Three Years Later, Meeting My Ex-Boyfriend Again

Chapter 1

I was video-chatting with my boyfriend, and his roommates started heckling, wanting to see me.

I was giving a demure smile when suddenly, my phone was snatched away.

A magnetic voice, laced with laughter, boomed, “Don’t be stingy, let the bros see what the future Mrs. looks like.”

The next second, I found myself staring face-to-face with my ex-boyfriend, the one I’d had a spectacularly nasty breakup with.

His smile slowly faded, and after a moment, he just twitched his lips.

“Damn.”

1

The moment he bent down, the tiny star pendant on the silver chain at his collarbone brushed against the camera.

My breath hitched as I saw his face.

Sweat dripped down Chase Chen’s sharp jawline into the open collar of his basketball jersey. He stared at the screen, frozen for two seconds, his pupils dilating.

“……Damn.”

The next second, the phone was thrown somewhere. The screen went black for a second, then was quickly picked up again. Riley Song, holding the phone, grumbled, “What the hell was that?!”

Chase paused, then scoffed, “Your taste is… questionable.”

Riley, usually so gentle, was unusually irritated. He said coldly, “My girlfriend is wonderful, don’t talk nonsense.”

“Yeah, the future Mrs. is gorgeous! I think she’s even prettier than the foreign language department’s queen, Chase, what’s wrong with your eyes?”

“I’d eat ramen for three years to date someone like her!”

“Screw three years, I’d do ten—”

His roommates erupted in laughter. Chase didn’t say anything else.

Riley picked up the phone. “Sorry, Star, he probably lost at basketball today and is in a bad mood.”

A gritted voice came from the other end, “I won! By twenty points!”

Riley remained impassive. “He’s just brain-dead then. Star, I’ll pick you up for dinner tonight.”

…

After hanging up, I lay back on my bed. The summer sunlight was harsh; I covered my eyes with my arm.

It had been three years since I last saw Chase.

He was still wearing the star necklace I’d given him.

Such a cheap thing. I still remembered it cost $199, and the couple’s set was half-price, only $100. I’d tossed mine away long ago.

He seemed the same, yet so different. It was the same face, but his maturity sharpened his features, like a polished gem, his rebelliousness barely contained.

I suddenly remembered three years ago, before we took the college entrance exams.

Chase, wearing a basketball jersey, was pleading with me, red-eyed, beneath my window.

“I’ll do anything you say. If you don’t like me being around her, I’ll never see her again.”

“We promised to go to the same college—”

His voice was hoarse. A glimmer shone in his eyes in the darkness. “Just don’t break up with me. Please, anything you say.”

He looked so pitiful, almost begging.

But I just stared at him expressionlessly and said softly,

“Chase, I changed my college application.

“I’m not going to T State.”

2

My romance with Chase began with a first love losing to a later one, and ended with that later one losing to a childhood sweetheart.

In my sophomore year, I transferred and immediately became the top student. The teachers liked to pair a high-achieving student with a struggling one for mutual benefit, so I was seated next to Chase.

Chase wasn’t interested in studying, but he was very interested in me.

He’d tug my hair or steal my pen, holding it high above his head with a mischievous grin.

“Jenna, you’re so short.”

He passed me notes in class. I opened it to find a simple drawing of me.

I was about to scold him when the teacher noticed the note and displayed it to the whole class, making us stand outside as punishment.

I was a model student; I’d never suffered such injustice. I glared at Chase, eyes red with anger.

“Chase, you’re sick!”

He was at fault and didn’t speak. After a while, he folded the drawing into a star and secretly slipped it into my hand.

Looking at the star, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Our relationship gradually improved. I would force him to do his homework until he understood it, checking his work and not allowing him to cheat.

He’d wait for me downstairs every day, walking me to and from school, going with me to the shops near our school. On a whim, I bought two star necklaces, giving him one.

…

Chase was a popular figure at school – handsome, rich, good at basketball. Many girls liked him.

One of them cornered me, asking if I liked Chase.

My teenage pride and inexplicable anger made me answer instinctively,

“I wouldn’t date someone with lower grades than me.”

The girl looked behind me.

I turned sharply, realizing Chase had been standing behind me, listening for who knows how long.

He passed me without expression.

After that, Chase never initiated contact. He stopped talking to me in class, stopped walking me to and from school. We sat at the same desk, barely speaking a word to each other.

I wanted to explain, but he never gave me the chance.

Until a year later, Chase, with remarkably improved grades, tied with me for first place.

That night, he stopped me and said seriously,

“Jenna, my grades are no longer worse than yours. Now, will you like me?”

My memories of that time are hazy.

I only remember the jacaranda trees on campus blooming like a sea, their petals blown by the wind, the boy’s eyes shining brighter than a supernova.

The light pierced through light-years of cosmic dust, falling directly into my heart.

At that moment, I heard my own voice.

“Okay.”

And so, we were together.

Teenage love was wildly uncontrollable. We were inseparable, Chase introduced me to all his friends, and even tattooed my name on his body.

I said I wanted to go to T State, and he said he would go to the same university with me.

His mother was overjoyed by his sudden academic improvement. Thankfully, my grades didn’t drop, so parents and teachers turned a blind eye. We became the only openly dating couple at school.

I truly believed we would last forever.

Until I discovered that he had someone more important in his heart.

3

Chase had a childhood friend, Vivian Gu. They grew up together.

Vivian’s father had been Chase’s father’s driver. In a boating accident, he’d risked his life to save Chase’s father, but had no strength left to reach the shore and died.

Chase’s father was a man of integrity. He immediately took Vivian and her mother in, promising to treat Vivian as his own daughter and support them for life.

Vivian was inseparable from Chase, even after we started dating. She followed us to and from school.

