Part 3The End of the Chase: Leaving the Campus Genius Behind

I went to the campus print shop to get my application materials, and by the time I got back to my apartment, my fever had spiked dangerously high. I just collapsed into bed and passed out.

When I woke up.

Ethan was sitting right beside me.

The curtains fluttered in the breeze, the light in the room dim and golden.

It felt like a dream.

He reached out to feel my forehead. There was a glass of hot water and an opened pack of cold medicine on the nightstand: "Why didn't you tell me you had a fever? Do you still feel awful?"

It really was a dream.

But for some reason, tears started falling from my eyes, one by one.

Ethan froze in place.

After a long time, his expression softened.

His voice took on an almost illusion-like gentleness: "Why are you crying?"

I cried even harder, sobbing as I called out his name, over and over.

"Ethan, I like you so much, I really do...

"But I can't hold on anymore, Ethan. I really can't...

"I'm so tired, Ethan..."

We had been together for three years.

But it had been five years since I first started liking him.

Over those five years, I had walked step by step to stand beside him. Only I knew how agonizingly hard it was.

Some friends felt sorry for me.

What kind of girl simps this hard for a guy?

But when I said it was Ethan Vance, they all sighed in defeat.

After all, it was Ethan.

Countless girls liked him. Weren't there girls prettier and smarter than me? What was I to him? What did I even count for in his life?

But I just couldn't let him go.

I was too stubborn.

My parents, my friends, my teachers—they all said the same thing about me: I wouldn't turn back even if I slammed into a brick wall.

In the dream, the aura around Ethan seemed to grow heavy.

But he leaned in and hugged me anyway.

His voice was softer than it had ever been: "If you're tired, then get some sleep. It's okay. Just rest."

I drifted back to sleep in his soothing embrace.

Right before I passed out, I asked: "Ethan, did you... did you ever... actually like me?"

I didn't wait for an answer.

I just felt something cold lightly flick my forehead.

The touch was cold.

The tone was even colder.

"That's a punishment for being an idiot."