Chapter 17
+15 Bonus
For some reason, Zander’s face was expressionless, yet Jaycie couldn’t help but feel a sense of quiet hurt emanating from him.
She cleared her throat softly, feeling a little helpless, before walking back to him. She gently looped her arm through his and started walking toward the banquet hall. As they neared the entrance, she couldn’t hold back any longer and asked, “Do we know
each other?”
Hearing Jaycie’s question, Zander felt a pang of disappointment. She truly didn’t remember him at all.
Just as Jaycie thought she wouldn’t get an answer out of him, he finally spoke, breaking the heavy silence, “We were classmates
in high school, though I was always the one sitting in the corner.”
He wasn’t one of the mischievous kids in the back row who made the teachers‘ lives difficult, nor was he one of the star students
in the front row who charmed the teachers. He was solitary and quiet, always the one most easily overlooked in class. Even his
parents, busy with their careers, rarely had time for him.
Back then, Zander was so lost in his own world that he gave little reaction to classmates who tried to engage with him. Despite being quite good looking, no one could remember him, just like how Jaycie couldn’t recall him now.
He had had feelings for her for a long time, ever since she was the first to approach him. Unlike the others who would offer a casual greeting and then forget about him, Jaycie was different. She never ignored his silence but would genuinely ask for his thoughts on any issue, just like she did with every other classmate.
Jaycie became the one person who appeared most frequently in his life, the only bright spot in his otherwise lonely world.
Zander hated his own cowardice and silence back then. He had only added her as a friend through the school yearbook after graduation, never daring to start a conversation with her. He always felt he wasn’t worthy of her.
Afterward, while studying abroad and undergoing therapy, he had finally tried to find out about her. The news he received was
that she was already dating someone else.
At that moment, Zander thought, if she was happy, he would be content to remain just a passing figure in her life.
But then, he learned that Jaycie had broken up with her boyfriend.
So, he came back.
As Zander’s explanation finally unlocked a memory for Jaycie, she was taken aback, realizing where she had seen him before. The shy, quiet classmate was now standing tall and confident at a bidding event, looking like he was in full control. She could hardly
believe the transformation.
She couldn’t help but murmur, “Time really is the best cosmetic surgeon. After all these years, you’ve gotten so handsome.”
Hearing Jaycie’s words, Zander couldn’t help but feel his ears turn red.
