The Denial Strategy

Sydney Davies fell silent for a long time before agreeing with a cold expression. The more I thought about it later on, the more it didn't seem right, and I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.

The next day, disguised from head to toe with a hat, mask, and sunglasses, I secretly cornered her.

She crossed her arms with a haughty expression on her face and said, "You want to get back together with me, huh? Well, unless you apologize and promise that from now on–"

I looked around before lowering my voice. "No. I'm here to beg you never to tell anyone that we used to date. I'm terrified I'd be laughed at for having terrible taste."

...

"You're terrified you'd be laughed at?" Sydney repeated the words in disbelief. "Tyler, would people laugh at you for dating me?"

I couldn't blame her for being surprised. Sydney had good looks, great grades, and came from a wealthy family. Ever since high school, plenty of guys had a crush on her.

When I was pursuing her back then, I had put in a lot of effort. I bought her snacks, wrote her love letters, and made a huge collection of handcrafted gifts.

Even just two days ago, I had casually asked her, "Sydney, do you think we should go public with our relationship now that we're in university?"

However, she rejected the idea without even giving it much thought, and I felt down about it all day. After all, I had managed to score a one-in-a-million girlfriend like her, yet I couldn't show her off to the world. It felt like owning a sports car I was never allowed to drive out of the garage.

Now that I thought about it, thank goodness we didn't make it public. If everyone on campus knew that my girlfriend was flirting with the popular guy, how could I ever show my face again?

So, I nodded solemnly. "Yes, it would be pretty embarrassing."

Sydney's face went dark, and she stared at me with a mocking smirk. "Fine then, Tyler. Since we're pretending we never dated, shouldn't we delete all our chat logs and photos as well?"

I nodded in agreement. "Yes! Let's delete them all."

Thinking back to those ridiculous texts I sent her before, like "Sending you kisses, baby" and "I miss you so much I can't sleep," my face burned. If anyone else ever saw those, how could I go on living?

I quickly added, "And all those gifts I gave you, I want them all returned to me as well."

Sydney's face grew paler and paler. Gritting her teeth, she deleted every photo and chat history right in front of me until there was nothing left.

Finally, she made a trip back to her dorm. Ten minutes later, she returned carrying two huge bags and shoved them straight into my arms.

"Everything you gave me is right here."

I let out a sigh of relief.

Although asking for gifts back after breaking up was definitely embarrassing, and Sydney might laugh at me for it, I knew being laughed at by one person was still much better than potentially being laughed at by a whole crowd later on.

I'd given her too many things. By the time I lugged the bags to my dorm door, my back was aching so badly I could barely stand straight, but I didn't rush inside. Instead, I poked my head in to check first.

After confirming none of my roommates were inside, I quickly dragged the stuff in and shoved it all deep into the back of my closet. If my roommate saw them and found out they were gifts I had given my ex-girlfriend, I'd be embarrassed for the rest of my life.

Just as I shut the closet door, the dorm door burst open with a bang.

My roommate, Grayson Wilkin, walked in. "Tyler, are you going to the freshman party tonight?"

I subconsciously replied, "No–"

Just before I could say the words, I stopped myself.

Tonight's party was for all the freshmen. Popular people like Sydney and Jonas Newman surely wouldn't miss it. If I didn't show up, would Sydney think I was hiding in the dorm crying because I was heartbroken over the breakup, and then laugh at me for it?

I immediately straightened my back and said, "Of course I'm going."

At seven in the evening, I followed Grayson to the party. The moment I pushed the door open, I spotted Sydney.

She was still sitting next to Jonas, but she didn't look too happy. She was spinning her phone in her hand and glancing at the doorway every few seconds. She looked as though she was waiting for someone.

When I walked in, her gaze rested on me for two seconds before she sharply turned her head away.

Then, as if doing it on purpose, she leaned a little closer to Jonas. Her voice was also louder than usual.

"Didn't you say you had a basketball game to prepare for? You shouldn't drink too much. Why don't I accompany you to the court later to practice for a bit?"

The people around them instantly started teasing.

"Aw, Sydney is so thoughtful! Jonas is so lucky!"

Grayson bumped my arm with his elbow and whispered in admiration, "Who would've guessed it? Sydney seems so aloof usually, but she's actually pretty thoughtful toward her crush."