Chapter 4

Melinda's face was practically overflowing with smugness. They played a few more rounds, and Melinda lost again. This time, the punishment was to sit on a guy's lap while completing an assigned task. Melinda barely hesitated as she looked toward Shayne once more. Laura couldn't stay any longer. She suddenly stood up and murmured to the friend beside her, "I'm going to the restroom." Then, she hurriedly fled that suffocating room. Hiding in the restroom, she splashed cold water over her face again and again. Yet, her tears still flowed uncontrollably, mixing with the water. After a long while, she finally managed to steady her emotions and decided to head home early. Just as she reached the corner of the hallway, she heard the familiar voices of Shayne and his good friends coming from the terrace. "Shay, didn't you take it too far just now? Laura looked so pale. Aren't you going to comfort her?" Shayne sneered. "Comfort her? So she can bring up breaking up with me again in a few days? I'm so damned tired of that." "That's true… but that's kind of your fault, too. You spoiled her too much before, so now she threatens to break up over every little thing. Might as well use this chance to teach her a lesson." "Exactly. Once school starts at Northwell University and she's in an unfamiliar place, she definitely won't be able to hold back from coming to you. By then, you just need to give her a way out and ask her to get back together. After this experience, she won't dare threaten you with breakups again. It's perfect." Outside the door, Laura felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen instantly. It felt like all the warmth in her body disappeared. So in his eyes, every breakup she had proposed out of hurt and disappointment was nothing more than her throwing a tantrum. All it amounted to was a means to threaten him. And his so-called "lesson" was to humiliate her in front of everyone by kissing another girl. She turned away silently and went downstairs alone. The summer night breeze brushed against her skin, yet she shivered uncontrollably from the cold. Along the way, memories replayed in her mind like a silent film. Once, if she so much as frowned, he would nervously ask whether she was feeling unwell. Back then, when a girl handed him a love letter, he wouldn't even look at it. He'd just reject it outright, then run over to her to take credit. "Laura, I turned one down again today. Praise me." She had long grown used to his kindness, used to being treated as his one and only treasure. When did everything start to change? It began when Melinda appeared. Again and again, Shayne broke his principles for Melinda, ignoring Laura's feelings. It wasn't that Laura hadn't sensed Melinda's special place in his heart, or that Laura hadn't noticed how differently he treated Melinda. She had simply been clinging to the last shred of hope. She tested him again and again by bringing up the idea of breaking up. But all it did was annoy him and make him think she was childish. Once she was no longer the only one in his heart, even shedding tears was a mistake. In a daze, she found herself nearly home. From a distance, she saw a mail carrier standing at the entrance. It looked like the university admission letters had arrived. She took a deep breath and was just about to walk over when she saw a familiar tall figure standing in front of the courier. It was Shayne. In his hand was one of the letters, clearly stamped with Southerford University's logo, and he was just about to open it.