Chapter 2

Thoughtful?

Somehow, that comment stirred a bitterness in me.

Sydney had never been thoughtful toward me. Although we hadn't been together for very long, we had eaten together a few times. I had clearly told her more than once that I was allergic to seafood, yet every time she picked a place to eat, she would still suggest going to her favorite seafood bar.

I used to think she just had a bad memory, but now it seemed it might not have been a bad memory after all. It was just that because she didn't have feelings for me, she couldn't be bothered to remember.

The moment that thought popped up, a shiver ran down my spine. If people found out that the first love I had tried so hard to win over never even had feelings for me in the first place, wouldn't that be even more embarrassing?

In an instant, that bitterness in me vanished. Only one thought remained in my mind: nobody could ever find out I had dated Sydney!

I dragged Grayson along and picked a seat as far away from Sydney as possible. Before long, almost everyone had arrived.

Some thought sitting around was boring, so they suggested playing Truth or Dare. The bottle spun for a few rounds, and the neck of it stopped right in front of Jonas.

"Um… I'll pick Truth."

The person next to him leaned in with a cheeky grin and said, "Then I've got to ask something juicy. Jonas, my man, do you have a crush on someone right now?"

Jonas paused and didn't answer immediately. His finger tapped idly against the rim of his cup. After two seconds, he looked up at Sydney, and the corner of his lips curled up ever so slightly into a smile.

"Yes."

The entire private room exploded into an uproar.

"What!"

"Who is it? Who is it?"

"Isn't it obvious by the way he was looking at her?"

"Sydney, you've been keeping a secret all this time!"

Jonas leaned back against his chair. He didn't explain; he simply lowered his head and chuckled.

Sydney didn't deny it either. She tapped the tabletop with her hand and said, "Alright, that's enough. Stop teasing. Let's start the next round."

However, that only made everyone look at them more suggestively.

The bottle started spinning again. After a few rounds, the bottleneck stopped in front of me.

"Tyler Richards!" Someone laughed and tapped the table. "Truth or Dare?"

I thought about it. "Truth."

"Then let's keep it simple. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Realizing that this was a golden opportunity to deny that Sydney and I had ever been together, I blurted, "Of course not! Forget a girlfriend, I've never even been in a relationship."

Just as the words left my mouth, I felt someone glare at me from across the room. I looked up and met Sydney's deep, dark eyes.

Grayson, however, was bewildered. "But Tyler, the day you moved into the dorm, didn't you say you had a girlfriend?"

Only then did I remember. On the day we moved into the dorm, Grayson was talking about relationship statuses.

To casually show off that I had a girlfriend who was both a genius and beautiful, I said coolly, "Yeah, I'm dating someone. She's alright, I guess."

Right now, under Sydney's murderous glare, I fell silent for two seconds and said with conviction, "Ah, I was talking about a fictional girlfriend, like my celebrity crush. In real life, I've never dated a single person."

Fortunately, plenty of guys had celebrity crushes. So when Grayson gave an "oh" and didn't probe any further, I let out a sigh of relief.

Across from us, Sydney's face was already dark with anger, and she was downing drink after drink.

Jonas tried to persuade her to stop. "Sydney, drink a little less."

Sydney didn't say a word. Instead, she tilted her head back and downed another glass.

When the party was almost over, I went to the restroom to freshen up. Just as I dried my hands and walked out, someone suddenly grabbed my wrist.

In the next second, my whole body was pulled into the adjacent stairwell. Startled, I instinctively reached back to seize the person's wrist.

"It's me," a familiar voice said.

I froze. When I looked up and saw Sydney, I let go and took a very polite step backward.

"Davies, is something wrong?"