Ice on the Outside, Screaming Love on the Inside Chapter 11

Ice on the Outside, Screaming Love on the Inside Chapter 11

I dumped every question I’d had for the past year on him all at once.

And then I discovered-

Joren was an absolute idiot.

I used to read a lot of romance novels.

For a while, I was obsessed with cold, aloof male leads who acted like they didn’t care about anyone.

Once, I’d casually told Marnie, “If I date someone, I want a guy like that.”

Joren had overheard me.

So he’d looked up the whole icy-CEO romance trope and decided it basically came down to money and acting

like he didn’t care.

Then, when Marnie joked that I kept chasing Joren even though he gave me nothing back, I’d said I liked the.

chase and wasn’t interested in guys who made things too easy.

Joren had apparently taken that sentence to heart.

From that moment on, he committed himself to the worst possible strategy.

For an entire year, he’d been trying to act like the aloof heartthrob he thought I wanted.

On the walk home after school, Joren quietly hooked his pinky around mine.

That tiny bit of contact was enough to send my heart racing the whole way.

After we’d walked for a while, he suddenly looked up.

“The stars are really bright tonight.”

My face warmed.

“Yeah, the stars are… Wait. Stars?”

I suddenly remembered that day in the cafeteria.

His thoughts had clearly called Marnie’s star barrette cute.

So how did he explain that?

I pulled my hand away.

“Joren, you liked Marnie first, didn’t you? You only started liking me because she already liked someone else.”

Joren denied it immediately.

“No. I noticed you on your very first day here.”

“Then why did you think Marnie’s star barrette was cute?”

He looked genuinely confused. “You’re remembering it wrong. I never said that.”

“That day Marnie and I sat with you in the cafeteria.”

“I was talking about you! Wait… did I say it out loud without realizing?”

The second he started doubting himself, I kept pushing before he could think it through.

“I wasn’t wearing a star barrette that day.”

Joren pointed at my chin.

“You had a little star right here.”

My chin?

Oh. My star-shaped pimple patch…

“But whenever you tutored us, you always looked at her.”

“Because I was too nervous to look at you, Ophelia…”

Okay. That actually made some sense.

By the end of it, Joren actually looked a little hurt.

“I spent a whole year pretending to be cold. I started hating myself for it.”

“There were so many times I wanted to just talk to you, but then I’d remind myself I was supposed to keep my

distance.”

“Ophelia, there’s more to me than this. Will you take your time getting to know me?”

I tried to listen for his thoughts.

But no matter how carefully I listened, there was nothing.

Then it finally hit me. I could only hear the things he buried too deep to say out loud.

Once he’d finally said what was in his heart, there was nothing left for me to hear.

A few months later, we arrived at Harvard together.

From the moment we stepped onto campus, Joren wouldn’t let go of my hand.

Like he was afraid some upperclassman would steal me away the second he let go.

That evening, we took a slow walk across campus.

The breeze stirred the hair around my face.

Joren suddenly stopped, cupped my face in both hands, and asked seriously,

“Can I kiss you now?”

I looked at him and couldn’t help smiling.

“You can.”

The next second, he lowered his head.

A whole year of secret feelings, misunderstandings, testing each other, and words neither of us had dared to

say.

Finally, in that moment-

We had our answer.