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Lahat ng Kabanata ng I Stopped Chasing Her: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 9

9 Kabanata

Chapter 1 The One Always Left Behind

After I got home, I followed my usual routine and sent the photo of the bill to our three-person group chat.Nicole Joslin's reply popped up first. 'Ivan, this one's on me. Don't pay your share. Your family is having a hard time financially, so save your money for when college starts.'Ivan Goldstein refused, and the two argued back and forth in the group chat. Not once did either of them ask where I had gone or why I had not waited for them.…Ten minutes later, Nicole messaged me privately. 'Don't pick such expensive restaurants next time. You know what Ivan's family situation is like.'I replied sullenly, 'He was the one who picked the restaurant.'I had actually hinted at the time that the trendy restaurant was not cheap and suggested we go somewhere else. Nicole had simply wrapped an arm around my waist and teased me, "You're not good at math, yet somehow you're pretty good at calculating prices."After a short pause, Nicole replied, 'But you're always the one who eats the

Chapter 2 The Moment I Stopped Chasing

Mom pulled me inside, looking shocked. "What happened? Just a few days ago, you were still determined to follow Nicole to Northbridge."I kept my head down, unwilling to let her see how miserable I looked. But I could not stop the sob that escaped my throat. "I'm too tired. I don't want to chase after her anymore."Ever since I started high school, I had felt like a spinning top being whipped relentlessly forward.I knew Nicole's dream was Northbridge University. It was a place she could reach out and grasp without even trying. I was not asking for much. All I wanted was to be in the same city as her.But for that tiny wish, I had to work a thousand times harder than everyone else. If something would not stay in my head, I copied it down. If ten repetitions were not enough, I would write it a hundred times.During just one semester of my senior year, I lost ten pounds. Yet when I finally calculated my expected score, it still felt like the sky had come crashing down. I was so de

Chapter 3 The Night Everything Changed

Despite living directly above and below each other, Nicole and I seemed to have entered two completely separate worlds. We never ran into each other in the neighborhood again.I could more or less guess that she was deliberately giving me the cold shoulder, but unlike before, I did not cling to her and ask why.…Once my scores came out, I applied directly to a university in the south.During that time, Ivan tagged me in our group chat. 'Caleb, I put together some study materials for you to use if you retake the exam. I'll bring them to you tomorrow, okay?'I replied, 'Thanks, but I won't be needing them anymore.' All of a sudden, Nicole jumped in. 'Caleb Rhodes, how could you? Ivan worked on those materials specifically for you. He worked a summer job during the day and stayed up all night putting everything together. He worked so hard, and you didn't even look at them before saying you didn't want them? Do you really think the whole world revolves around you?'We had not spok

Chapter 4 What About Me?

"Are you happy now, Caleb?"I was completely bewildered.Nicole's voice turned cold as she mocked me. "If you hadn't thrown a tantrum and switched to the night shift, Ivan wouldn't have stayed behind because he was worried about you. And he wouldn't have gotten hurt trying to save you from that man!"Panic seized me.So Ivan was behind the police siren. The dark figure had not caught up with me because he had spotted Ivan hiding nearby and turned around to go after him instead. That was how I had managed to escape.Guilt and self-blame nearly drowned me. "I didn't know…"I had genuinely thought a police car had happened to pass by and scared the attacker away.Nicole sneered coldly. "You didn't know? Aside from throwing tantrums and expecting everyone to cater to you and accommodate you constantly, what do you know, Caleb?"My face went pale, and my entire body trembled. I could not hear anything she said after that. Only one thought remained in my mind—I just wanted Ivan to be

Chapter 5 The Train Heading South

Nicole's first reaction was that she must have heard wrong. How could Caleb, the boy who had always said he would follow her, possibly give up on retaking the exam? It was impossible.Her mother urged her from the side. "Nicole? Why are you still standing there? We'll miss the train if we don't leave soon."Nicole snapped back to reality. She assumed Caleb had only said it out of spite and went straight to the train station without giving it much thought.Ivan had arrived early and was already waiting in the departure lounge."So? Did you see Caleb today?"Nicole paused before shaking her head.He sighed. "He's probably still upset. Look, I texted him yesterday, and he did reply, but he wasn't nearly as warm as he used to be. Honestly, I'm a little hurt."Her gaze fell on his phone screen. 'Caleb, I'm starting school tomorrow. Let's go back to that diner we used to eat at together.'…Three minutes later, Caleb finally replied, 'Okay. My treat. Thanks for saving me last time.'

