"Kelly," Simon said, smiling as he walked around her. "Look at this good boyfriend you found. He's clearly guilty, and you still want to bring this piece of trash into our house. You're just messing with us, right? And the family thinks so much of you. Do you really have the courage to face our family with a boyfriend like that?"
Kelly had always been one of the more favoured members of her family. When she had grown up, she had been given an important position in the family business, and she was valued and loved. Because of this, some of her cousins resented her, including Simon, who was taking advantage of this opportunity to hurt her.
She had been staring bitterly at Alex, afraid of misjudging him. But now, she walked up to him and yelled, "She's obviously making fun of you. So, speak up! Tell everyone that she's lying and that you didn't do any of that."
Alex lowered his gaze and didn't say a word. Kelly was angry and disappointed. This was not the hot-blooded man who had stood against more than ten people the night they had met. He was a coward.
"Say something!" she demanded. "Anything!" It didn't matter what the truth was. If he said something, or even if he simply shook his head, she would believe him. But he did nothing at all.
"Speak!" Kelly screamed, feeling like she was about to go crazy. She slapped him, and her nails tore the skin on his face. Everyone was shocked. She glared at Alex with teary eyes as she yelled, "I hate you!"
With that, she turned and ran through the crowd.
"You… Alex, if anything happens to Kelly, I'll never forgive you!" Sharon said, and then she chased after her friend, calling, "Kelly, wait for me."
Alex raised his head and looked in the direction Kelly had left. He sighed slightly.
I already have Debbie, he thought. I'm sorry, Kelly.
With Kelly gone, Alex became the crowd's new target, and he slowly pushed his way through them all.
"Get lost! Nobody wants you here!" a young man said, pushing at Alex, who glared at him angrily, making the man shrink back.
Cathy had achieved her goal. Looking at Alex's slumped shoulders, her eyes showed a hint of coldness as she whispered, "Alex, I said that I would make you pay for humiliating me."
Alex had lost a day to Cathy's scheming, but at least one good thing had come out of it: Kelly had completely given up on him.
In the afternoon, Alex went to pick up Debbie from band practice. When she saw the scratch on his face, he lied and said that he had accidentally cut himself.
They got on a bus and sat in the last row, just like when they had first met.
"What's wrong? Why do you look unhappy?" Debbie asked, holding Alex's hand. After a few days of rehearsal with the band, she had gradually recovered from Carla's death.
"It's nothing," he said, realizing that he should be focused on Debbie. He looked at her with a faint smile. "Why are you so happy? Ever since we got on the bus, you've been grinning."
"I have not," Debbie said, but she was still smiling. She looked at him with bright eyes. "Janice said she's arranging for us to go to Chicago in the next few days to participate in that popular talent show, the Sky's the Limit."
"That's great news!" Alex said, happy for her. "I'll go with you."
"No need," Debbie said. "Janice said we'll be rehearsing while we're in Chicago. She has a lot of plans for us, and it might take several days." She stared into his eyes and said seriously, "You should stay at school and study hard. There's nothing you can do anyway, and I can take care of myself."
"Okay," Alex answered, deliberately dragging it out. "But I'm afraid that once you get to Chicago, other men will snatch you away. After all, a big city like Chicago is full of handsome, rich men, while I'm just a loser from Preston University."
Debbie laughed. She glanced at Alex, giving him a fake arrogant look, and said, "And now you realize how important I am? As for whether I will be stolen away, that will depend on you. If you treat me well enough, then I won't notice any other men when I'm there."
With that, her lips twitched, and she stifled a giggle.
Alex smiled at her and began to massage her shoulders, and she smirked as if her evil scheme had succeeded.
"Are you comfortable?" he asked.
"Just so-so."
"Then when you get to Chicago, will you close your eyes, so you don't see any other men?"
"I might close one eye," she teased.
"Only one?" he asked, grinning as he continued to massage her. "How about this? Will you close both eyes now?"
"Maybe one and a half."
