Chapter 3

One day, Mr. Harry Robertson, our homeroom teacher, called Melanie into his office. I noticed her mother went in with her as well.

The classroom instantly erupted into chatter.

"I heard Melanie's dating thing got exposed to her mom. She's getting lectured right now!"

"Who do you think snitched? Don't tell me it was her little lapdog, Edison?"

"It's definitely him. He kept bringing her breakfast for such a long time, and she didn't even care. He must have gotten desperate and is now resorting to dirty tricks."

I kept my headphones on and focused on my math problems, refusing to let their noise distract me.

A long while later, my headphones were suddenly yanked off.

Melanie stood there, shaking with anger. She had completely lost control of her emotions.

"Are you happy now, Edison? I broke up with him! You're nothing but a coward who snitches behind people's backs!"

She shifted all the blame onto me, without once considering whether her relationship with Fred had ever been solid in the first place.

I looked at her and calmly said, "Melanie, I never snitched. You've got it all wrong."

At that point, no one believed me anymore.

Everyone began to isolate me, but I didn't care. I kept to myself and avoided unnecessary social interactions.

The only thing that didn't change was that I still bought her breakfast every day.

…

When the results came out again, I held onto first place in our grade and maintained it all the way through the SATs.

My routine of bringing her breakfast slowly made Melanie soften.

Her mother even came to find me once more. After learning that her daughter had dropped out of the elite class, she tearfully pleaded with me.

"Ed, our Mel is still immature. Please, I'm begging you to help her again…"

I remembered it clearly.

Back when Dad had an accident at a construction site, Ms. Ross and her family had immediately dipped into their savings to help pay for his treatment.

I had no reason to refuse her. After all, people should know how to be grateful.

I resumed tutoring Melanie again.

On the surface, everything seemed to return to how it once was.

Later, we entered the same university and, with both our families' blessing, married without a hitch.

Yet behind this perfect illusion was Melanie's failure to be grateful.

I had trusted her completely, only to end up betrayed.

...

The next day, while I was memorizing vocabulary, Vivian suddenly laughed out loud.

"Melanie and Fred are together!"

When someone asked her how she knew, she leaned in dramatically and said, "I saw them this morning behind the building. They were hugging and kissing."

She even kept making faces at me, as if she wanted to lean over and whisper it straight into my ear.

The more she tried to provoke a reaction from me, the calmer I became. I continued to study my vocabulary without once looking up.

Finally, she couldn't contain her curiosity.

"Hey, Edison, were you just pretending to like Melanie all this time? Weren't you childhood sweethearts?"

I closed my book and let out a helpless sigh.

"So what if I was? She already has someone she likes. What can I do about it?"

That response immediately piqued her interest. She grabbed my arm and said, "I'll teach you how to win Melanie back!"

Seeing how confident she looked, I found it almost laughable.

Women really did enjoy dramatic love triangles.

Unfortunately, I was no longer interested.

I shook my head and let out a faint laugh.

"I'm not interested. Don't bother me while I'm studying."

When I refused to engage, Vivian quickly lost interest and started muttering to herself.

Not long after, Melanie came and sat beside me.

Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she seemed to be in a good mood. She even grabbed my hand and excitedly said, "Edison, thank you! You have no idea how solid his abs are!"

I quietly shook my head in disbelief, but still offered her one last piece of advice. "Melanie, you should focus on your studies."

Her smile dropped immediately, replaced by a cold look.

"My life is none of your business. You're just someone who always comes in second."

Back then, Melanie held first place without question.

I didn't argue.

After all, people should respect the course of others' lives, or they'll eventually pay the price for meddling with a fate that wasn't theirs to change.