Hours slipped by with Taylor still glued to his screen, locked in a reckless showdown against Ublento Medical University’s students. Sleep never once touched him.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, his comebacks fast and sharp, yet no amount of quick wit could balance the numbers stacked against him. By morning, his thoughts were scattered, his skull aching from the endless barrage of replies.

At last, frustration snapped his patience. He slammed the laptop shut with a loud smack, buried himself under the blanket, and squeezed his eyes shut in a desperate attempt to drift off.

But rest refused to come. His body felt charged, restless, and his stomach groaned until the hunger pains became unbearable. He flung the blanket away, dragged himself out of bed, and shuffled downstairs in search of food.

Quiet greeted him at every corner of the house. The younger Evans had gone off to school or work, while the older relatives were caught up in their daily routines. The living room sat empty, and the silence only reminded him of how out of place he was— a celebrity on break with nothing but boredom for company.

The kitchen offered little comfort. He tore off a slice of bread, crammed it into his mouth, and scrolled through the family chat. Trinity’s messages lit up the screen.

Even after being dragged through the mud online all night, he had learned nothing. His bitterness boiled over, and his fingers raced to be the first to reply.

“See? What did I tell you? Lilah can’t stop throwing herself at every guy who pays her attention. I was blind to think she was different. Just watching her now makes me sick. The next time she crosses my path, I’ll put her in her place and make her understand what decency means.”

The elders of the Evans family refrained from commenting on anything involving Lilah, but the younger members had no such restraint. One after another, they jumped in.

“Taylor, what happened to you? You act like you’ve gone from head over heels for Lilah to flat-out despising her.”

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“When a guy swings that hard from love to hate, it’s usually one of two things. Either he put his heart on the line and got rejected, or she slammed the door on him before he even had the chance. Which one is it, Taylor?”

“Come on, the way Taylor flipped overnight, I’m betting on the second! Ha-ha!”

“Ooooh, the famous movie star couldn’t even get through the front gate of a so-called heartbreaker. Now he’s throwing a tantrum, and his love has curdled into hate, so he’s badmouthing her. Imagine if this little story leaked online—Taylor’s career would be toast! Ha-ha!”

Their teasing piled up, nothing but blind guesses tossed around for fun. But their words cut deep as the casual digs landed far too close to reality. Only Jason, Lance, and Jeff knew the truth.

Taylor’s temper was already stretched thin, and every word they hurled only made it worse. He tossed the bread he hadn’t finished, swung toward the couch, and braced himself to bite back.

But before he could, Jeff’s smirk came through in the group chat. “Bet when Taylor finally confessed, Lilah didn’t just slam the door in his face. She probably told him not to show up at it ever again!” s ? ?s Find?Novel.net

That froze Taylor’s fingers above the screen. Because Jeff was right. And what excuse could he possibly come up with now? In his earlier fury, he had shot his mouth off about Lilah, forgetting that Jason, Lance, and Jeff—the only three who had actually witnessed his humiliation—were also in the group chat. Taylor knew Jason wasn’t the type to put him on blast. At most, Jason would pull him aside later and scold him in private. Lance was blood. A brother wouldn’t drag him through the mud, not publicly.

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