After the mandatory military training week, the university threw a welcome party. Cecilia performed some kind of interpretive dance that defied classification—and possibly physics.

During the free socializing time, she leveraged her status as the Legrand Group heiress to attract attention, with many male students approaching to ask her to dance.


I couldn't be bothered with her theatrics—I was too busy scanning the crowd for my online boyfriend.

We'd been in an online relationship since high school. He'd seen my face plenty of times, but always had "camera issues" when it was his turn. He also had a habit of asking to "borrow" money.

What Mr. Mystery didn't realize was that I already knew exactly who he was.


His name was Simon Miller—former high school heartthrob and secret crush of half the female student body.

When I finally spotted Simon across the room, disappointment hit me like a bucket of cold water.


He didn't look as clean-cut and handsome as he had in high school, and his physique had deteriorated somewhat.

But hey, I wasn't shallow about appearances. Even if his looks had taken a nosedive, he'd always been sweet to me online.

Plus, he'd sworn up and down that I was his one and only.

I decided to surprise him by staging an "accidental" encounter.

I walked up and casually asked if his username was "Beyond the Years."

Simon stared at me for a long, uncomfortable moment, his expression unreadable. "No," he finally said. "That's my roommate."

I stood there, stunned. Had I changed that much? We'd video chatted all summer—how could he possibly not recognize me?

"Sorry, I have something to attend to," he muttered before practically sprinting away.

I watched in disbelief as he made a beeline straight for Cecilia, extending his hand with exaggerated gallantry. That's when the penny dropped.

The bastard was dumping me, wasn't he? He'd set his sights on the supposed Legrand heiress and decided to trade up.

Catching my stare, Cecilia shot me a triumphant look, one perfectly shaped eyebrow arched in victory as she took Simon's hand.

"Unbelievable," I muttered under my breath. A liar and a gold-digger—they deserved each other!

After the party wound down, both Simon and Cecilia were nowhere to be found.

When I returned to the dorm, Cecilia and two other roommates were already there.

As soon as I walked in, Zoe dramatically raised her voice. "So Cece, you must have gotten like a million confessions tonight! Did anyone special catch your eye?"

Cecilia smiled with fake modesty, but her words dripped with calculated smugness.

"I could give any of them a chance, really. That Simon Miller was quite charming—he actually helped me with my luggage on move-in day. He's taking me to that new fusion restaurant downtown tomorrow."

The room fell awkwardly silent for a moment before Zoe squealed, "OMG, Simon Miller? The senior class hottie? He's like, student council president and everything! Some people really have no shame, throwing themselves at guys way out of their league."

She shot a pointed look in my direction, not even trying to be subtle.

I bit my tongue, silently cursing Simon and his two-faced, lying ass.

He had promised to pick me up on move-in day, leaving me stranded at the train station for half an hour like an idiot.

When the last campus shuttle pulled up, I had no choice but to hop on. It wasn't until I reached the campus gates that my phone finally pinged with his message.

Just six words: "Too busy. Can't make it. Later."

So that's what "too busy" meant—he was playing bellhop for Cecilia?