Chapter 2

I couldn't help but recall our college days, me, Ryan, and Serena.

I always thought Ryan and Serena had met through me.

It wasn't until the second year Ryan and I were together that I accidentally overheard a conversation between them.

That's when I found out they had known each other for a long time and shared some unforgettable memories.

"Now that you're with Summer, treat her well. She's a very good girl."

"As for me, a cripple won't have a bright future." Her face was devoid of expression, utterly bleak.

Serena's words successfully stirred up Ryan's guilt. He hugged her tightly. "Serena, I'm so, so sorry! I'll stay with you until you truly find your own happiness."

"Summer won't mind."

Many things I didn't realize at the time. He called her Serena, he called me Summer.

I actually wanted to rush out then and ask, "By 'forever' staying with her, do you mean the three of us will live together?"

But as an understanding girlfriend, I couldn't do that.

It wasn't until I returned to the dorm that night, looking at each other, us two girls who shared a strange similarity. Serena spoke with a triumphant sneer, "See? Just a few words, and he can't bear to leave me. You're just a disposable replacement."

"You probably don't know this, but Ryan studied medicine because of me. He came to this university because of me too."

I said nothing. Serena slowly, leisurely, stood up from her wheelchair and limped towards the bathroom.

"He's with you out of guilt, unable to get past a hurdle in his heart, that's why he found you."

She smiled sweetly as she said that.

A knot of unease tightened in my stomach. I vaguely guessed they had a complicated history.

Looking at the wheelchair Serena had left aside, I chuckled, "Well, you're in the past, after all. Does Ryan know your leg is almost healed?"

Ryan came from a prominent family. Serena's father was a murderer, and her mother was a gambler.

Ryan's father was obsessed with appearances, so as long as he was alive, he would absolutely never let Ryan and Serena be together.

At the time, when Ryan's father found out that Ryan, still in high school, was dating a girl from a troubled background, he was furious. He went straight to the school and took Ryan home.

Serena was lost and desolate all day until the news of Ryan going abroad broke. She got into a car accident on her way to the airport.

"For a dancer, not being able to dance is like taking my life."

She went on hunger strike, cut her wrists, took sleeping pills. And Ryan stayed by her side through it all.

In the end, her voice choked. "But your appearance gave me a sense of crisis. Summer, I'm not like you. I only have Ryan."

The next day, Serena was found having cut her wrists in the dorm.

I was scared by the blood everywhere and instinctively stepped back.

She looked at me, her face pale. "Do you think Ryan will blame you for provoking me?"