Chapter 2

I don’t know if it was my mom’s words finally sinking in, or if I had already made up my mind to give up on Jake.

But suddenly, his once charmingly arrogant and wild personality now just felt irritating.

At that moment, I was simply fed up.

Once Jake had taken the medicine, I casually zipped up my messy suitcase.

And hurried away.

My mind was a blur, drowsily recalling the past.

I remembered when I first transferred to a new high school in Portland my freshman year.

Unfamiliar with the area, I accidentally stumbled into local thugs’ territory.

Just as they were about to drag me into an alley, Jake appeared.

Tall and lean, with the hood of his black hoodie pulled up, he stood at the alley entrance, radiating a casual arrogance.

A fierce fight ensued.

Afterward, I emptied my pockets and offered him a hundred dollars.

Jake lifted his bruised eyelids, batting away the money.

“What do you take me for? Get lost!”

“Think your money makes you special?”

From then on, like many girls who always played it safe in their youth, I found myself deeply drawn to that type of rebellious bad boy.

When I found out Jake was not only at the same school but in the same class, I used the excuse of "repaying a favor."

I revolved around him like a little sun.

Not only did I bring him coffee and snacks, but because of a single comment from him, I, who never cooked, ignored my onion allergy to make him his favorite braised beef dish.

But no matter how much I did, Jake’s gaze always lingered on Chloe, a year older than him.

Until the end of junior year, when Chloe ignored Jake’s desperate pleas and went abroad for college.

Jake spent the entire summer in a slump.

I was the one who stayed by his side, took care of him, and slowly, step by step, helped him out of his funk.

When senior year started, Jake asked me to be his girlfriend.

I happily agreed.

I knew he might have been doing it out of gratitude, or perhaps to forget Chloe.

But none of that mattered.

Because I was so confident.

I believed Jake would fall in love with me someday.

But the truth proved me terribly wrong.