My Online Boyfriend Mistook Me for Someone Else—I Left Chapter 02
I spent the rest of the day moving like a ghost through classes.
The second the final bell rang, it felt like a prison break. I practically bolted out of the school gates until I locked myself in my bedroom.
Safely inside, I pulled up my phone and opened Snapchat. My pinned chat sat at the very top.
Weston Sterling.
A new audio message from him had arrived just two minutes ago.
[Still playing hard to get with your name? Fine. But just so you know… I’ve already figured out who you are.]
Three years ago, we had randomly connected through a Reddit forum.
Back then, I didn’t have a face to match the text. I had been scammed out of some money online before, so my guard was up; I kept my identity locked down, only revealing that my family was originally from Seattle and that I was currently studying in New York.
But he had been completely transparent from day one.
[What a coincidence, I’m in New York too. Name’s Weston Sterling. Judging by how you talk, I bet we’re the same age.]
I hadn’t taken it seriously. Not until my freshman year at Bridgewater Academy started, and I actually heard his name announced over the PA system.
He was infinitely more blinding in reality than he was behind a screen. In the real world, I was introverted, hyper-sensitive, and barely kept a couple of friends. Seeing him in the flesh only locked my secrets deeper in my chest.
I told myself his text was just a bluff to get me to talk. Besides, he had found his real-world muse now.
To him, I was just a nameless digital ghost.
With a heavy heart, I typed out my final reply.
[I’m deleting this account. Let’s just pretend we never met.]
I hit send, logged out of the app entirely, and cried myself to sleep.
What else could I do?
In the blurry, half-conscious hours of the morning, a bitter thought crossed my mind: If I were a guy, I wouldn’t have to deal with this heartbreak. At least I’d be walking away with fifty grand.
The next morning, after an agonizing internal battle, I decided to do the right thing.
I would put the watch back exactly where I found it.
It belonged to them, not me.
Fighting for something that was never yours is a losing game.
But the universe didn’t even give me the chance to slip away.
I had only stepped to the hallway water fountain when Cynthia cornered me. She was holding the pocket watch, her eyes brimming with theatrical tears as she demanded answers.
“I’ve been looking for this everywhere, and it was in your desk the whole time? If I hadn’t passed by your seat while cleaning up, I never would have known. Rainy Miller, do you like Weston Sterling too? Is that why you hid it?”
She was breathtakingly beautiful, and seeing her cry like a fragile porcelain doll made me realize exactly why guys lost their minds over her.
In an instant, the entire classroom went dead silent. Every single pair of eyes locked onto me.
Since starting at this school, outside of being called on by teachers, I had never pulled this kind of attention. My pulse spiked, hammering violently against my ribs.
I did love him. I loved him so much it ached.
But I was too small. Too cowardly. I couldn’t own up to it.
Just as I opened my mouth to deny it, I caught sight of a figure leaning against the classroom doorframe.
Weston Sterling.
He was looking straight at me, his expression unreadable and cold. But a fraction of a second later, his gaze shifted to Cynthia, and his eyes softened into a look so tender it made my stomach drop.
I used to think “heartbreak” was just a dramatic word in romance novels. In that exact second, I felt the cold, hollow reality of it.
I forced the words out, barely recognizing my own voice.
“I just found the watch by accident. I don’t care who Weston Sterling is, and I certainly don’t have feelings for him.”