Chapter 2

2

Coming to my senses, I let go.

Lily was lying on the floor, barely breathing.

Her innocent, pure face was covered in filth.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Cry, shout, go ahead and tell the world I was bullying you with that face―go!"

I raised my voice at the end.

Remembering the pain of having my face melted by the acid, I stomped on her face a couple of times.

Then I turned and left.

My classmate, Sarah, was waiting for me downstairs in the school building.

"Gym class started a long time ago, what were you doing?"

I casually said, "Oh, just bullied a new classmate."

She turned around in shock: "What?!"

I said, "Confucius said, when the whole world thinks you're a bully, you'd better own it."

"Did...Confucius...really say that..."

"That's beside the point."

I walked with her to the edge of the athletic field, and we ran into Jake.

We weren't in the same class.

But everyone at school knew he was my childhood sweetheart, Lexie's boyfriend.

Jake glanced at my face, then looked behind me, as if he were looking at someone there.

"Lexie, why are you so late? Oh, I heard your class has a new transfer student?"

Before, whenever Lily accused me of something, he'd always ask me to apologize to her and smooth things over.

He'd seem like he was on my side.

In reality, his words always affirmed what Lily was saying, that I was bullying her.

Thinking of this, I smacked him right in the face.

"?!"

Sarah was shocked again.

Jake's expression didn't change, he just gave me a cold look, then acted like nothing had happened.

He affectionately lowered his head and rubbed his cheek against mine.

"What's up, Lexie? Are you in a bad mood?"

It wasn't until years later that I found out.

When Jake was a kid, his mom left him at an amusement park, and he ended up in an orphanage for a while.

That's where he met a bright, cheerful little girl.

She shared a bed with him, and she gave him a piece of candy.

She was the only light in his life.

That light was Lily.

And from the moment she transferred to our school, Jake recognized her.

He always believed Lily's stories about me mistreating her, and he hated my guts for it.

But because he was a bastard, he had to suck it up and try to please me.

He needed to marry me to gain a foothold in the family.

Thinking about this, I said, "Let's break up."

His pupils shrank. "...Why? Give me a reason, Lexie."

I grabbed a tissue and started wiping off the part of my face that he had touched.

"I don't want to date the son of a homewrecker. You're disgusting. Is that good enough?"