Chapter 3

The next morning, I deliberately slept in.

By the time I finished getting ready, Vanessa was already sitting at her desk in full glam, waiting for me.

The second she saw me, she leaped up with dramatic excitement.

"Nora! What took you so long? I already submitted the post to the Confession Wall! Go check it out right now!"

Underneath her excited tone lay barely concealed malice and glee.

Pretending to be clueless, I nervously opened my phone and tapped into the campus forum.

Pinned right at the top in bold red letters was the headline:

[Delusional CS Girl Thinks She Can Bag a Millionaire: Public Callout to Chase!]

I clicked on it. The main image was that god-awful snapshot from Freshman Orientation Week.

Under the scorching sun, my face was shiny with sweat, teeth bared, expression looking like an abstract Picasso disaster.

Below the photo was the vulgar, gold-digging caption Vanessa had concocted.

The comment section was already in flames, racking up over a thousand replies in just one hour.

[Jesus Christ! My eyes! Somebody bleach my eyes!]

[That greasy face, that cursed grin... Which major let this monster loose?]

[Wants to cry in a BMW? Chase’s tires are cleaner than her face.]

[Saved the photo. Next time someone pisses me off, this is getting sent to their inbox.]

Mocking memes made from my photo flooded the thread. The entire forum had turned into a cruel circus, and I was the freak tied to the stake for everyone’s amusement.

Our other two roommates saw the post too. When they looked at me, their eyes were filled with pity mixed with thinly veiled disgust.

"Nora... what is this? Did someone prank you?"

Vanessa instantly launched into her routine. She wrapped her arms around me, trembling with indignation.

"This is sick! How could people say such awful things about our Nora? That photo was definitely edited! And the text is complete slander! Don't be scared, Nora, I’ll help you talk to the forum admin!"

As she spoke, she snuck a glance at my face, her eyes glimmering with triumphant malice, as if saying: "See? That’s what happens when you try to touch the guy I want."

I trembled from head to toe, my face pale as paper, looking completely shattered. I could barely stay on my feet.

"Vanessa... what do I do...?"

"Don't worry, you have me!" Vanessa rubbed my back, sounding righteous. "We’re going to find the admin right now! We'll make him delete the post, find out who did this, and force them to apologize to you!"

I leaned into her shoulder, my voice choked with tears. "But... we don't even know who runs the page..."

"I do!" Vanessa blurted out. "I looked into it. Word is, the admin is one of the library assistants! Let's go find Chase, he definitely knows who it is!"

Here it was.

Finally.

This was her true objective all along.

All she wanted was an excuse to walk up to Chase looking like the loyal, protective best friend standing up for justice.

I clenched my nails into my palms, using the sharp physical pain to suppress the overwhelming urge to kill her.

"Okay... let's go find him."