The Soulmate System Chose Her Not Me Chapter 01

The Soulmate System Chose Her Not Me Chapter 01

After the college reunion ended, every one of us was forcibly bound to the Soulmate Matching System.

Only two people who were truly in love could leave by lacing their fingers together.

One pair of former classmates after another developed feelings under the pressure of being trapped and made it out safely.

To keep our secret relationship from being exposed, Gavin Hart stayed exactly where he was. I understood his hesitation, so I waited with him in silence.

At last, only four of us remained in the sealed room.

I thought we could finally stop hiding. Relieved, I reached out my hand to him.

But Gavin moved first. Before I could touch him, he grabbed Lila Lawson, who was trembling beside him.

“Ding—soulmate verification successful. The door is now open.”

The system’s voice rang through the room, and my hand froze in midair.

Gavin did not even look back at me. He only left me with one hurried promise.

“Wait here. Once I get out, I’ll find a way to save you.”

The door slammed shut.

At that moment, I quietly watched Gavin shield Lila as they walked away.

After seven years together, it turned out the system’s idea of his true love had never been me.

But there was one thing he did not know.

A few days later, when he returned with people to break down that door, I had already walked out hand in hand with my sworn academic rival.

***

When we first learned about the Soulmate Matching System, the private room descended into chaos.

I sat in the corner and instinctively looked toward Gavin, who was sitting at the other end of the couch.

He did not look at me. He leaned back against the couch, calmly toying with a lighter in his hand.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Gavin had texted me.

Gavin: [Wait. Don’t let anyone find out.]

I replied: [Okay.]

The day after we got together, he told me his startup was still in its early stages and that investors did not like cofounders with romantic entanglements. He begged me to keep our relationship a secret.

I agreed.

For seven years, I got used to pretending we barely knew each other in public.

One pair after another successfully left the room.

When only eight people remained, someone suggested, “Gavin, Jenna, you two are both single. Why don’t you try holding hands?”

I took a deep breath and looked up at Gavin.

With so few people left, even if our relationship came out, it would not matter that much anymore.

But before I could say anything, Gavin put his lighter away and let out a soft laugh.

“Don’t joke around. We’re just college friends. I’m not about to take advantage of gorgeous Jenna.”

His tone was casual, but there was an unmistakable coldness beneath it.

Everyone around us burst into laughter.

A wave of disappointment rose in my chest, but it quickly faded into the numbness I had grown used to.

I had long since gotten used to the rule between Gavin and me. In public, we never showed anything that crossed the line between friends.

The door opened and closed again and again, until only four people remained in the room: Gavin, Lila, Preston Pierce, and me. Preston sat in the darkest corner.

He had always carried a brooding air, and he had not said a word since the reunion began.

But I could not bear it anymore.

I stood and walked toward Gavin, wanting to go home with him.

Yet the moment I reached out, Gavin suddenly stood and stepped right past me.

He grabbed Lila’s hands, which were tightly twisted together as she curled up on the couch in front of me.

Before I could even react, the door swung open. They had already left that prison sealed by love.

The room was not very soundproof. As soon as Gavin and Lila stepped out, the classmates waiting outside swarmed around them.

Their teasing voices came clearly through the door.

“I knew you two were a couple! I was so anxious watching you in there. The system only recognizes real love, and I was scared you wouldn’t make it out.”

“Gavin, you hid that well. But honestly, it makes sense. Back in college, you always treated Lila differently.”

“Right? During junior year, Lila kept getting bullied by the girls from the athletics department across campus. Then, all of a sudden, no one dared mess with her anymore.”

“We thought those girls finally grew a conscience, but last month their ringleader got drunk and spilled the truth. Gavin went to the alley behind campus by himself and warned them off.”

Slowly, I lowered the hand that had been hanging in midair, but my fingers would not stop trembling.

During junior year, Gavin came back to our rented apartment one night with a split lip and bloody scratches all over the backs of his hands.

I was so scared that I ran to a twenty-four-hour CVS in the middle of the night to buy medicine for him.

He held me in his arms and brushed it off like it was nothing.

“Didn’t some street punks bother you before? I ran into a few local thugs shaking people down for protection money today, so I got into a fight with them. It’s fine. I held my own.”

My heart ached for him so badly that I cried, and for a whole week, I got up early every morning to make him homemade chicken soup.

So he had not been standing up for me.

He had been playing knight in shining armor for Lila.

And it had not been a one-time thing. That care had lasted for seven full years, all the way until today, when they walked out hand in hand after the system verified them as true soulmates.

The truth hit me so hard that my mind went blank.

Only one thought remained in my head.

I wanted to ask him what I, the girlfriend who had spent seven years by his side, was supposed to mean to him.