Chapter 6 The Box at His Door

Nicole tried to reassure herself. 'It couldn't have been Caleb. Even if he hasn't gone back to high school, there's no reason for him to be here, let alone come to the train station.'Nicole did not dwell on it any longer. She rushed to her old high school as quickly as she could and found the class for students retaking classes for college entrance exam. But Caleb was nowhere to be found.Refusing to accept the truth, she searched classroom after classroom, but came up empty-handed every time."Nicole, why are you still here?" Her former homeroom teacher looked surprised to see her with her suitcase. "Aren't you supposed to be registering at your university today? At this hour, you should be at the train station."Nicole seemed not to hear her teacher. She anxiously asked, "Sir, have you seen Caleb?""Who?"Only then did Nicole realize that her teacher had never taught Caleb. He did not know him at all. She immediately asked, "Could you check whether Caleb Rhodes' name is on thi

Chapter 7 We Can't Go Back

When I saw Ivan's message, I had just gotten off the train. Standing in the crowded station, I opened our chat and typed my reply, 'Yeah. Nicole and I have broken up.'After transferring between two subway lines, I finally arrived at the unfamiliar campus.Once I had settled in, I texted my mother to let her know I had arrived safely.She told me that Nicole had returned to the residential complex. I was slightly surprised, but I did not pay much attention to it. I had already decided to let Nicole go. There was no point in keeping track of what she was doing anymore."Mom, from now on, you don't have to tell me anything about Nicole. I don't want to hear about her."My mother sounded a little stunned. "Okay. If you don't want to hear about it, I won't tell you."…There were countless things to buy and arrange on the first day of registration. That afternoon, I returned from the school gate with my new roommate after buying daily necessities when I spotted Nicole standing at

Chapter 8 It Doesn't Matter Anymore

The next day, I received a call from an unfamiliar number. It was a number from Northbridge, and I guessed it was Nicole.I answered, and Nicole's familiar voice came through the phone. "Caleb?"Her voice sounded a little hoarse."Yeah.""I went to your school yesterday.""I know.""Caleb, can we talk?""Sure. Go ahead."If there was no way to avoid this conversation, I might as well say everything that needed to be said. But after I waited for a long while, there was suddenly nothing but silence on the other end.I sighed. "You were there last night when Ivan and I talked, weren't you?"Several seconds passed before she finally answered. "Yes."I let out a quiet laugh. "We pretty much went over everything last night. I meant everything I said.""Caleb," Nicole said urgently. "I thought about everything you said all night. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn't have kept ignoring how you felt. Caleb, even though we're the same age, I've always thought of you as younger than me

Chapter 9 After the Rain

For two days straight, Nicole stayed downstairs outside the dorm.The dorm supervisor clicked her tongue in amazement when she told me about it. "That girl really has some patience. She doesn't even leave at night. She just sits on that bench the whole time. You should've seen her legs. They were covered in mosquito bites. She looked downright pitiful."I silently took the meal my friend had brought me and said nothing.…Nicole stayed downstairs for six whole days. It was not until the final day of the holiday that she finally left.After she was gone, I blocked Ivan's number too.Only when I saw her did I realize Ivan had given Nicole his phone number and let her use it to contact me. To me, that also meant that whatever friendship remained between Ivan and me had been completely used up.From that point on, I had nothing left to say to either of them.To my surprise, Nicole showed up again just before winter break.I was sitting by the window at the ice cream shop outside c

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