Part 1The End of the Chase: Leaving the Campus Genius Behind

"Just because I helped her sign the attendance sheet, and not you?"

"Yes."

Ethan’s tone was still cold. "Fine. Suit yourself."

He lowered his head to continue typing his code, not sparing me another glance.

And because of that, I never got the chance to tell him.

Because I failed that attendance check, my grade dropped, and I completely lost my guaranteed spot in our university's graduate program. I had no choice but to apply out of state.

We would be separated by thousands of miles, making it incredibly hard to ever see each other again.

Before I left, I threw everything related to Ethan Vance into the trash, including the promise ring we bought together.

Later, I heard the rumors.

The brilliant, neat-freak golden boy of the Harvard Computer Science department absolutely lost his mind.

Just for a single ring, he dug through a literal mountain of garbage with his bare hands until dawn.

* * *

"Just because I helped her sign the attendance sheet, and not you?"

The lecture hall was completely empty.

Ethan Vance looked up carelessly, his eyes meeting mine. There was barely a trace of emotion in them.

I nodded.

"Yes. So, we're done here."

Ethan’s gaze lingered on me for two seconds.

But only for two seconds.

He lowered his head and went back to the unfinished project on his laptop. He didn't look at me again.

"Fine. Suit yourself."

Even Chloe, the junior standing innocently beside him, looked at me with a hint of concern.

But I was his girlfriend of three years.

He still hadn't noticed that I had been running a high fever for three days, my face flushed to an unnatural degree.

I gave a self-deprecating smile.

I turned to leave, but Chloe grabbed my arm:

"Senior, he only helped me sign in because we pulled an all-nighter for a project all week. He knew I was just running out to grab coffee and bagels, so he did it as a favor... He even asked me to bring you a coffee too. It's really not what you think."

I was already dizzy from the fever. Caught off guard by her pull, I stumbled and fell hard onto the floor.

My knee scraped painfully against the edge of the lecture hall steps.

The sharp, stinging pain cut through my physical exhaustion, and my eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"Senior!"

Chloe hurriedly tried to help me up.

Her eyes kept darting anxiously toward Ethan, trying to gauge his reaction.

But she clearly didn't understand the kind of person Ethan was.

Hearing the commotion, Ethan looked up blankly, his brow furrowing slightly. "Chloe, do you have too much free time?"

Chloe, who had just been about to explain that it wasn't on purpose, froze in place. "Huh?"

"If you have so much free time, come over here and finish your part of the code."

I met Ethan’s dead, ripple-less eyes.

I finally accepted it.

He would always be an unshakeable mountain to me. No matter what happened, I couldn't move him an inch.