I was just about to confess my feelings to my online crush in person when floating text suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. It looked like a live stream chat. [This side chick needs to give it a rest. The Male Lead is avoiding her like the plague. He’s mortified he spent all that time chatting with the wrong girl.] [It's totally the side chick's fault for using a profile pic that looks just like the Female Lead's. No wonder Xavier got confused.] [Ugh, thinking about how the Male Lead poured his heart out to her after losing that game makes me sick. All those deep convos were meant for our girl, not this extra.] [Tell me about it. Xavier is disgusted, and our baby girl, the Female Lead, is bummed out too. She just added him yesterday!] [This side chick is toxic.] I stood there, frozen, staring at the floating words, when Xavier walked right into my line of sight. He’d just finished a basketball game. When he saw me, his eyes darted away. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. I sidestepped him and shoved my love letter into his roommate's hands instead. Online crush? Please. I have, like, five of them. Those "goodnight" voice memos? I send those out on a mass broadcast list. 1 Seeing the floating comments really threw me for a loop. Standing outside the basketball court, watching the text scroll by, I started to piece things together. According to these comments, I'm just a cannon fodder side character in some cheesy college romance novel. And my online crush, Xavier, is the Male Lead. I looked down at the pink envelope in my hand and it clicked. No wonder his replies had been slow and dry lately. He sounded annoyed in every text. Turns out, he thought I was the Female Lead, Lily, this whole time. That’s why he added me, why he flirted with me, why he caught feelings over our "good morning" and "goodnight" texts. Now that he knows the truth, he's avoiding me like I have a contagious disease. He probably thinks I'm the villain blocking his true love. A cheer erupted from the court. I looked up. Xavier was walking toward me. He was wearing a blue jersey, white headband, looking like every college girl’s dream. He took a water bottle from a teammate and took a swig, sweat glistening. He was the Main Character, alright. He literally sparkled. He looked up, saw me, and froze. Then he stiffly looked away and started talking to his teammate, pretending I didn't exist. I sighed. The comments were right. [If I were the side chick, I’d run away. Why embarrass yourself?] [Exactly. The Male Lead and Female Lead are destined. Why is she trying to butt in? So desperate.] [Look, he won't even look at her.] Xavier really wasn't looking at me. He was glued to his phone, smiling at a text. Probably from the "real" Female Lead, Lily. As he was about to walk past me, I reached out and lightly grabbed his wrist. He looked shocked. I smiled. "You're Xavier, right?" The comments went wild. Everyone was roasting me. I ignored them and stared straight at him. "Is Kai your roommate?" "Do you know where he is?" Xavier blinked. "Why are you looking for Kai?" I waved the letter in my hand. "I have something for him." 2 Xavier didn't speak, but his nosy teammate leaned in. "Kai? You're looking for Kai? He's at the tennis courts next door." "Thanks," I said, letting go of Xavier's wrist. I turned and marched toward the tennis courts, letter in hand. Behind me, the whispers started. They weren't exactly whispering. I could hear every word. "Holy crap, she likes Kai? That dude is creepy." "Yeah, Kai gives off serial killer vibes. Why would a girl like him?" "He's pretty, though. Different from Xavier. Kai is beautiful. Some girls are into that dark, mysterious look." "Hey, Xavier, why are you so quiet?" "Xavier? Where are you going? Aren't we getting food?" Rapid footsteps approached from behind. Xavier blocked my path. "Xavier? Something else?" I asked. He frowned at me, then at the letter. He seemed to realize what he was doing and awkwardly scratched his head. "It's just... my roommate has a weird temper. You don't know him. If you just walk up to him, he might get mad. How about I give it to him for you?" The comments exploded. [What is this? Is the side chick playing hard to get?] [Scared me for a second. I thought the Male Lead actually liked this plain girl. Turns out he's just being nice.] [To be fair, when Xavier lost that game, her comfort really helped him. I'd have caught feelings too if I were him.] I paused, reading the text. They were talking about a basketball game last fall. It was important to Xavier, but he choked in the final quarter. They lost. His teammates tried to comfort him, but he could feel their disappointment. He hid away from everyone. I sent him tons of messages, but he ignored them all. Finally, I recorded a voice memo of me singing a song, deliberately off-key. He finally replied: "Stop singing. You're killing me." His voice was tired but held a hint of a smile. I stayed up all night texting him until he felt better. [She stole the Female Lead's plotline! Xavier can't like her. He's Lily-sexual only.] [Exactly. He fell for Lily at first sight. He only added the side chick by mistake.] Right. That makes sense. I shook my head at Xavier. "No thanks. I know Kai pretty well." Xavier froze. "How?" I leaned in, whispering conspiratorially, "Actually, I've known him online for three years. We just haven't met in person." I acted shy. "We're graduating soon, so I thought I'd confess offline. Give myself a shot." [What? Did the side chick mistake Kai for someone too?] [Good. Let her chase the creepy villain. Stay away from our Xavier.] [But Xavier looks kinda upset...] Xavier stood there, frowning, looking like he wanted to say something but couldn't. I looked past him and smiled. "There he is! Xavier, talk later!" "Wait! Could you be mistaken?" Xavier blurted out. I stopped. "Mistaken about what?" He gritted his teeth. "You said you haven't met. How are you sure