My Online Boyfriend Mistook Me for Someone Else—I Left Chapter 09
I thought about it for a second, then offered a small smile and nodded. “Sure.”
Even though we hadn’t spoken much over the past year, he had still kept track of my university goals. He truly considered me a friend.
Weston Sterling was standing just a few feet away, his expression entirely hollow as he watched the camera flash.
Once the photographer cleared us, Wilder reviewed the digital frame for a long moment before turning to Weston. “Aren’t you going to jump in? Let’s get a shot of the three of us.”
Weston raised his eyes, his gaze lingering on my face for a torturous, quiet beat. “No. I’m good.”
The college entrance exams came and went like a fever dream. I performed flawlessly, my score comfortably punching my ticket into Columbia University. Weston, predictably, sailed into NYU.
Wilder Vance had made it into the same university as me, but our respective departments were located on opposite ends of the massive campus. We barely ran into each other.
But Weston was a frequent visitor on our side of town, constantly hanging out with him.
One afternoon, I literally crossed paths with the two of them on a brick pathway. It was our very first face-to-face encounter since graduation day.
Seeing me, Weston froze in his tracks, his voice turning tight. “Rainy.”
It was a strange feeling. Over the past few months, the ghost of my high school obsession had faded into nothing. Facing him now, my heart didn’t give a single, erratic flutter. It remained perfectly still.
They insisted on dragging me along for dinner. Remembering the meal I owed Wilder from high school, I finally agreed.
On the walk to the restaurant, Wilder glanced at his friend. “Still no sign of her?”
Weston let out a low, bitter sigh, not even bothering to hide the conversation from me. By now, his desperate search for his mystery girl had become a legendary running joke among our high school alumni groups.
“She definitely saw the posts,” Weston muttered, staring at the pavement. “But she chose to ignore me. Sometimes I wonder… if she was even real to begin with.”
Wilder sighed heavily, throwing an arm over his shoulder. “If you can’t find her, let it go, man. Cynthia is still overseas, but she’s still pining for you, flying back every chance she gets just to see you. You’re really not going to give her another shot?”
Weston’s expression darkened, clearly shutting down the topic. “No.”
Once dinner wrapped up, I slipped away to the front counter to settle the bill. But the receptionist simply offered a polite smile. “The gentleman already settled it.”
I let out a soft sigh, wondering if I would ever manage to successfully repay my debt to Wilder Vance.
Following that night, my casual encounters with Wilder skyrocketed. He started chasing me — openly, relentlessly.
I wasn’t made of stone; his devotion moved me. But every time I looked at him, the shadow of Weston Sterling, their lifelong brotherhood, and the suffocating, dark years of my high school rejection would rise like a wall between us. I couldn’t bring myself to accept him.
On New Year’s Day, inside a lavishly decorated restaurant, he presented me with a massive bouquet of crimson roses, asking me to be his girlfriend.
I turned him down.
Later that exact night, Weston cornered me outside the venue. “He fought his way into this university entirely for you, Rainy.”
I looked up in surprise, the words dying in my throat.
Weston let out a low, sharp breath, his eyes drilling into mine. “What exactly are you so terrified of?”