Chapter 2

Sometime around midnight, my phone started chiming nonstop with notifications. I groggily unlocked it, but the second I saw what was on the screen, I was wide awake.

A post on the campus forum speculating that Kelvin would dump me as soon as Tamara returned had shot back up to the top of the trending news.

The catalyst was that one of Kelvin's closest friends had liked the post, and then Tamara herself had stepped in to clarify that she was only back to take care of some personal matters and that it had nothing to do with "a certain someone".

But instead of quelling the gossip, it only whipped the online crowd into a frenzy.

The floating comments were just as riled up.

[Tamara is obviously back to win Kelvin back. She only posted that to make him mad and get back at him for dating someone else for such a long time.]

[This kind of relationship is the juiciest! They can't give in to their love for each other, yet they can't bear to hate each other either. The main characters have to keep pushing and pulling and constantly think of each other. The only problem is that Stephanie has too much screen time and is getting in the way.]

[It's alright. Seeing all that will definitely start Stephanie on her villain arc. Once she starts throwing tantrums and demanding answers from Kelvin, he'll grow sick of her. The more she talks, the more he'll hear about Tamara, and the more he'll realize that the person he loves is actually the latter.]

[Looking at it that way, I guess Stephanie serves a purpose after all. I guess I can tolerate her for a few more chapters.]

[It's okay. The more you hate her now, the more satisfying it'll be later when she gets put in her place after throwing absolutely irrational fits. You could even call this a feel-good story!]

[Seeing everyone isolate and bully Stephanie actually makes me a little worried for her. To be honest, she hasn't really done anything unforgivable, has she?]

My heart lurched.

I knew that ever since I started dating Kelvin, plenty of people had been talking behind my back, claiming that I wasn't good enough for him.

Whenever someone dared to say it to my face, I'd lash out at them until they wished the ground would swallow them whole. And Kelvin would always let me.

But now that I thought about it, wasn't his silence just another form of tacit agreement? And it would be entirely possible that he allowed others to gang up on me in the future—or even joined in on it for the sake of his first love.

In that instance, a chill ran down my spine.

Sure, I liked Kelvin, but there was no way I was going to allow myself to end up stuck in a tragic ending like that.

"Why are you awake? Did I make too much noise?" Kelvin asked as he walked out of the bathroom, bringing a wave of cold air with him.

A bath towel hung loosely around his waist, and droplets of water trickled down the lines of his toned body before disappearing into the fabric.

"Stephanie?"

His voice was rough. The moment he leaned closer, the lingering chill radiating off his skin snapped me back to reality.

"Did you touch my phone?"

His phone screen had lit up at some point, displaying a notification from a contact called "Tammy".

"Stephanie?"

There it was—my full name again, yet his first love had a sweet nickname.

As it turned out, despite being together for so long, Kelvin really had never liked me at all.

Whatever. We were going to break up anyway.

"I didn't touch it," I muttered.

Kelvin seemed to quietly breathe a sigh of relief before moving a little closer to me.

His mind was so very clearly on someone else, so was it really necessary for him to put his body through the motions? Was he really that worried that I wouldn't be able to play my role properly and fail to push their romance along?

Feeling a suffocating tightness in my chest, I shuffled even farther to the side.

Sensing my movement, Kelvin let out a soft sigh.

"You… Forget it. Get some sleep."

Great. Now he couldn't even be bothered to placate me.

Biting back my tears, I unlocked my phone and immediately booked a moving service for the next day.