The day the college entrance exam results came out, I dumped my high school sweetheart, the school's "charity case" hottie. He, who never begged anyone, knelt before me, pleading with me not to leave. "Summer, you said we'd go to Tsinghua together." I kicked him away, eyes cold. "I lied. I just thought you were fun to play with. But it's been long enough, I'm bored." Suddenly, comments started scrolling across my vision. [The Villainess doesn't know her cancer diagnosis is a mistake yet. She thinks she's dying.] [By the time she finds out, the Male Lead will already be on the train to Tsinghua, where he'll meet our darling Female Lead, get healed by her, and fall in love! Easy peasy.] [The Villainess basically bought him anyway. LOL. Later, when she regrets it and tries to get him back, she'll just bully the Female Lead out of jealousy.] [Eventually, the Male Lead gets fed up, bankrupts her family, her parents jump off a building, she goes crazy, and gets hit by a car. The end.] I froze. 1 Before I could process what was happening, Ethan's knuckles turned white from gripping the hem of my shirt. A self-deprecating smile curved his lips. "Is that so?" "Got it." Ethan, whose pride was his armor, who never showed weakness to anyone, was kneeling to keep me. He stood up slowly, straightening his back. Ignoring the onlookers eager for drama, he turned to leave. The comments started again. [Boohoo, poor Male Lead! I want to hug him! Villainess, you have no heart.] [Forget her! Run to our darling Female Lead! She'll love you properly!] [Hmph, can't wait for the 'crematorium' arc where the Villainess begs for him back but gets nothing. Haha, she'll kneel for a day and night and he won't even look at her.] "Wait!" I rushed over and grabbed his shirt. He stiffened immediately. His voice trembled, mocking. "What, Summer? Haven't had enough fun yet?" I hesitated, then let go. [What is she doing? Does she regret it?] [Impossible!] [She has to break up with him, otherwise when will our darling Female Lead make her debut?] Seeing me let go, Ethan straightened up, scoffed lightly, and strode away. He didn't look back. 2 I immediately changed my college application. Then I booked a flight to the best private hospital in the country. They have the top specialist for Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC). If it really was a misdiagnosis... I slammed on the gas. Driving to the airport, I thought of Ethan again. I sent him a text. [Give me a few more days. I need to figure something out.] [Wait for me!] A long time later, he replied. [Okay.] I breathed a sigh of relief and boarded the plane with renewed hope. This time, the doctor used gene expression profiling. The chance of misdiagnosis was minimal. Waiting for the results in the hospital was torture. Every moment, I missed Ethan. But I held back. I didn't text him. If it wasn't a mistake, if I really had SCLC... I'd have to start treatment abroad immediately. The survival rate is too low. I couldn't gamble with his future. The day the results came, I was staring at a photo of us. Our first date. Disneyland. Under the fireworks, his handsome face looked like a painting. Starry brows, sword-like eyes. I was mesmerized. Just as the shutter clicked, I stole a kiss on his cheek. In the photo, his eyes were wide with shock, while I grinned triumphantly. Tears wet my phone screen. "You're discharged." I stared blankly at the smiling chief physician. He was nearly sixty, the top authority in the field. Seeing I wasn't moving, he laughed heartily and leaned in to look at my phone. "Oho, is this the boy making you cry every day?" "Well, let me tell you: you're not sick. You're perfectly healthy. You can leave right now. Go find him." Happiness rushed to my head, making me dizzy. I jumped off the hospital bed, ready to go. At the door, I turned back and hugged the doctor tightly. With tear-filled eyes, I said, "Thank you!" Sitting on the plane home, I couldn't contain my excitement. Like an arrow flying home. Ethan. I'll never let you go again. Wait for me! 3 But when I landed and called Ethan... I was blocked. The scrolling comments returned. [LOL, the Villainess is still fantasizing about getting back together. She doesn't know the Male Lead already found out the truth about why she approached him!] [Poor Male Lead was actually waiting for her to change her mind. He delayed his trip to Beijing and worked part-time at a club to buy her a necklace. But then he overheard her bestie roasting him for playing hard to get when he was so easy, and revealing that the Villainess only chased him because of a bet.] [Because the Villainess and her bestie liked the same senior, they made a bet: if the Villainess could bag Ethan, the bestie would back off and let her have the senior.] [Male Lead's world collapsed when he heard that. He blocked her everywhere that night and left for Beijing.] [Villainess is disgusting, playing with his feelings. Innocent Male Lead fell for such a bad woman. Luckily he's about to meet our darling Female Lead.] [Hehe, bad woman needs to die ASAP!] A bet... No. It wasn't like that. Maybe it started as a joke, but I fell in love with him long ago. After we got together, I was devoted to him. I never thought of playing with his feelings! I ignored the comments cursing me. Ethan had gone to Beijing early. School was starting. He must have already registered. I immediately booked a flight to Beijing. Then called the butler to mail my documents and acceptance letter to the university in Beijing. [I don't know why the Villainess suddenly got smart and double-checked her diagnosis, but even if she knows she's not dying, it's too late for the 'crematorium' arc.] Reading the comments, my