He Knew I Was Lying, But He Kissed Me Anyway Chapter 01

He Knew I Was Lying, But He Kissed Me Anyway Chapter 01

The year I graduated from high school, the quiet, gloomy boy in the physics class received a love letter.

Everyone said it was my handwriting.

I was about to deny it when a Danmaku flew by.

[Here it comes, here it comes—the male lead gets healed by a love letter during his school days, then gets into Harvard, and later becomes the richest man in Vancouver.]

[The male lead only finds out years later that the female lead wrote it, and he falls for her like a house on fire.]

[Can the female side character please not meddle? She’s gonna get herself destroyed and won’t even see it coming.]

Harvard?

I stepped forward immediately and nodded.

“Yep, I wrote it. Truth is, I’ve had a crush on you for ages.”

——

The moment I spoke, the classroom went dead silent.

Julian Blackwood was a broody guy, always sitting in the back row with thick black frames.

Usually, no one dared talk to him.

So when someone spotted him with a love letter, the whole class started heckling.

Nobody owned up to writing it.

After all, hanging out with an outcast was a one-way ticket to being outcast yourself.

Just as Julian was getting roasted—people asking if the letter was some kind of prank—the Danmaku appeared.

They were blabbering about all sorts of nonsense I didn’t catch.

But I only saw two words: Harvard.

Julian stared at me, his blue eyes unblinking—honestly, they were pretty striking.

When he kept a deadpan face, it was kind of intimidating.

His tone was dubious: “You wrote it?”

“Yeah, that handwriting is totally mine.”

The girl who actually wrote it probably didn’t want to be outed, so she’d printed it neatly, like a typewriter.

And funnily enough, I’d practiced making my handwriting look like a printer’s font before.

[Holy crap, the villainess is here. Shameless as ever, stealing the female lead’s credit for the letter.]

[Anyways, once she gets exposed, the male lead and female lead will shut her down so hard she won’t be able to show her face in Vancouver again.]

I’m the villainess?

How villainous could I really be?

I just wanted to get into Harvard.

Come on, it’s Harvard.

If this guy could take me to Harvard, that’d be better than hitting the jackpot.

I propped my chin on my hand and leaned in, eyes sparkling.

“Julian, I’ve crushed on you for a long time. Wanna give us a shot?”

“I don’t want to date young.”

He pushed the letter back flatly and went back to staring at his physics worksheet.

The class erupted in laughter, but I couldn’t have cared less.

Didn’t want to date young?

That meant he wasn’t totally opposed, right?

Yeah, that’s just how us villainesses roll—confidence for days.

When my not-so-secret crush didn’t work, I upgraded to open flirting.

I brought Julian breakfast every single day for days.

He used to save money by drinking only a cup of soy milk in the mornings.

I brought him different breads and milk every day.

He gave me a helpless look but couldn’t stand wasting food, so he accepted it.

After class, he passed by my desk.

“Stop sending me stuff. I have nothing to give you back.”

“I don’t need anything from you. I like you, so I want to be good to you.”

“…”

He frowned and walked off briskly.

But the tips of his ears were pink, like a bunny’s.

After school, I followed Julian with my own love letter in hand.

The Danmaku kept bashing me, saying I was shameless for pestering the male lead.

I pretended not to see it—since when did dignity get you into Harvard?

I kept asking him what food he liked and other random stuff.

“Julian, I wrote another letter. Wanna see it?”

He ignored me.

But I guess I annoyed him enough that he spun around and stared me down.

“Elena, what exactly do you like about me?”

“I like that you get good grades.”

He looked down. “My family is dirt poor. My parents are gone, my grandmother is sick. It’d be tough being with me, and I don’t have time to mess around. Go home.”

“I don’t care. Those things aren’t your fault.”

Things you’re born into don’t define where you end up.

For a split second, a flash of light crossed Julian’s usually deadpan eyes.

He kept quiet, and I thought he was mad.

“Of course, if you really don’t like me, I’ll just—— come back tomorrow.” And ask again.

But before I could finish, he took the love letter from my hand.

“Let me think about it. Don’t write anymore—just focus on studying.”

I leaned in eagerly, my eyes bright as headlights.

“Then will you study with me?”

Uncomfortable under my gaze, he turned his face away.

“Yeah.”