Chapter 3

I had nearly forgotten that Ryan still knew the code to enter my apartment.

Noticing I was no longer asleep, Ryan simply lowered his body, grinning as he attempted to kiss me.

I swiftly turned my head to evade his advance.

I shoved him away and scrambled to the opposite side of the mattress.

Ryan appeared bewildered momentarily, then chuckled at me: "Why so bashful suddenly? Hmm?"

I remained silent, pulling the blanket over my head.

Ryan berated me while trying to remove my cover.

"Mia, you've become quite daring, haven't you? You didn't even wish me goodnight yesterday, and you had the nerve to switch off your phone and go to bed.

"Now you're hiding from me?"

He skillfully slipped beneath my covers.

Before I could respond, he had enveloped me in his arms.

"Be good, how many times have I told you not to skip your morning meal.

"I went on a special 30-minute jog to get you those crab roe buns you adore. I waited in line forever.

"Do you want to get up and eat now, or do you prefer to...

be eaten first..."

His breath was uncomfortably close, and his hands began to wander.

Now fully alert, I struggled fiercely.

But at 160 cm, I was no match for a 188 cm man.

I truly couldn't fathom his thoughts. He already had Claire, why was he still toying with me?

After a prolonged struggle, I was breathing heavily.

I hadn't broken free, but was held even more tightly.

"What are you fussing about now?

"Are you upset? Just because I didn't bring you to the gathering last night? Such a minor thing?"

I remained silent.

He nestled his face in the curve of my neck, laughing loudly.

"Let me guess, your good friend Lily snitched to you?

"It was just a game, is that worth being envious over?

"Why are you still behaving like before, getting all moody whenever I interact with other girls."

I was too enraged to speak, unsure where to even begin.

Recalling a self-defense move from freshman orientation, I abruptly raised my knee and struck him between the legs, then quickly fled the bed while he was in pain.

"Mia!"

Ryan clenched his teeth, his face flushing red.

I hastily put on a shirt over my sleepwear and rushed to the living area.

I didn't want to be in the same room as him, especially not my bedroom.

Shortly after, Ryan also emerged, looking both irate and frustrated.

After a while, he seemed to suddenly recall something and casually inquired: "By the way, you took the contraceptive yesterday, right?"

"Don't create any issues. We can't explain it to our parents."

Ryan walked to the dining table and picked up a soy milk, offering it to me.

"Be good, eat something before you get upset. Your stomach's not strong to begin with."

I didn't respond, nor did I accept it.

Ryan's hand holding the soy milk remained suspended in the air for a long time before he finally lost patience.

"What exactly is the problem?

"Mia, even if you're having a fit, there should be a reason and a limit, right?"

I coldly replied: "I'm not worthy."

Ryan became angry too, slamming the soy milk down hard on the coffee table.

He used excessive force. The plastic container cracked and all the soy milk instantly spilled onto the carpet.

"What do you mean?

"Who do you think you are, Mia?

"We just had a consensual encounter once, and now you want to control me? Don't you know how stifling that is?"

His tone was unprecedentedly harsh.

Instantly, tears flowed down my face without warning.

Yesterday's humiliation and grievances all resurfaced.

Ryan seemed unprepared for my sudden intense crying and was unsure how to react.

He apologized regretfully: "I'm sorry, I had too much to drink last night. I spoke rashly just now."

Ryan crouched down beside me as he spoke, reaching out to wipe away my tears, but I evaded him again.

He was stunned, his hand frozen in midair.

Just as he was about to continue consoling me, his phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at it once, his expression changing drastically. He immediately got up to leave.

"I have an urgent matter to attend to. Calm down by yourself first.

"We're in university now. You can't always behave like a child. Who else could tolerate that in the future?"

Less than 30 minutes after he left, Lily sent me a screenshot.

It was Claire's social media post.

[Claire: Just mentioned I was hungry, and a loving breakfast magically appeared! Feels like my crush and I are growing closer--] The photo showed packaging identical to the crab roe buns on my dining table.

I didn't reply.

I just silently wiped away my tears and crouched down to carefully clean up the soy milk Ryan had spilled.

After trying for a long time, I sadly discovered that the stain had seeped deep into the wool carpet and couldn't be removed no matter what.

In a fit of anger, I simply threw out the entire carpet.

It was the one Ryan and his parents had carefully chosen and carried back for me after an entire afternoon of shopping during their trip to Nepal anyway.

While I was at it, I gathered up all of Ryan's belongings left at my place, as well as all the big and small gifts he had ever given me.

I even collected all our photos together.

It took me all day to pack everything up and throw it away.

I guess he wouldn't want these old things anymore either.

After Ryan left that day, there was no news from him for several days in a row.

I suppose things were going well with the school beauty.

Or maybe he was waiting for me to give up first.

In the past, I had always been the one to make up first after every cold war, without exception.

But this time I didn't reach out to him.

There was no need to reach out anymore.

I blocked his SnapChat and phone number, changed my home's door passcode, and deleted all my social media accounts.

After doing all this, I called my parents who were away on business trips.

I told them I wanted to visit my aunt in America during the summer break.

My plan was to spend the summer there, then go straight down south with Lily to start college when the break was over.

Except for Lily, no one else knew I had applied to a school in Florida.

This plan should perfectly avoid any chance of running into Ryan.

Mom still teased me on the phone, "Oh my, are you and Ryan going on vacation together?"

I made up an excuse to deny it, not wanting to explain too much.

I just told her I wanted to spend time with my aunt and grandmother.

I begged Dad to buy me a ticket on the soonest flight. I was planning to fly out that very night.

As I was leaving, I unfortunately ran into Ryan's mom at the entrance of our building.

She warmly greeted me: "Mia, why are you alone here? Didn't Ryan come to pick you up?

"Didn't he say he was taking you skiing in New Zealand? Go and have a great time, Auntie fully supports you two."

I was a bit confused.

During our intense SAT prep period, I had indeed mentioned to Ryan that I wanted to go skiing in New Zealand to experience winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

But given our current situation, how could we possibly go on a trip together?

However, I was running out of time, so I just hastily made some vague replies before leaving.

But what I didn't expect was that at the airport, I actually ran into Ryan.