He Likes Them Pure

"Mr. Levine, about that StellarVision project you mentioned earlier—I want in."Mr. Levine was taken aback for a moment. "Are you sure? Once you join, you won't be able to contact anyone outside for at least five years. "Didn't you turn me down last time because you said you were planning to marry your boyfriend after graduation?"As I stood in front of the mirror, I traced the faint bruises and marks scattered across my skin. I plastered a smile on my face and responded, "I'm not getting married anymore. From now on, I just want to focus on my study and career."After noticing how resolute I was, Mr. Levine didn't try to persuade me any further. "The transport to the base leaves in three days. You should use this time to say goodbye to your boyfriend. After all, you two are engaged."I nodded and looked down at the ring on my finger. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought to myself, "Yeah… We are engaged."While I was lost in thought, my phone buzzed. I received a message from

By the time I left the bar, it was already 3:00 am. The streets were almost empty, with just an occasional gust of biting wind pulling me back into my memories.I met Zayne two years ago during my part-time job. He told me he'd never met someone as pure as me, and he wanted me to have a relationship with him that would never end.I laughed it off and rejected him over and over. It wasn't until that year's New Year's Eve when my stepfather secretly pried open my bedroom door. Terrified, I called Zayne. On that snowy night, he took me by the hand, helped me escape from hell, and promised to give me a home. That was all I wanted—a home.We had been together for two years, and Zayne had coaxed me into countless nights of passion and promised me over and over that he would marry me. But it had been six months since we got engaged, and I was just now realizing that I'd never even met his family. All I had was this simple, cheap silver ring. What a load of crap—engagement, love, al

Before boarding, I sent Zayne one last message. "I don't love you anymore, Zayne."At the next second, the chat box, which had been silent for so long, erupted with a flurry of messages.…When Zayne received my message, he was still at the hospital, taking care of Yasmin. She had simply been pretending to be unconscious. We'd rarely fought in the two years we were together. Most of the time, Zayne was the one who was upset, and I would try to appease him, whether with words or with my body. Even when we did argue, I'd never raised my voice or threatened to leave.Zayne was surprised, but he assumed that I was just upset because he had abruptly left me with the wealthy businessman to care for Yasmin. He figured he could fix things the way he always did—get me a gift, say a few sweet words, and I'd forgive him. That was how it had always worked.But when his calls kept going straight to voicemail, he started to realize that things might be different this time, and he started to

I wasn't completely blind to everything that had happened. I just didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe that the man who had saved me from hell could turn out to be such a horrible person. I didn't want to believe that his feelings for me were never about love, just physical desire.Deep down, I had known for a long time that Zayne had confessed to me because his friends had dared him to. Back in freshman year, I was already known as both the top student and the beauty in my department. However, because of my personality and family background, I kept a low profile and focused mainly on my studies, caring little about anything else.Zayne and his group of friends were curious about what kind of man could tame a famous ice queen like me. They were also eager to see what I'd become after Zayne had his way with me, as I was a blank slate then.He said he liked Yasmin because she was like a blank canvas, but he forgot that I, too, was once pure and untouched before I go

By the time I found out about all of this, it was long, long after it had happened. I thought I would never cross paths with Zayne again. After all, before I left, I had signed a confidentiality agreement with the school and the research team. Logically speaking, even with all his connections, Zayne shouldn't have been able to find me—and he didn't.Once I walked away and threw myself into my research, I realized that there were far more beautiful, purer things in this world than love. Everything about Zayne—everything he taught me, every trick I learned to please a man in bed—faded into nothing. Even the memory of him blurred.Mr. Levine brought news of Zayne when he came back from overseas for an academic conference. "After you left, Zayne turned the school upside down. Did you not tell him you were leaving?"I smiled and shook my head. "I make my own decisions."He sighed and looked at me. "I heard he was devastated after you left. It looks like your departure hit him real h