**
Three days later, Debbie, Janice, and the other members of Dream Chasers boarded a flight to Chicago to pursue their dream.
Alex, who was back at Preston University, added Chicago to his phone's weather forecast.
In the cafeteria, he ordered a plate of spaghetti, took it over to a table, and sat down. Just as he took a bite, he heard a sweet voice ask, "Can I join you?"
He looked up and saw Kelly standing in front of him.
She was wearing a blue and purple print top and a pair of cobalt-blue shorts, making her look really pretty.
Kelly put her hands behind her back and looked at Alex with a gentle smile.
"Oh…" Alex said. A strand of spaghetti fell off his fork and back onto the plate. The last time he had seen Kelly, she had been disappointed and angry at him. After she had hit him, she had run away.
"You're wondering why I'm here when I was so angry at you before, right?" Kelly asked, sitting across from him. "To be honest, I was furious at the time, and after I got home, I cried for ages. After what Cathy said, I felt that you weren't at all like the man who saved me that night." She looked into his eyes. "But when I woke up the next morning, I felt much calmer."
Alex merely stared at her.
"I believe that Cathy was telling the truth," she said. "But I also think it was mixed with exaggeration and lies. You were so determined to reject me that day, and I don't believe that you would beg her to take you back. Those messages you sent were quite normal when you were in a relationship. As for when she said you tried to get her drunk in the bar and then take her to a room—"
"Maybe I did," Alex interrupted in a low voice.
"No. I don't believe that," Kelly stated, watching him closely.
"That's up to you," he said, glancing at her. "But as you said before, I promised to pretend to be your boyfriend at that party. And now it's over." No matter how she felt about him, he wasn't going to date her for real.
"I'll go back on my word!" Kelly stated, not beating around the bush.
Alex didn't know what to say. He looked down and started to eat his spaghetti. He would never again believe anything Kelly said. No matter what, he would simply pretend he didn't hear her and that she wasn't there.
"Alex, are you angry?" she asked, lowering her head to try to make eye contact.
Alex concentrated on eating his meal. What did she expect him to say?
"Alex, please don't be angry at me," she said, reaching out to touch his shoulder. She didn't expect his reaction. With a wave of his hand, he shook her off.
"Ow!" she yelped with pain.
"What's wrong?" he asked. When he had shaken off her hand, he seemed to have pinched her thumb.
Kelly held the thumb of her left hand and frowned as she looked at him.
"Let me see." He put down his fork and grabbed her hand. His heart sped up the moment he touched her, and he quickly focused his attention on her hand.
"How is it?" he asked as he gently massaged her thumb.
"Much better," she said with a trace of a smile. Noticing the small scar on his cheekbone, she felt guilty. "Does your face still hurt?"
He shook his head slightly and glanced up at her.
"It's fine," he said, letting go of her hand.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I lost my temper."
He didn't answer and simply went back to eating his spaghetti.
"Can I have some of that?" Kelly asked softly.
Alex glanced up and saw her watching him expectantly. "I'll go and get you some," he said.
He had already forgotten that he had promised himself he would ignore her.
"No need," she said with a smile. She got up, grabbed a fork, and sat across the table from him. "Is this okay?"
"Whatever," Alex said. As he lowered his head to eat, another fork came into view.
Kelly twirled some spaghetti around her fork and put it in her mouth. It was delicious.
They continued to share the same plate of pasta, drawing envious looks from many of the male students in the cafeteria.
Kelly took some more and placed it in her mouth. This string of spaghetti was very long, and it didn't break when she lifted it. Slowly, she worked her way along with it, looking up in shock as her lips made contact with Alex's mouth.
They both opened their eyes wide. Alex's face turned red with embarrassment, and he quickly bit off his end of the spaghetti strand. He jerked his face away from her.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Seeing Alex get flustered, Kelly couldn't help but laugh sweetly.
Alex was stunned. Kelly's laugh was extremely charming, and before he knew it, he had a silly smile on his face.