Chapter 4

In the end, the dorm room didn't immediately return to normal.

Maintenance said they needed to arrange pest control. However, Nathan blocked the doorway and refused to let them in, saying extermination was a massacre.

Sharon ordered him to clean up the rotten fruit and standing water first.

Nathan clutched the bag of rotten peaches as though he were holding the last bit of tenderness left in the world.

"They're still eating," he said softly.

Someone handed him a tissue.

Meanwhile, one of the other students recorded a video, while another made a post on the campus confession page.

The title of the post spread rapidly on the internet.

It read, "Kindhearted Freshman Protects Tiny Lives, Reduced to Tears by Cold-Blooded Roommate."

In the photo, Nathan was clutching the rotten peaches with reddened eyes while I stood beside him. My rolled-up sleeve made it look like I was pointing at him accusingly.

The comments section was boiling over.

"That roommate looks so aggressive."

"Not letting anyone kill mosquitoes is definitely ridiculous. Still, his heart's in the right place, isn't it?"

"Does having an allergy mean you don't need to have any empathy?"

"They're just a few mosquitoes. Why can't he be a little more tolerant?"

When Oscar handed me his phone, he had an awkward look on his face. "Aiden, do you want to explain yourself?"

As I stared at the photo, I felt a heavy weight pressing on my chest.

In my previous life, I had explained. I'd posted photos of the rashes covering my hands, my medical records from the campus clinic, as well as the honey water and rotten fruit Nathan had left on the windowsill.

No one had cared. All they had remembered was how pitiful Nathan looked.

Hallie arranged for me to stay in the college conference room temporarily.

She said, "You'll have to make do here tonight. I'll push them to approve your application to live off campus first thing tomorrow morning."

There was no bed in the conference room. I pushed two chairs together and slept on them, but they were so hard that my back ached.

Outside the window, Nathan was still downstairs outside the dorm building, looking aggrieved. Zeke draped a jacket over his shoulders, while Oscar brought him some hot water.

A while later, someone downstairs shouted my name. "Aiden!"

I walked over to the window.

Nathan looked up at me, his tears glistening under the streetlights. "I'm willing to take care of them with you. Please don't be angry anymore, okay?"

The crowd downstairs immediately started egging me on.

"He's giving you a way out. Just come down."

"He's already gone this far, and you're still acting all high and mighty?"

"Don't be so heartless to your classmates."

I closed the window.

My phone kept vibrating nonstop. Someone had posted a screenshot of the confession page in the class group chat.

Hallie told everyone not to share it, and several sarcastic messages immediately followed.

"Some people sure know how to run to the teacher the second they start college."

"We're all going to be in the same class. We'll be seeing each other every day."

"Is respecting life wrong now?"

I saved screenshots of the group chat.

At 1:00 am, someone knocked on the conference room door.

Oscar stood outside, his face a little pale. "Aiden, Nathan said the mosquitoes keep flying around the dorm, and he can't sleep either."

I looked at him. "So?"

Oscar bit his lip and went on, "He said if you go back, we can all sit down and talk things through. Otherwise, he won't be able to rest easy tonight."

"Why should I care if he can rest easy or not?" I questioned.

Oscar froze. "He just wants to make peace with you."

"I don't accept it," I said firmly.

Suddenly, Nathan came running down the hall. He was holding a glass jar filled with pale yellow honey water.

"Aiden, smell this!" he urged.

The cloyingly sweet scent hit my nose. I immediately backed away.

Nathan held up the jar, his eyes reddening again. "This is the food I prepared for them. If you smell it, you'll understand how much they really need us."

My throat started to itch.

Oscar panicked and said, "Nathan, don't get too close to him."

Nathan took another step forward like he hadn't heard him at all. The mouth of the jar was almost pressed against my chest.

"I'm begging you. Please accept them."

I shoved his wrist away.

The glass jar crashed to the floor. Honey water splashed all over the hallway.

Nathan fell to the floor, and his scream rang out through the entire floor. "You knocked over their food!"

He held up a finger cut by a shard of glass and exclaimed dramatically, "He's trying to kill me! Help!"