I Pretended To Be His Crush For Three Years Chapter 23

I Pretended To Be His Crush For Three Years Chapter 23

Days passed. One after another.

Reid’s agent called thirty-seven times, sent countless messages, and finally gave up on the fourth day.

Nyssa arrived in Zurich and posted on her social media-a photo of snowy mountains and a cup of hot

chocolate. The caption read: “Solo trip.”

Reid liked the post. Then there was no further interaction at all.

The system’s voice remained.

It spoke every day. Sometimes in the morning, right when he woke up. Sometimes late at night, just as he

was about to fall asleep.

The message was always the same: “Go to Nyssa. Complete your mission.”

But Reid didn’t go.

Not because he remembered Nora.

Because he didn’t recognize Nyssa anymore. After he’d disobeyed the system and stayed, the system had

wiped his memories once again.

This time, Nora didn’t give him the chance to walk away.

“The system wants me to find a stranger,” he said to Nora on day thirty-two. “Why should I?”

They were sitting on the balcony of his apartment. Winter came fast in Milan-by the end of November, the

cold had already set in.

Nora was wrapped in a thick coat. He wore a gray sweater, a cup of hot Americano cradled in his hands.

“The system says she’s your target,” Nora said.

“I don’t know her.” He took a sip of coffee. “Her name isn’t in the notebook.”

“The notebook is full of my name.”

“So?” He turned his head and looked at her. “So should I go find you, or find her?”

Nora’s heart beat half a beat faster.

“Who do you want to find?”

“I want to find you.” He said it calmly, as if stating something perfectly obvious. “Every time you leave this

room, my heart beats faster. Every time you push the door open and walk in, my heart beats faster too. I

don’t know what this is. But I want to figure it out.”

“So you’re staying here to figure out your heartbeat?”

“No.” He looked at her, his gaze deep. “I’m staying because of you.”

“Because I think if I let you go, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”

“But you don’t remember me…”

“I don’t need to remember you.” He said. “I just need to know that when you’re here, I feel whole. When you’re

gone, I feel shattered.”

Nora’s eyes reddened.

“That line is in the notebook too,” he said.

“I know. I wrote it.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You said it. Page thirty-seven. You said: ‘Reid, when you’re here, I feel whole. When

you’re gone, I feel shattered.”

Nora froze.

That was what she’d said.

Freshman year. He’d gone on tour for two months. When he came back, she’d met him at the airport and said

those words through her tears.

He remembered.

Not because of the notebook.

Because his body had remembered.

“Didn’t you say you don’t remember?” she asked, crying.

“I don’t remember images,” he said. “But I remember the feeling. It’s just…” He pressed his hand to his chest.

“Here. Empty. Hurting.”

Nora cried so hard she couldn’t speak.

He reached out and wiped the tears from her face.

“Nora.”

“Mm.”

“I think the system is lying to me.”

“Lying about what?”

“Lying about me not loving you.” His voice was soft, but every word was clear. “But my body, my heart, every

cell in me is telling me-I love you.”

“It can wipe my memories clean, but it can’t change who I am.”

“Because I’m Reid. And the person Reid loves-is you.”