After I Dressed as a Man, He Mistook Me for His Rival Chapter 16

After I Dressed as a Man, He Mistook Me for His Rival Chapter 16

The whole thing blew up on the student forum.

I packed my things.

I was transferring to Northmere Preparatory Academy.

During that time, Lachlan came looking for me more than once.

The worst time was after class, on a day when rain was coming down hard.

He blocked the classroom door with red-rimmed eyes and refused to move, no matter what I said. When I tried to leave, he grabbed my hand and held on.

We stood so close that rainwater slid from his hair and dripped onto my face.

The drops were cold, but I still flinched.

For one impossible second, they felt like the tears he would never let fall.

His voice was choked. “Sutton, don’t do this, okay?”

“I’m sorry. I was so stupid. I never even questioned it, and I still treated you like that…”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

His free hand clenched at his side.

For the first time, tears fell from his eyes.

“I’ve only ever liked one person like this in my whole life. I really liked you. I just never thought about why…”

Why?

I let out a laugh, but tears came with it.

Maybe we had both been too young then.

I had been too afraid. He had been too stubborn. By the time he finally understood, there was nothing left to go back to.

Only three steps stood between us.

He didn’t dare look back at me.

And I didn’t stop for him.

I carried my small box downstairs. At the door, I paused for a second, then quietly left the umbrella behind.

Not far away, Tavish was waving at me.

I had never known how to tell him I was leaving.

I wasn’t stupid. I could see how good he was to me.

And I was really, truly sorry.

He rested both hands behind his head and said carelessly, “But Northmere is supposed to be pretty.”

“I kind of want to see it too.”

I froze.

He turned to look at me, suddenly serious.

“I’m planning to follow you for the rest of my life. Otherwise, you’ll hide somewhere and cry again.”

“As my condition…”

He paused, teasing creeping back into his voice.

“Princess Sutton, will you wear a dress for me someday?”

Butterflies burst open inside my chest.

I said, “Okay.”

When I was seventeen, on the day I cried harder than I ever had before, I once wrote on that private account:

[But I want to be the girl protected by a knight too.]

I had spent my whole life protecting Maribel.

Just once, I wanted someone to protect me.

Someone to stand in front of me.

Back then, the person on the other side of the screen held all my hurt so gently.

He promised me.

[Okay. I’ll protect you for the rest of my life.]

But in the end, someone else kept his promise for him.