Chase and I fought about it countless times. Just when Vivian stopped following us, she reappeared, leaning on Chase.

“Sorry, Jenna, I know you don’t want to walk with me, but I sprained my ankle, and Chase insisted on taking me home.”

Chase’s eyes were on Vivian, his brow furrowed, scolding her.

“You didn’t even tell me your ankle was hurt! Did you plan to hop home on one foot?! Get on!”

I remember that day, Chase walked ahead of me, carrying Vivian on his back.

Vivian was clinging to him, recounting their childhood stories. I couldn’t get a word in.

She whined, “Chase, my ankle hurts so much!”

I had never heard Chase’s voice so tender. “Your ankle hurts so much? What should we do then?”

“I want that cake from the shop on the corner, the most expensive one!”

“Okay, I’ll take you home first and buy it for you.”

“Chase, can I walk with you from now on? I’m always harassed by bullies when I walk alone, I’m so scared.”

Chase frowned. “Why didn’t you say so?

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning. You’re not allowed to walk alone without me.”

Vivian smiled, glancing back at me.

“Okay.”

…

The setting sun stretched their shadows long, inseparable.

I was left further and further behind, but Chase never looked back.

He only turned to me when he reached Vivian’s home.

“I have to buy Vivian a cake, I won’t walk you home today.

“Jenna, you go home yourself.”

I stared at him for a long time before turning away.

4

After that, Chase and I were in a cold war for a whole week.

Chase initially didn’t think he was wrong:

“I always treat Vivian like a sister. How could I ignore her injured ankle?”

I said expressionlessly,

“She could have called her mother, or your driver, why did she have to wait for you?!

“You treat her like a sister, but does she treat you like a brother?! Do you dare say you don’t know she likes you?!”

Chase avoided my eyes, finally sighing and hugging me.

“Jenna, I only like you. I’ll talk to her, keep my distance, okay?”

I closed my eyes.

“Okay.”

After that, Chase did talk to Vivian.

I don’t know what he said, but I knew Vivian cried and left the classroom, and never contacted Chase again.

I thought that was the end of it.

Then one day, Chase found me, hesitant and stammering,

“Vivian said a guy from another school has been bothering her, she rejected him several times but he kept bothering her. Today, he brought some of Vivian’s friends to hang out, and she asked me to pretend to be her boyfriend to scare him off.”

Looking at my expression, he added,

“Just one night, to make him back off.”

“Didn’t we agree? Today it’s a sprained ankle needing you to carry her home, tomorrow it’s being harassed needing you to pretend to be her boyfriend, what will it be the day after?!”

Chase wasn’t known for his patience, but he always tried to soothe me:

“If her father hadn’t died saving my dad, Vivian would have a father to protect her. I really can’t ignore her, just this once, if you don’t feel comfortable, come with me, okay?”

Things had gone this far. I knew arguing wouldn’t change anything, so I agreed.

“Just one day, I’ll go with you.”

Chase smiled, cupping my face and kissing me.

“My wife is so understanding, I love you the most!”

5

That night was my first time at a bar. Vivian was indeed surrounded by a tall, muscular guy, not bad-looking, but he looked like a thug, constantly trying to put his arm around her.

Chase stepped forward, pushing the guy away and pulling Vivian into his arms, his brow furrowed as he stared at the guy.

“Keep your hands to yourself, she’s my girlfriend.”

Chase had learned Sanda since elementary school. His cold expression intimidated the guy into silence.

Others quickly tried to smooth things over:

“How about truth or dare? Tonight’s on Mark, order whatever you want!”

Mark was the guy who had been bothering Vivian. Apparently, his family was involved in the underworld, and all the shops on this street had to pay protection money to his father.

He was a classmate of a friend of Vivian’s boyfriend and was from a vocational school. He had met Vivian at a friend’s dinner and started pursuing her.

Vivian had refused many times, but he didn’t give up. This gathering was to confirm whether Vivian really had a boyfriend as she’d said.

Chase scoffed and threw a Centurion Black Card on the table.

“No need, I’ll pay for everything tonight.”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the black card.

A girl’s eyes lit up.

“Is this the legendary black card? Vivian, you’re a bad girl! You didn’t tell us you have such a handsome and rich boyfriend!”

Vivian smiled, leaning against Chase.

My fingers clenched. Chase subconsciously glanced at me, but I turned away.

Mark’s face darkened. His friend’s girlfriend might have been afraid of a fight between him and Chase, so she raised a bottle.

“Let’s play truth or dare, whoever the bottle points to is next!”

In the first few rounds, everyone chose truth, and no one asked anything outrageous.

Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the night would pass smoothly, the bottle stopped in front of Vivian.

She smiled, pushing her bangs behind her ears.

“I choose dare.”

My heart sank, a bad feeling creeping in.

Sure enough, the next second, a girl excitedly said,

“Then you choose a guy here to kiss, a tongue kiss!”

Vivian’s face flushed, her eyes on Chase.

Chase’s expression stiffened, his brows furrowing.

“I choose—” Despite Mark’s increasingly ugly expression, Vivian pointed at Chase without hesitation.

Chase’s face was grim.

“Pick a different dare.”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you two dating? What’s there to be shy about? Kiss, kiss!”

Everyone started to cheer, Mark’s eyes full of suspicion. “Are you really Vivian’s boyfriend?”

Vivian smiled.

“Of course.”

A hint of pleading shone in her beautiful eyes as she reached for Chase’s arm, her lips slightly parted.

“Chase…”

My heart grew cold.

Chase stiffened, letting Vivian lean in. Just as their lips were about to touch, I stood up abruptly!

He slightly turned his head, Vivian’s kiss landing on the corner of his mouth.

He reached out to grab me, but I angrily threw his hand off!

Ignoring the shocked expressions of everyone in the room, I rushed out the door.