Chapter 1

At our graduation party, we played a matchmaking game with buzzers.

The girls had lights at their podiums. They could turn their lights off for the guys they rejected, and in the final round, the guy could turn off the lights of every girl except his final pick.

I had loved Ethan for four whole years. Right before our thesis defense, he finally gave me an answer:

"Once we graduate, let's officially be together."

Knowing this, the other girls politely turned their lights off. But Chloe—the girl he always called his "platonic soulmate"—chose to keep her light on for him until the very end.

I thought Ethan wouldn't even hesitate.

Yet in the final seconds, he walked over to my podium and turned my light off.

When the host revealed his secret crush card, Chloe's name was written on it in bold letters.

I stood there completely humiliated. The room erupted into cheers and whistles, but a chill ran down my spine.

Ethan, however, was annoyed by my cold face.

After the party, he cornered me:

"Chloe is my best friend. I couldn't just stand there and let everyone laugh at her if she got rejected."

"We're going to be together anyway. Why do you have to be so petty about this?"

Just minutes before, while in the restroom, I had overheard a few girls mocking me behind my back:

"Rachel applied to Apex Group so long ago and never heard back. Ethan just made one quick call to his dad, and Chloe got the job effortlessly. And Rachel still thinks she's special to him."

I looked at Ethan standing in front of me, looking entirely righteous and unapologetic.

I remembered right before the graduation ceremony, when he held my hand and begged:

"Don't move back to your hometown. Stay here in the city with me, okay?"

In that very second, everything became clear to me.

I didn't want to anymore.

The rest of our classmates began trickling out of the venue.

A few guys from their club shouted over to him:

"Why are you just standing there, Ethan? Chloe is totally wasted, and she won't stop calling your name!"

I hadn't even wanted to come to this party tonight.

I had submitted my resume to Apex Group weeks ago. HR told me my background was impressive, but they were choosing between me and one other final candidate.

Then this afternoon, a senior from our department who already worked there called me:

"The hiring manager actually preferred you, Rachel. But the other girl has connections that nobody can compete with."

When I found out that the other girl was Chloe, it felt like a knife to the chest.

I had told Ethan clearly that I wasn't in the mood to celebrate.

Yet he insisted on dragging me along:

"This is our first party together as a couple. I already told everyone you're coming. You wouldn't leave me hanging, right?"

He looked so calm and innocent. If I hadn't overheard those girls in the bathroom, I might still believe he had nothing to do with it.

He went around calling us a couple, but he had never even formally asked me out.

Two years ago, I took the leap and confessed to him. He rejected me, claiming he wanted to "focus on his studies."

That had always been an open wound for me, especially since people loved to gossip behind my back:

"Every other couple goes all out when they get together. But Ethan never posted Rachel on his Instagram, and she hasn't even received a single flower from him!"

"What if she forged that love letter herself just to look relevant?"

I could never defend myself, because Ethan never publicly defined what we were.

I genuinely thought he invited me to this party to make things official.

I thought being around him would take away the sting of losing the job I worked so hard for.

Instead, my pain only deepened, and I became the biggest joke in the room.

The moment Ethan heard Chloe was drunk, he abandoned me and sprinted back inside.

A girl who loved drama walked up to me with a smirk:

"It's pretty late and impossible to get an Uber out here. We rented a van, but it's paid per seat."

"From the looks of it, the passenger seat of Ethan's sports car already belongs to Chloe. Care to squeeze in the back with us?"

When we arrived, Ethan had driven the brand-new sports car his parents gave him as a graduation gift.

A two-seater.

He had taken my hand earlier with a fond smile:

"The seat next to me belongs exclusively to you."

And now, I watched as he half-carried Chloe out, gently settling her into that very same passenger seat.

He didn't care that I was standing right there. He just waved to the crowd:

"Chloe's feeling awful. I'm taking her home first."

The roar of his engine mixed with the muffled whispers of our classmates, ringing painfully in my ears.

In that instant, I knew this whole thing was over.

On the ride back, I pulled out my phone and rejected the remaining interview invitations from other local firms:

"Thank you for the opportunity. However, I have decided to return to my hometown."