Chapter 2

I shoved the door to the room open.

The first thing I saw was the floor, covered in sheets of paper.

Every single one was a printout of the message I’d sent her.

My entrance plunged the room into a dead silence.

Olivia stared at me, stunned. "What are you doing here?"

Adrian, sitting next to her, didn't look surprised at all.

Of course not. He was the one who called me.

Now I realized he did it on purpose. He wanted me to come here and hear everything Olivia said.

I picked up one of the printouts from the floor and looked at Olivia, my voice hoarse. "I spent all night writing this."

"Every word came from my heart, things I really wanted to tell you."

"And you printed it out to be a joke for these people?"

I thought she had only printed one copy. I never imagined she'd print a whole stack for everyone to see.

They were all here, drinking and laughing at my expense.

"You took my honest feelings and just trampled all over them."

"Olivia, if you didn't like it, you could have just told me."

Olivia’s pupils contracted. She opened her mouth to say something, but Adrian cut her off.

He sneered, his eyes filled with contempt.

"Julian Black, what's with the meltdown?"

"This is clearly your fault. Your behavior was bothering Liv."

"We're all men here, but blaming a woman when things go wrong… that's something I really look down on."

Liv…

He called her Liv, so intimately.

I lost control and crumpled the paper in my hand into a ball.

Olivia stood up and walked toward me, her face cold.

"That's enough. Aren't you embarrassing yourself enough already?"

"So what if I showed people the message you sent me?"

"If your apology was sincere, you shouldn't be afraid of people seeing it."

Those were my most private, heartfelt words.

I thought that since they were for her, they were between us.

But she didn't care at all. She printed them out for everyone to see without a hint of guilt.

Everyone was staring at me, whispering.

"Look at him. He's so immature. I bet he doesn't take care of Liv at all. No wonder she's sick of him."

"Yeah, and look at his clothes. He dresses like a kid."

Adrian stood up too, adjusting the watch on his wrist, radiating mature, masculine energy.

"Well, I guess I can understand why Julian is so childish."

"After all, he only graduated two years ago. He has nothing and only knows how to cause trouble for women."

A fire of rage ignited in my chest. I lunged at him, ready to punch him.

Olivia grabbed my arm and screamed, "He's telling the truth! It's your fault you're not successful!"

"Stop making a fool of yourself here!"

She dragged me out of the room.

As we stepped outside, a blast of cold wind hit me, sending a chill through my entire body.