freak, and I had often wondered what the hockey captain could find interesting about someone like me.

I wanted the ground to swallow me.

What if Alex said we were nothing?

I kept my face calm, even though my insecurity was eating away at me.

Michael smiled.

“Alex, are you really chasing this fattie?” he asked. “I thought you had better choices than someone like her.”

Alex was Michael's cousin, though they were never particularly close.

Alex walked into the room, and I gasped at his tall frame and pointed nose. His hair was damp, as though he had just come from swimming.

He walked toward Michael and looked at him. “Doesn't she deserve to be loved?” he asked.

Fiona immediately moved toward Alex, releasing her hair and letting it fall over her shoulders. She was clearly trying to catch his attention.

Alex ignored her and turned to me.

He leaned closer and whispered in my ear, “We've never spoken before, yet you say I was chasing after you?”

My knees went weak. “I'm sorry,” I muttered, but before I could say another word, Alex bent down and lifted me into his arms.

Gasps filled the room.

Phones immediately rose into the air as everyone started recording.

“Look! Captain Alex actually lifted a fattie!”

Laughter spread through the room. My body stiffened as I gripped Alex's shirt, wishing he would put me down.

Then someone shouted, “Alex, is she really your girlfriend?”

Alex didn't put me down.

He looked straight at Michael.

“Yes.”

My breath caught.