He Deleted My Number After 972 Messages of Love Chapter 22

He Deleted My Number After 972 Messages of Love Chapter 22

I started avoiding Ezra after that. During class, I piled my textbooks up into a full barrier so I wouldn’t accidentally catch sight of him. Whenever I saw him walk in from the corner of my eye, I’d tense up and bury my face behind my books.

Luke stared at Ezra in surprise. “Showing up this early? Did you pulled another all-nighter grinding paid game boosts?”

Ezra dragged out his chair and sat down. A graded math quiz sat on his desk—he’d scored an 83. His eyes lingered on the quiz paper for a brief moment before his expression went neutral, he folded it away, and grunted a quiet “Mm.”

Luke had mentioned a few times that Ezra was crazy good at games and made money doing paid boosts while going to school. I never dared bring it up to him about his parents.

Luke sighed. “After staying up all night, you probably haven’t eaten, huh? Uh… I kinda ate all those snacks girls kept dropping off for you. My bad.”

Ezra cut him off, saying he’d been up all night and wasn’t really hungry to begin with—all he wanted was sleep.

I picked nervously at the edge of my notebook. Ezra suffered from a chronic sensitive stomach. Skipping breakfast would only make it worse. Before homeroom started, I rushed to the school store.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I got back and found he hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

“Ezra, could you Venmo me $9.50?”

He propped his head on his palm, forcing a tired smile. “So you’re finally talking to me today?”

“…”

“Just—send it, please. Don’t send any more than that.” I emphasized.

He transferred the amount. I confirmed it, then pulled out a pack of bread and a carton of milk from my bag.

“I, uh… happened to walk past the store. This cost exactly nine dollars. The extra fifty cents is my delivery fee. It’s just a plain classmate favor, nothing more. Don’t overthink it.”

I said it in a stiff, matter-of-fact tone, but Ezra barely listened. He picked up the bread and turned it over in his hands.

“So you ran all the way out just for this?”

“I just passed by, I swear! I already told you!”

He let out a quiet laugh, playing along. “You’re really only charging me fifty cents for running this errand?”

“Yep, that’s my going market rate.”