Replaced by a True Prince, Your Failure Means Nothing Chapter 01

Replaced by a True Prince, Your Failure Means Nothing Chapter 01

After graduation, I signed up for Haven State’s campus preview program just so I could get onto campus and surprise my boyfriend and my best friend. I’d planned a sweet surprise for my best friend and my boyfriend.

Then Joren stepped right in front of me out of nowhere.

“Grab a long-stem red rose bouquet, drop it off at the football stadium tonight. I need it for a confession.”

I tugged my mask higher, barely able to hide my smile.

We’d wrapped up high school graduation just weeks back. He’d gone on and on about owing me a real, proper confession.

I had zero clue how he’d spotted me on campus. Still, I nodded fast, too giddy to hide my smile.

That evening, I spent hours laying heart-shaped tea lights all over the stadium grass. I finished arranging every single candle, and only then did Joren and Maren finally drag themselves over, hours behind their promised time.

A shy little smile tugged my lips. I jogged forward, ready to yank my mask down to greet them.

The next second, Joren turned around and dropped to one knee in front of Maren, speaking loud enough for every stranger around to hear.

“Maren Tidwell, I’m head over heels for you. Wanna be my girlfriend?”

…

A roar of chatter burst out all around us. Maren took the rose bouquet from his hands, then leaned in and kissed him first.

Students all around cheered and whispered amongst themselves.

“Finally! They were always destined for each other!”

“Some people joked they were rival lovers, a perfect match made just for each other.”

My hands shook nonstop. I’d heard that exact remark a hundred times over three years of high school.

They clashed nonstop in debate tournaments, fought over class rankings every report card. Even when it came to doting on me, neither one would yield an inch.

Some people joked they were rival lovers, a perfect match made just for each other.

Back then, Maren would hook her arm through mine and huff, annoyed.

“I’d never date someone this clueless, Wynne! Don’t get the wrong idea about us, yeah?”

Joren would brush my hair back soft, his tone gentle.

“Don’t listen to them. You’re my girlfriend, only you.”

A stranger’s stare locked onto my frame.

“Who’s that girl over there? Why’s she standing so close?”

Maren looked over at me, confused.

I was so relieved I’d covered myself head to toe; my fabric face mask and baggy hoodie masked every glistening tear in my eyes. I deadened my voice into an unrecognizable monotone and pushed the bouquet into Maren’s arms.

“Just here to drop off the flowers.”

No extra words. I stepped back to the edge of the crowd.

Once strangers blocked their figures from sight, all my strength drained away at once.

A girl tapped my shoulder lightly.

“Your stuffed kitten keychain is so cute—where’d you get it?”

My gaze dropped to the stuffed kitten hanging off my bag, the tiny black dot marked on its ear only Joren knew about.

It’d been his graduation gift, mailed to me two days prior. We’d hopped on a video call that night, him holding the keychain up next to his cheek, grinning wide.

“This one’s for my favorite girl, Wynne Parlow! I want you to think of me every time you see it.”

My throat burned dry, tight with tears I couldn’t hold back. I swiped wet streaks off my cheeks roughly, ripped the dot-marked kitten plush keychain off my bag, and pressed it into the stranger’s palms.

“I don’t want it anymore. You can have it.”

Before she could reply, I turned and ran.

I slowed briefly at the campus bulletin board.

Right in the middle hung a photo of Joren and Maren collecting an award shoulder to shoulder. Scrawled in thick permanent marker above the shot was handwriting I’d know anywhere.

It read: Joren and Maren—born for each other.

That tiny black dot he always added at the end of every note gave him away without a doubt.

I’d never been the sharpest student in our trio.

Joren kept mailing me SAT prep books and handwritten study notes, every letter repeating the same wish. He wanted me to get into Haven State University with him.

I pulled up the campus confession page on my phone and scrolled old posts. Nearly every thread was someone asking where to find Joren around campus.

Then I hit a post dated October 5th last year.

A random poster wrote: Quit blowing up the feed looking for Joren—dude’s already got a girlfriend. Total power couple, they can’t stop posting couple shots.

Attached was a photo of Joren smiling, pressing a kiss to Maren’s cheek. The comment section blew up with giddy teens.

Commenter 1: [No way, I went to high school with them!]

Commenter 2: [Word is Joren’s gotta confess ninety times before she’ll officially date him!]

I stared at the screen, my mind going blank.

October fifth was my birthday.

That night, the three of us hopped on a group video call while I blew out my birthday candles and made a wish. Afterward, Maren put up a post on her Facebook timeline.

It read: Spending the day with my most important person!

I’d commented right underneath it.

Wynne: [Wait for me! Next year we’ll celebrate together for sure!]

She never replied.

It crashed over me cold then—her important person had never been me at all.

My phone buzzed nonstop, our old three-person group chat blowing up with new messages. Maren sent a snapshot of the stadium confession scene.

Maren: [Wynne, someone just confessed out here at HSU! When you get accepted, Joren’s gonna pull something just as big for you, yeah?]

Maren: [Don’t be mad at me earlier, I was swamped with lab work all day.]

Joren sent a follow-up right after hers.

Joren: [Wynne, don’t be unreasonable over nothing.]

Tears spilled straight down onto my lit screen.

They thought I was upset over our fight that morning.

My SAT scores were easily high enough to get into HSU. I’d hastily planned a trip just to see them both. But when I brought it up, Joren shot me down for the first time ever.

“Things are hectic right now. We’re buried in lab work, and I won’t have time to show you around.”

Maren jumped in, her tone tight as she tried to sound sympathetic.

“Hang tight, babe, okay? We’ll make it up another time.”

“Once you enroll at HSU, we’ll get to hang every single day!”

I’d bought every word of their lie back then.

Turns out they’d just been busy pulling off their ninetieth confession to each other.

I wiped my eyes clear.

There wouldn’t be another time.

This was the end.