As he lifted her into his arms, Bella looped both arms around her brother’s neck.
She shot me a nasty smile before I watched Adrian drive away.
I couldn’t hold out any longer and collapsed.
When I woke again, I was in a hospital room.
It was empty except for the steady drip of an IV.
As I sat up in silence, my hand brushed against something on the bed—a small voice recorder.
A sticky note was attached, with two words written on it: Play me.
I pressed the button.
Immediately, Bella’s voice filled the air.
“Adrian, Layla’s pregnant with your child. Don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for her?”
Adrian’s tone sounded distracted.
“No. I’m just playing around with her.”
Bella’s voice was sweet and casual.
“Good. I’m bored of her too.
Three days from now, on your anniversary, you propose—then quietly tell her the truth. Tell her it was you who took her virginity, and you who spread those rumors on campus. I want to watch her reaction in person.
They say if you crush someone at their happiest moment, it can drive them insane~”
Adrian was silent for a long time before answering.
“Fine.”
The recording cut off.
I automatically started picking at my hand before realizing my fingers were icy cold.
The chill spread from my heart through every inch of my body.
I bent forward slowly, as if I could press the pain out of my chest, but it didn’t work.
The anguish was everywhere.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I clutched the recorder and sobbed.
When I returned home from the hospital, Adrian arrived almost at the same time.
Seeing me unharmed, he seemed relieved.
“Layla, about what happened at the hospital—”
“No need to explain. I don’t want to hear it.”
His brow furrowed for a second, then smoothed.
He took out a red velvet jewelry box, revealing a ruby necklace.
“I saw this on the way home and thought you’d like it.”
I stared at it without reaching for it.
When my guaranteed graduate school admission was revoked, my roommates fully believed the rumors.
They poured red paint all over my bed and scrawled “slut” and “STD” across it.
Even after I cleaned it, new insults would appear.
In the end, I moved into a single dorm room, only to find “public property” and “community bike” spray-painted on the door.
Since then, I’ve hated red.
Adrian knew that.
I took the necklace and tossed it into the trash.
“Adrian, you know exactly why I don’t like red.”
His smile froze.
He stepped forward to hug me, but I moved away.