Why Did You Leave Me?Chapter 3

I stood frozen, my thoughts involuntarily drifting back to junior high that year. My homeroom teacher, under the guise of tutoring, tricked me into his home. Later, Everett sensed something was wrong, kicked open the door, and rescued me. But ever since then, rumors spread rapidly, saying I actively seduced the teacher, saying I was promiscuous.

I stared at Everett in disbelief. He had clearly seen me at the time, trembling and crying, curled up in a corner, unable to move. He abruptly averted his gaze, his eyes darting, unwilling to meet mine. Joanna quietly walked to my side, pretending to hold my hand, her voice deceptively gentle.

“Don’t blame Everett. I just misunderstood your relationship with him back then, and he only mentioned a few things to me. I didn’t expect others to overhear and spread rumors. Everett is always like this, he can’t stand to see me suffer.”

I subtly pulled my hand back, suppressing my emotions.

“My eyes just weren’t feeling well that day; I looked a bit longer. Everett and I are just ordinary friends, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Hearing my words, Everett’s mouth moved, as if he wanted to explain. But Joanna pulled his wrist first, leading him back to his seat. I left the celebration party in a hurry before it ended. Behind me, I heard hurried footsteps—Everett had chased after me. Seeing my reddened eyes, a flicker of pain crossed his.

“I told you already, this is just for work right now. Otherwise, I would have made our relationship public a long time ago. As for what happened that day, if you hadn’t been staring at me, causing everyone to misunderstand, why would I have said anything?”

I chuckled self-mockingly. He must have forgotten. Actually, I had texted him that day, saying I wanted to drink that bubble tea, but he never replied. When I arrived, though, I saw him cheerfully handing a cup of bubble tea to Joanna. I kept texting him, and only then did he glance down and quickly reply, “no time.”

I no longer wanted to argue with him and started walking away. Everett instinctively wanted to catch up, but his phone rang in his pocket. He answered the call, his voice instantly softening.

“Joanna, don’t be scared, I’ll be right there.”

With that, he looked in my direction, hesitated for a few seconds, then turned and quickly ran off.

The next morning, a news headline, “Everett Black’s Girlfriend Identified, and It’s Not Joanna Meng!” shot to the top of trending topics. The accompanying picture was from years ago, showing me eating barbecue at a street stall with a newly debuted Everett. Immediately after, a second headline followed: “Joanna Meng Allegedly Drinks Her Sorrows Away Late at Night, Claims She Doesn’t Want to Cause Trouble!”

I opened my phone. The screen showed over a hundred missed calls from Everett. As soon as I answered, his angry shouts erupted from the other end.

“Selene! Are you crazy? Do you really want me to announce our relationship? Do you have to make it known to everyone? Now the company is telling me never to interact with Joanna again. Are you happy now?”

I gripped the phone, my heart sinking little by little. I hung up directly. I really didn’t want to explain to him anymore. Whenever Joanna was involved, he never believed me. But the next second, Everett’s clarification statement shot to the top of trending topics again.

“Ms. Selene Kim and I are merely ordinary friends. In the past, seeing her pitiable situation, I would occasionally offer help. I didn’t expect her to keep pestering me recently. I am currently seriously pursuing Joanna Meng, so all my actions are voluntary and have nothing to do with her. I hope everyone will not involve her.”

The comment section was instantly flooded with blessings for them and insults directed at me.

“Waaah, Everett’s favoritism is only for Joanna! Please, certain people, stop being so conceited and trying to cling on!”

“Selene? I know her. She was restless in middle school, even tried to get into her teacher’s bed. Now she wants to climb the social ladder and latch onto Everett?”

The insults grew increasingly nasty. Someone had leaked my phone number, and I received countless abusive texts. Just then, chaotic footsteps and murmuring came from outside the door.

“We’ve checked the records, Selene Kim is in here!”