heart went cold. I hope... it's not too late. 4 On the plane, my thoughts drifted back to the past. Actually, the first time I saw Ethan, I kind of disliked him. He was cold to everyone. Hard to approach. But because he had good grades and was handsome, he became the famous "High Mountain Flower" of No. 1 High School. His only flaw was being poor. Once, a disabled man came to school to see him. Everyone found out he had a father like that. Found out his background was tragic, that he was an orphan. The disabled man was his adoptive father. Gradually, admiration turned into bullying. I didn't expect someone as excellent as Ethan to be bullied. That day, my driver was taking me home. We passed an alley. I saw Ethan cornered by some school thugs. It was right before his physics competition. I didn't want to get involved. But I couldn't help it. I got out of the car. "If you touch him again, I'm calling the police." Seeing I was alone, the thugs weren't scared. They laughed and tried to mess with me too. Little did they know, I'm a black belt in Taekwondo. And my driver/uncle owns a dojo. In no time, the thugs were beaten black and blue. Before leaving, I shouted at them: "Ethan is under my protection. Touch him again and see what happens!" Ethan stood up, nose still bleeding. "Thanks." I wanted to take him to the hospital, but he refused. He paused, then said, "I have no money. And I have an exam tomorrow. Can't delay." I insisted on taking him home. He didn't refuse. He wiped the blood from his nose and dusted off his clothes. At his door, his father saw me and couldn't hide his smile, insisting I come in. I wanted to decline, but seeing the sincerity on his face, I couldn't get the words out. His home had no decent furniture. No TV, no AC, no fridge. Just a desk next to the bed in Ethan's room. Simple, but clean. His dad dug out some fruit, washing it repeatedly before offering it to me. "You're the first classmate Ethan brought home. Are you his friend?" I nodded shyly. Actually, today was the first time I spoke to Ethan. "Thank you for being Ethan's friend." I thought, what's there to thank? Besides, we aren't really friends. While munching on an apple, I racked my brain to praise Ethan. "Actually, lots of people want to be his friend. He has good grades, he's handsome, everyone likes him." His dad laughed heartily. He was so happy. I didn't dare tell him Ethan was being bullied. Ethan kept his head down. Looking uncomfortable. I didn't know what else to say, so after the apple, I made an excuse to leave. Ethan stopped his dad from seeing me out and walked me to the door himself. "Thank you." I scratched my head. "Nothing to thank." He shook his head, looking at me firmly. "Thank you for coming in, and thank you for what you said to my father. For not telling him I'm being bullied." With that, he turned and went back inside. ... So later, when my best friend bet me to chase Ethan, I didn't refuse. I just wanted an excuse to be good to him. But a white lie is still a lie. Maybe in his eyes, I'm just a spoiled rich girl playing with his heart. Maybe now, he despises me. No, he hates me. Thinking of this, I couldn't hold back anymore. I hugged my arms and cried. I'm sorry, Ethan. Will you forgive me? 5 After landing, I took a taxi straight to the university. I wanted to see Ethan so badly. To tell him I missed him, that I didn't want to break up, that I just thought I was sick. Now I'm well. We can be together again. But when I saw Ethan, there was someone else by his side. A girl with a bright, sunny smile. The comments reappeared. [Yay! Our darling Ruan Ruan has entered Ethan's heart! Hehe, evil Villainess thinks she can steal him back? Dream on!] [The Villainess is about to get jealous, push the Female Lead, get scolded by the Male Lead, and be hated even more!] I looked down at my hands. ...Am I that bad? ... I walked up slowly. Watching Ethan smile gently at the other girl. It felt like a giant rock was crushing my chest. Suffocating. His gaze stayed on Ruan. He didn't even notice me standing a meter away. "What are you doing here?" His cold voice snapped me back to reality. Ethan's face was suddenly dark, a complete 180 from his gentle look just now. "I..." I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. The girl next to him asked, "Ethan, who is this?" Ethan turned his head, explaining patiently. "Someone unimportant. You don't need to know her." Then he blocked her view, shielding her from me. "Summer, do you think playing me is fun?" "Or do you think I, Ethan Jiang, am just that cheap? To fall for your tricks again and again?" "No, it's not like that." I shook my head. Desperately explaining: "I came to tell you..." He cut me off. "Summer, I don't like you anymore. Please don't appear in front of me again." Finally, he added: "Don't pester me. Or I'll hate you even more." My chest tightened. Tears burst forth. He paused as he walked away. Was it an illusion? He seemed... pained to see me cry. Before, he was most afraid of my tears. He said a man shouldn't let the woman he loves shed a single tear. [Wow, Male Lead is so decisive! I thought he'd still have feelings for the Villainess. Didn't expect him to cut ties so cleanly and explain gently to our darling Female Lead. He moved on so fast! Awesome!] [Can the Villainess just go away? I want to see sweet moments between the Male Lead and our darling!] The comments slapped me back to reality too quickly. Right. Why would he ache for me now? I couldn't say what I wanted to say anymore. Even if I did, he'd probably think it was just another lie to trick him.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "387392", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel