Chapter 3

Jamie and I must be fated, somehow.

I had just told Chloe to keep an eye out for any potential matches when Jamie called me out of the blue.

I hadn’t heard his voice in ages. When I answered, it felt awkward and unfamiliar, maybe because I hadn’t completely moved on. There was still a flicker of something there.

Jamie, however, didn’t beat around the bush.

"Mari, I heard you’re looking to start dating?"

I didn’t deny it.

"Then date me," he said, laughing on the other end of the line. "I think I’m a decent enough match for you."

My mind went blank.

"Don’t you have a girlfriend?"

"Broke up," he replied nonchalantly.

“So, what do you think? Care to consider?”

There’s an old saying: if you wouldn’t tell your best friend about a decision, you probably shouldn’t do it.

Looking back, I think there’s some truth to that.

If Chloe had known I got together with the guy who had rejected me and gone on to date four other girls, she’d have killed me.

But for some reason, I didn’t say no.

Being with Jamie, my old teenage crush, wasn’t as romantic as I had imagined.

There were no roses, no dates, no gifts. It felt like we were just online chat buddies rather than a real couple.

Compared to how he treated his last girlfriend, I couldn’t help but feel the gap.

For example, one day after I finished a conference in the city, it started pouring outside, and I wanted Jamie to come pick me up.

I called him, and he said, “I just got out of the shower, don’t want to get wet.”

I had him on speakerphone, and when the others heard his refusal, they all gave me sympathetic looks.

In the end, my flatmate, Sophie, came to pick me up instead.

On the way back, Sophie tried to reassure me. “Maybe your boyfriend’s just the cool and distant type. Don’t take it to heart.”

But I knew better. Back when Nate was at her dance studio every evening, Jamie would drive her to and from practice without fail, even when it was raining. He didn’t just drive her—he joined the gym next door to keep an eye on her, worried some handsome dancer might catch her attention.

Maybe it was because this relationship didn’t feel worth showing off, but I still hadn’t told Chloe that the “hot boyfriend” I’d been vaguely mentioning was actually Jamie.