Chapter 5

Selena returned to her room and spent the entire night looking through Sebastian, Samuel's, and Louisa's information. She committed their personalities and preferences to heart and was determined to personally prepare breakfast for them the next morning to make it up to them. However, the next morning, Elijah, Sebastian, and Samuel hesitated to start eating after sitting down at the table. Both the eggs and bread were burned, while the soup had taken on a strange, sticky texture. Sebastian frowned at the food on the table that was clearly inedible. He couldn't help himself and asked, "Are you sure these are edible? You're not trying to secretly poison us, are you?" Selena scratched her head, feeling a little embarrassed. "I… This is my first time preparing a meal. They might not look good, but I followed the recipe closely, so the taste should be alright. Why don't you have a bite?" she asked, looking at them expectantly. Samuel and Sebastian exchanged looks with each other. They weren't brave enough to risk their stomach. On the other hand, Elijah picked up a sandwich and took a bite. His face twisted into a strange expression before Selena could ask him how it tasted. His Adam's apple bobbed as he tried to swallow it. In the end, he jumped to his feet, dashed to the bathroom, and began retching loudly. "Why the hell did you add hot sauce to the sandwich, Selena?" Sebastian asked. "I'm sorry… I thought that was salad dressing…" "What did I tell you, Sam? This woman is trying to kill us!" Both Sebastian and Samuel looked at Selena with horrified expressions. Selena looked at Elijah's back and asked awkwardly, "Does it really taste that bad?" Elijah was too busy throwing up to answer her. Selena's face began to burn under their scrutinizing gazes. She picked up one of the sandwiches and took a bite. She just wanted to do something nice to make it up to Sebastian and Samuel, but she couldn't even do something as simple as prepare breakfast for them. As guilt festered in her heart, the bitter taste from the burnt bread and the intense spiciness of the hot sauce began to spread in her mouth, making her stomach turn. She dashed into the bathroom, gripped the toilet, and began retching as well to the point that tears began to bead at the corner of her eyes. Sebastian clicked his tongue. "I guess it really does taste horrible," he said as he handed a glass of warm water to her. After Selena was done rinsing the disgusting taste from her mouth, she looked up to Sebastian, sneering at her mockingly. She felt unbearably awkward and wished that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. She grabbed her phone and mumbled, "We can't eat these. I'll just order some food." "No need." Elijah had already recovered. He strode out of the bathroom and placed a hand on her wrist to stop her. "Let's just go out." 30 minutes later, the black car stopped in front of a high-class restaurant in the heart of the city. After finding out that there was a newly-opened skate shop nearby, Sebastian dragged Samuel with him to take a look immediately after they got out of the car, leaving Elijah and Selena alone at the restaurant. Selena still hadn't gotten used to being alone with Elijah. She was just about to say something to lighten the mood when a familiar silhouette appeared out of nowhere and dashed past her to grab Elijah by the collar. "Elijah Cole! What did you do to Selena? Why doesn't she recognize me anymore?" It was Jordan. Selena had nearly jumped out of her skin at his sudden appearance. When she snapped back to her senses, she lunged forward and tried to pry his hand off Elijah. "What are you doing? Let go of him!" Jordan was stunned by her reaction, looking as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why are you defending him, Selena? Are you even aware of what you're doing?" he demanded furiously and hoarsely, his expression a mixture of grief and indignation. Selena frowned at Jordan's hysterical expression, feeling oddly repulsed by him. "I don't care what happened in the past, but you're being very rude right now. Let go of him!" Seeing how Jordan hadn't budged an inch, Selena began screaming, "Security! We don't know this man! Please take him away!" The security guards arrived on the scene soon after and hauled a struggling Jordan out of the hall. Selena breathed a sigh of relief, but when she turned around, she was met with Elijah's complicated gaze. She fiddled with her hair, feeling a little uneasy. "Don't mind him. He—" "You don't know him?" Elijah asked in surprise, interrupting her. "You didn't treat him like this in the past. You were always fawning over him. You don't recognize him now?" "I used to fawn over him?" Selena repeated in shock, her voice trembling slightly. "That's impossible. I'm the heiress of the Lowe family. Why would I fawn over someone else? Stop trying to pull my leg." Elijah didn't bother trying to convince Selena with words after seeing how she didn't believe him. Instead, he grabbed his phone and pulled up a social media account. Its feed was filled with nothing but angsty love letters proclaiming their undying and unrequited love for Jordan. "Jordan, even though you only appeared briefly in my life, you became an unreachable star that I would gaze upon for the rest of my days. I look up at you as I stand among the sea of people, loving someone I cannot have…" "I hid my affection for you in my daily updates, but I'm not brave enough to hope that you'll be able to understand my feelings." "I'm always searching for a glimpse of you in the crowd, Jordan. My eyes are always drawn to you like a moth to the flame. I just can't control myself." "When will you be willing to look back at me, Jordan? Just once is all I ask for…" The color slowly drained from Selena's face as she scrolled through the letters that she apparently wrote. She suddenly felt like she was going to be sick. "Are you trying to tell me that I wrote all of this? I don't believe you! You must be slandering me!" Selena shook her head wildly. Her voice was colored with disbelief as she continued, "This can't be me. Someone must have possessed me. There's no way I would do something like this unless I had lost my mind." She continued muttering to herself as she retrieved her phone, wanting to find out the truth from her close friends. However, she couldn't find her friends' contact information, no matter how much she scrolled through her contact list. Feeling confused, she asked, "Why can't I find Jenny's or Sarah's contact information? Did I save them under different names? I don't remember." A hint of heartache flickered in Elijah's eyes as he watched Selena attempt to reject reality. In the end, he chose to tell her the truth. "You weren't possessed. You cut ties with all your friends for Jordan's sake." "What did you say?" she exclaimed in disbelief. Selena whipped her head up to look at him as her phone clattered loudly to the floor. … Selena stayed in her room for the rest of the night. According to Elijah, she had personally deleted all her friends' contact information because of Jordan. She brushed her fingers across her phone as she sat on the edge of the bed. A photo of her and her friends at a gathering from two decades ago was displayed on the screen. Their arms were thrown across each other's shoulders, showing how close they used to be. Now, their names had disappeared from her phone completely. Selena suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe as she stared at the radiant smiles in the photo. She didn't know what had happened between her and Jordan in the past, but her dedication to him was like a pool of freezing water, drowning her until she suffocated. Selena stayed cooped up in her room for the entire night. The next day, she emerged from her room with dark bags under her eyes. She was about to freshen up and head downstairs to see Sebastian and Samuel when she noticed a dust-covered box inside the closet. Curious, she opened the box. There were stacks of yellowed drawings inside.