I couldn’t believe those words came from William.
He seemed to realize he’d gone too far and reached out to tug at my sleeve.
"Emily… I didn’t mean that."
But I had lost all my patience. I rushed home, locked myself in my room, and cried the whole night.
I stopped talking to William, burying myself in my studies every day, wanting only to leave this place as soon as possible.
I remember when I first entered high school, I told William I wanted to go to the same university as him, but now I just wanted to be as far from him as possible.
Throughout the second semester of senior year, I didn’t say a single word to William.
After the college entrance exam, William came to find me.
He came to my house holding a bouquet of jasmine.
"Emily, I went too far before. Can you forgive me?"
"I still don’t want to be separated from you. I’m giving you jasmine, hoping you won’t leave."
He promised he would never let others hurt me again, and that he would always put me first.
In the end, I softened, and we agreed to choose the same place.
When filling out applications, William and I were together.
We picked the most likely schools in London; he applied to MIT and Harvard University, while I chose an art academy.
At the time, I was grateful, thinking I might stay happy with William forever.
But I was wrong. I forgot to log out of William’s computer.
It wasn’t until I wasn’t admitted anywhere that I found out my applications had been changed.
All my safety schools were replaced with ones far beyond my score. I failed to get into any of my choices.
The only one who could do this, and with a motive, was Felicity.
Because she filled out her application at William’s house, and she used his computer.
I frantically found her and slapped her in front of William.
William, who had promised not to hurt me again, grabbed my sleeve and asked if I was delusional, accusing Felicity of his own failure to be accepted.
But he forgot that I filled out my applications when we were together, so what reason would I have to ruin my future?
I pointed at Felicity and yelled, but William just called me crazy.
In the end, he left with Felicity, leaving me alone, devastated.
In just one day, my future, my love, everything was gone.
Later, I learned that Felicity had confessed her feelings to William that day.
The next morning, instead of an apology from William, I received a recording from Felicity.