West Coast, East Ivy, and the Boy Who Never Chose Me Chapter 08

West Coast, East Ivy, and the Boy Who Never Chose Me Chapter 08

One brave girl raised her hand and asked a question.

“We all know you took a gap year to retake your exams. What motivated you to improve so quickly? Do you have any study secrets to share?”

I glanced toward Kael and Liora, who wore terrible expressions, and curled my lips into a faint smile.

“That’s a great question.”

“I think I found my motivation after being let down by two people I truly trusted. It hurt—knowing the person I loved was with someone I called a friend. But I took that pain and made it work for me.”

My gaze locked firmly onto Kael, drawing curious glances from every student in the hall.

As planned for the ceremony, I reached for my speech notes. The large screen behind the stage suddenly lit up.

Screenshot after screenshot of old chat records appeared for everyone to see. Page upon page showed Kael calling me pet names like baby and sweetheart. The records dated back three years, to the day he first asked me to be his girlfriend.

The whole auditorium erupted into chaos and loud murmurs. Kael snapped his head upward.

“Turn this off! Who put these up?”

More photos appeared right after, showing Kael and Liora kissing and holding each other intimately. The timeline on the images proved they had been cheating behind my back for a long time.

Kael lost his usual calm composure. He strode quickly toward me across the stage.

“Elowen Voss, have you lost your mind?”

I stood my ground and stared at him with a cold smirk.

“My best friend and my boyfriend—they both betrayed me. And for the sake of what we used to have, I let it go. But instead of feeling guilty, you two spread lies about me online. You tried to tear me down. So I want everyone here to see who you really are—behind those perfect little masks you wear.”

“You carried on a secret relationship behind my back. You let me take the fall for everything. And now you’re trying to destroy my reputation?”

I turned to look at Liora, whose eyes filled with tears and whose face was pale with fear.

“Liora, you asked if I could forgive you. Here’s my answer.”

“I will never forgive you. I hate that you walked all over my genuine feelings. And if I could go back to that day? I never would’ve stepped in to save you from those bullies.”

Students in the crowd began whispering to each other nonstop. The live stream view count climbed past one hundred thousand, and the comment section filled with endless messages.

The principal’s face turned furious. He looked at Kael, once his most promising student, and spoke in an angry tone.

“Kael, I need you to be straight with me right now. Were you the one spreading those nasty rumors online to destroy Elowen’s reputation?”

Kael opened his mouth but said nothing. His face drained of all color, and he stood there defeated.

The tide of public opinion shifted completely online after the assembly. Netizens flooded the internet to condemn Kael and Liora.

[I used to adore these two. I can’t believe he cheated on his girlfriend with her best friend!]

[This guy is terrible. He’s jealous of other people’s success and tries to ruin their name behind their backs.]

[The girl is just as bad. She betrayed the person who once saved her.]

…

I filed an official report with the local police department over the large-scale defamation campaign against me. The authorities ordered Kael and Liora to compensate me for emotional distress and post a public apology.

The scandal blew up across social media, and countless angry users left harsh comments under West Coast University’s official page. In the end, West Coast University released an official notice expelling both Kael and Liora from the school.

The once admired star student Kael fell from grace overnight. Liora could not accept the collapse of her perfect life and tried to take her own life by cutting her wrists.