I Dream-Manipulated My Cold Crush To Win Him, But He Saw Through Me All Along Chapter 05

I Dream-Manipulated My Cold Crush To Win Him, But He Saw Through Me All Along Chapter 05

I fired off a message immediately: [Miles, thanks again for the jacket. When’s a good time for me to

return it?]

His reply came at lightning speed.

[Anytime works.]

I did the math in my head. Wash it tomorrow, dry it, and I could definitely give it back the day after.

Miles agreed without hesitation.

[Sure.]

Right then, Grayson’s message finally popped up.

[Naomi, why do you need his contact? He just ran a stupid errand for you. Are you seriously that

desperate?]

I frowned, completely lost. [What’s wrong with me adding him?]

Grayson fired back a wall of text.

[Guys like Miles won’t even look at you. You think everyone’s gonna put up with your crap like I do? You’ve been like this your whole life–throwing yourself at anyone who breathes in your direction!]

[In elementary school, you brought snacks for the whole class; in middle school, you hand–drew posters for your entire group; in high school, you had custom pins made for everyone in your

grade.]

[Naomi, do you think being the center of the universe makes you special? Now you’re going after Miles? He just held a door for you, and you’re already begging for his contact. Don’t you see how cheap that looks?]

The dense block of text hit me like a wall of needles.

My vision blurred.

It took me a few seconds to realize I was crying.

The comments went wild:

[About damn time! He’s been swallowing this crap for years. He finally snapped!]

[Side character needs to get a clue and back off. Nobody said childhood friends have to end up

together.]

[Can’t wait for the female lead to show her how it’s done!]

[Okay… am I the only one who thinks he’s being way too harsh? Her face is completely white.]

[I’m holding judgment… let’s see how the story plays out first.]

I dug my nails into my phone case.

He wasn’t wrong.

All my life, I’d been desperate for connection. I threw myself at anyone who’d take me. Because being alone was worse.

If someone didn’t reject me, I gave them everything.

Grayson, my old classmates, all of them.

People come and go. That’s just how life works.

I only ever wanted to make people happy while they were around.

Was that really so wrong?

I sucked in a breath, wiped the tears off my face, and typed back: [Fine. Understood.]

Grayson replied instantly: [Naomi, I’m not trying to be a jerk. Miles is weird and difficult. You don’t

need to go chasing after him just to get back at me.]

Almost at the exact same second, another message popped up from Miles.

[Grayson looked pretty upset just now. Did I cause trouble for you?]

Without hesitating, I opened Miles’s chat.

I typed: [Not at all. He’s just being Grayson. I’ll wash the jacket tomorrow and bring it to you the day after.]

Miles: [Honestly, you don’t have to wash it. I’m not picky.]

I stared at the screen.

This guy was supposed to be “difficult“?

He seemed perfectly reasonable to me.