that's the guy you've been talking to?" I laughed. "If it's not him, could it be you?" Xavier denied it instantly. "Not me." I stared at him for a second. He couldn't even meet my eyes. "So, Xavier, don't worry about it," I said, dodging past him and running toward the crowd leaving the tennis courts. Xavier raised his hand to stop me, but let it drop. 3 Kai stood out. He was 6'2", walking at the back of the group. His hair was long, tied back in a messy bun. His bangs were damp with sweat. He raked a hand through them, revealing sharp, stunning features. But his eyes were cold. "Don't come near me" cold. Nobody walked with him except during practice. I weaved through the sweaty giants and stopped right in front of him. He almost ran into me. He looked down, surprised. "What do you want?" I shoved the letter into his hand. "Just wanted to confess." Kai looked at the crumpled pink envelope in his palm, then back at me. ... I wasn't technically lying to Xavier. I did know Kai. Or at least, I thought I did. I have a problem. I have too much empathy. I want to give every sad boy a home. So, Xavier wasn't my only pen pal. Xavier needed the most validation. He whined about losing games and begged me to sing him to sleep. Kai was the opposite. He was an ice block. I’d send ten messages, and he’d reply to one. But I didn't care. He was hot. I looked him in the eye. "Hi, I'm Jane from the Statistics department. Kai, you don't have to accept my confession, but let's at least meet properly." Kai ignored me, shouldered his racket bag, and walked away. I didn't mind. I happily headed to the cafeteria. On the way, my phone pinged. It was one of my other chat buddies, "SaltySnack." [Jane, didn't your therapist say you should get a boyfriend to help with your excessive emotional attachment? How's that going?] I typed back: [Had a target, but I decided to switch.] [What about you? You said you added your crush. How's that going?] SaltySnack replied: [Meh. Now that we're talking, I don't feel like chatting with him. It's not as fun as talking to you.] Suddenly, the floating text in the air went crazy. [Wait, why are the Side Chick and the Female Lead friends?!] [Is Xavier just another fish in Jane's pond?] [Lily, baby, what are you doing! Xavier is waiting for your text, why are you talking to the side chick?!] [Jane, turn around! The creepy guy is following you!] [This plot is a mess.] I texted SaltySnack back while watching the comments. So the comments were useful after all. SaltySnack is Lily, the Female Lead. And Kai is following me! I whipped around. Kai froze. He was ten meters away. He didn't seem embarrassed at all. He walked past me expressionlessly, like nothing happened. That level of chill... he's not normal. I marveled at him and went to get food. That night, I was exhausted. I said goodnight to all my chat buddies. When I got to Xavier's chat, I paused. Oh, right. He's off the list. Just as I was about to exit, the "Typing..." indicator appeared at the top of the screen. It flashed for a while, but nothing came through. I was too tired to care. I turned off my phone and slept. 4 I was serious about finding a boyfriend. The next day, I went to find Kai right after class. I was too early; the courts were empty. I wandered around for a bit. When I came back, people were arguing. "Coach, the ball machine was broken when I got here. It looks intentional!" "Who left last yesterday?" "Kai. He came back after dinner and stayed until closing." "Check the cameras?" "Cameras are broken. Haven't been fixed yet." Kai walked up in the middle of this. Everyone stared at him. The coach frowned. "Kai, did you break the machine?" Kai looked at him. "No." His indifference annoyed the coach. "Just admit it if you did it. It's not a huge deal." The students whispered. "Definitely him." "He won't admit it because he doesn't want to pay." "What a jerk." The comments were suspicious of him too. [He's not the MC for a reason. Dude has moral issues.] [Look at his eyes. Scary.] Kai's expression darkened. He looked at someone in the crowd, paused, then pulled out his phone. He played a video for the coach. It showed an empty court. In the corner, a figure was violently kicking the ball machine. The scene flashed by, then the camera flipped to a girl's face. "Hey Kai! You're not here yet? I've been waiting forever..." My voice. My face. Everyone turned to look at me standing in the back. Even my thick skin burned a little. "Haha... sorry. Just a random vlog." But my video cleared Kai's name. The coach walked over. "Student, did you see who broke the equipment?" I pointed at a guy in the crowd. "Him." I hadn't remembered until Kai played the video. "It was him." The guy exploded. "Not me!" "It was you. You were kicking it and yelling about how unfair it was that Kai got picked for the Beijing tournament. You said he bribed the coach." The coach glared at the guy. "You said what?" "I didn't!" "Oh?" I bluffed, reaching for my phone. "I have more videos. Let me check." The guy panicked. He turned and ran. Guilty. The coach waved his hand. "Alright, break it up. Practice time!" "Coach," I said, smiling. "Did you forget something?" "What?" I pointed at Kai, who was quietly organizing his rackets. "You didn't apologize to him." "You accused him in front of everyone. Don't you owe him an apology?" Kai stopped moving. He looked up. The coach spat, "Where did this brat come from? Get lost! Don't interrupt practice!" "Everyone out! Out!" He stormed off. I wiped the spit off my face. Kai smirked. Just a tiny bit. I saw it. "You laughing at me?" His face went blank. "No." "Whatever. I helped you today. You owe me a drink." Kai looked at me, then nodded. "Okay." [Wait, do I ship them?] [This is weird. Why are they making eyes at each other?] [I haven't even seen the MC and FMC meet yet, and these two are going on dates?]
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "387277", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel