The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 08

The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 08

I left with Stellan.

I thought Kellan would finally give up.

The next morning, he was waiting outside the institute.

He was holding a cake.

“Marlowe!”

His voice was almost painfully hopeful.

“Today is the seventh anniversary of the day we met.”

I stopped walking.

“Seven years ago today. First day of sophomore year. You sat beside me.”

Seven years ago.

Kellan had still been the troublemaker everyone avoided.

He barely looked at me.

He spent most of class asleep with his head on his desk.

I opened my textbook and took notes.

When he woke up, he glanced at my notebook but didn’t say anything.

Later, when he skipped class, I kept quiet about it.

When he got into fights, I handed him Band–Aids.

When he slept through class, I slid my notes onto his desk.

Eventually, he dyed his hair back to its natural color and took out his earrings.

He started showing up before first period.

And every morning, there was a cup of hot chocolate waiting at the corner of my desk.

Back then, I thought those days would last forever.

Kellan held the cake out toward me.

His eyes shimmered.

“I know I was wrong.”

“Tamsin. The fake condition. The lies. All of it.”

His voice broke.

“I’m not asking you to forgive me. Just don’t make me leave.”

“You can ask anything of me. I’ll start over. I’ll cook for you every day. I’ll come to the lab with you. I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

My fingers tightened around the folder in my hand.

Something bitter rose in my throat.

Maybe grief.

Maybe memory.

I drew in a breath.

“Kellan.”

Stellan’s voice cut in.

“Doesn’t your girlfriend back home have anything to say about you chasing Marlowe across the

country?”

Kellan’s face changed instantly.

“Tamsin and I are done.”

He glared at him.

“Stay out of this, Stellan.”

Then he took a step toward me.

“Marlowe, don’t let him fool you.”

His eyes burned.

“You think he’s some kind of saint? He was into you back in high school.”

“Whenever you stayed after class to help clean up, he’d erase the whiteboard before you could. If

you needed a pencil, he’d quietly leave one on your desk. When you were nervous before exams, he’d slip chocolate into your bag.”

His mouth twisted.

“He spent years hovering in the background, doing things for you in secret. He didn’t even have the

guts to tell you he liked you.”

Stellan stood beside me.

He didn’t deny a word.

I stared at him.

And suddenly, old memories began resurfacing one by one.

One winter during sophomore year, I’d stayed after class to help clean up. I was stretching to reach

the top of the whiteboard when someone reached over my shoulder and took the eraser from my

hand.

When I turned around, all I saw was someone walking away.

Senior year, during a practice exam, my pencil snapped. Before I could reach into my bag for

another one, a sharpened pencil appeared at the edge of my desk.

I turned. Stellan was staring at his test as if nothing had happened.

Before another exam, my palms had been sweating from nerves.

Then I found a piece of chocolate tucked inside my bag.

I had never known.

I’d thought every one of those moments was a coincidence.

Something warm spread through the ache in my chest.

“Kellan.”

I turned back to him.

My voice went cold.

“You don’t get to talk about him.”

Kellan stared at me.

“I can judge for myself what kind of person Stellan is.”

I stepped toward him.

“And I’ve already seen exactly what kind of person you are.”

His face went blank.

“was awake when you flirted with Tamsin beside my hospital bed.”

His lips parted.

“And you knew I react badly to medication. You still drugged my food so you could sneak around

with her.”

My voice hardened.

“If you’d thought about me for even one second before doing that, you wouldn’t have the nerve to stand here asking to ‘win me back.“”

I turned toward the entrance.

“Security. Please escort him out.

Two campus security officers hurried over and took Kellan by the arms.

He struggled.

“Marlowe, wake up! Stellan isn’t a good guy.”

His voice echoed down the hallway.

“I’m a man. I know how men think. He doesn’t really love you.”

Stellan’s hand curled into a fist.

The next second, he crossed the distance between them and punched Kellan in the mouth.

Kellan’s head snapped sideways.

Blood appeared instantly at the corner of his lip.

Security rushed in to pull them apart.

By the time it was over, both of them were bruised.

Stellan’s knuckles were bleeding.

Kellan’s lip had swollen badly, and his shirt was streaked with dirt.

I walked over as one of the security officers–released Stellan.

“You’re coming with me. We’re going to the hospital.”

Kellan followed us with a wounded look.

I turned around.

Co wherever you want, Kellan.”

My voice was flat.

“Just stop following me.”

Then I took Stellan with me and walked away.