Chapter 5

"Alright, stop throwing a tantrum. I've been giving you the cold shoulder on purpose to help you cool down. Why haven't you figured it out yet?" Miguel was exhausted and fed up with Jessica's unreasonable behavior.

"You're saying you deliberately ignored me all night to help me cool down?" Jessica almost laughed at Miguel's twisted logic.

"Breaking up, blocking me — isn't that just your way of playing hard to get to get my attention and make me care more about you?" Miguel said with a helpless sigh.

He let out a long breath and continued, "I'll admit I've been a little neglectful lately, but you've had your tantrum — what more do you want? There's nothing going on between me and Anna. She's so amazing and beautiful — how could I ever be good enough for her?"

The moment he mentioned Anna, his eyes lit up with pure adoration, yet he turned to Jessica with a tender gaze and said, "Trust me, you're the only one I love."

Bullshit!

Jessica felt sick to her stomach. She called him out on the spot. "Miguel, every Wednesday you wake up early and wait in line for two hours on Rosendale Road to buy limited-edition cream puffs. But I'm lactose intolerant — I can't eat cream. Anna's the one who loves cream puffs."

"Last year, you used the money I gave you to buy Anna a limited-edition diamond bracelet for her birthday. What did I get? The free gift that came with her bracelet."

"And last month, at Anna's party, you saw her jump into the pool on purpose to set me up, but you refused to tell the truth. You even forced me to apologize to her."

There were countless other examples. Jessica looked at Miguel and smiled. "If this is what you call love, then your love is pretty cheap — worthless, even."

"I only did all that so you could fit in with the Whitmore family faster!" Miguel snapped back, his neck stiff with indignation. "Besides, Anna is a Whitmore — of course she gets the best of everything. When did you get so petty? Making a big deal out of nothing."

Jessica's eyes went cold. "If not wanting to be taken advantage of makes me petty, then fine, I'm petty. And not only am I petty — I'm taking back everything that was rightfully mine. From now on, don't even think about getting anything out of me."

"Miguel, the thing I'm most grateful for right now is breaking up with a shameless person like you!" Jessica's voice was sharp and clear. She had nothing more to say to him and turned to leave.

"You can't just walk away! Look at yourself!" Miguel's face went dark with rage. He charged after her and reached out to grab her shoulder. The moment his hand touched her —

Jessica had had enough. She grabbed him and threw him straight into a pile of trash.

She'd grown up in the countryside and had done rough work like slaughtering pigs. Taking down one man was nothing.

Miguel hit the trash pile before he even knew what happened and couldn't get up for a good while.

"Go tell Anna she can stop wasting her energy." Jessica stood over him and said coldly.

The commotion drew a crowd of students passing by on their morning commute. Humiliated and furious, Miguel snarled through gritted teeth, "Jessica! You crazy woman! No wonder everyone likes Anna and not you! You deserve everything you get!"

But his words couldn't touch her anymore. Jessica smiled faintly, and her eyes drifted to a figure half-hidden behind some bushes nearby.

Anna realized she'd been spotted and was about to slip away, but Jessica called out, "Anna, Miguel just stood up for you — and you're just going to walk away?"

As the crowd turned to look at her, Anna cursed Miguel under her breath, but put on her most pitiful expression.

"Jessica, Miguel cares so much about you. How could you hit him?" Anna clutched the hem of her clothes, playing the role of a helpless victim.

"I should actually thank you. If you hadn't gone after Miguel, I never would have seen through him so quickly and broken up with him." Jessica wasn't about to go easy on her — not when Anna had walked right into this. She laid everything bare in front of everyone.

Anna loved taking things from her and watching her suffer. She didn't even like Miguel, but she liked making Jessica miserable even more.

She was good at working men, it had to be said. She'd create opportunities to be alone with Miguel, show up in low-cut short skirts, let her body brush against his "by accident," and shed a few fragile tears — enough to make any man feel protective.

"I never did anything!" Anna had no intention of being linked to Miguel in front of everyone. She furrowed her brow, looking as though Jessica's words had deeply wounded her. "I know you don't like me, but Miguel genuinely cares about you. If you have a problem, take it up with me — don't drag innocent people into this."

"So you're admitting it was you who put Miguel up to asking me to hand over my spot in the physics competition?" Jessica raised an eyebrow and looked at Anna with amusement.

"That spot should've been mine to begin with if our advisor hadn't been unfair!" Noticing the confused looks from the students around her, Anna clearly wasn't going to admit anything — but she stumbled over her words.

"Okay, then let me ask you something. Do we even have the same advisor?" Jessica crossed her arms and smiled.

"No." Anna's voice was noticeably weaker, her confidence gone.

"Then where does the unfairness come in?" Jessica's smile reached her eyes as she said slowly and clearly, "Anna, don't go accusing innocent people just because you don't like me."

"You — I — !"

Anna hadn't expected Jessica to be this sharp, turning her own words against her. She was stuck, completely unable to fire back.

"Jessica! You're bullying Anna again! It's just one stupid spot — did you think we even wanted it?"

Miguel couldn't stand seeing Anna upset and tried to play the hero — not noticing that beside him, Anna's expression darkened the moment he said it.

Jessica had no interest in standing around watching the two of them put on a fake show. She let out a cold laugh and walked away.

With the main act gone, the onlookers drifted off one by one.

"Anna, don't worry — I'll take care of this for you!" Miguel waited until the others had left, then turned to Anna with a devoted look.

"Thank you." Anna forced a smile, while silently tearing him apart in her head. Who did he think he was, daring to have feelings for her?

After one setback after another, Anna couldn't hold back her frustration. Knowing she couldn't count on Miguel, she went home to figure out her next move. The moment she walked through the door, she sank onto the living room sofa and quietly began to cry.

Joseph came home to find Anna curled up alone on the sofa, tears streaming down her face. His heart ached for her and he rushed over. "Anna, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Joseph, I'm fine. Please don't blame Jessica — it's my fault. I'm the one who took her place."