The once warm family of three was now just an empty house.

In the end, my parents took pity on him and cared for him like their own son.

From then on, William and I were inseparable, never apart again.

He was always outstanding, with excellent grades and handsome looks.

And I was just an ordinary girl, not pretty, with average grades, my only notable quality being perhaps my talent for drawing.

But I never felt unworthy of William.

He once said that our family gave him the warmth of all families; we were his family.

He also said that I was a ray of light in his dark world.

One evening after self-study in my first year of high school, I walked home with William as usual.

In a secluded alley, we encountered William’s father.

He reeked of alcohol, his words and actions unsteady, and his behavior erratic.

It turned out he had gone bankrupt, his mistress had run away, and now he had turned to William.

William didn’t want to go with his father, who suddenly lunged at him, trying to drag him away.

I stood in front of him without hesitation, driving his father off.

Actually, I was so scared my legs could barely stand, but I was even more afraid of him getting hurt.

That night, William hugged me tightly and said he would only love me for the rest of his life.

After entering high school, William became increasingly outstanding, attracting countless girls to pursue him.

William was consistently the top student in the grade, while I was just an average art student.

I was afraid he would leave me, but William would only laugh and pinch my nose, saying, "Silly girl, how could I leave you? I can never repay the kindness you and your aunt and uncle have shown me."

I thought we would be happy like this forever, until Felicity appeared.

One hot summer day, I was doing my homework with William at his house when there was a knock at the door.

When I opened it, a bright and cheerful girl with braided pigtails stood there.

She said she had just moved in and was William’s new neighbor. Her light voice seemed to dispel the summer heat, but I felt uneasy.

Perhaps it was because she was so beautiful, or perhaps it was because I noticed the sparkle in her eyes when she looked at William.

Later I realized that this unease wasn’t just a feeling, but a shadow over the rest of my high school life.

The next day, I learned that Felicity had not only become William’s new neighbor, but had also transferred to our school.

The monthly exams had just finished, and the teacher was reviewing the results. I, whose grades were average, had managed to get first place in the class for Chinese, but just as the teacher finished praising me, Felicity appeared at the classroom door.

The whole class erupted in excitement. No one cared about my grades anymore; everyone was looking at Felicity outside the door.

"Wow, our school is such a beauty!"

"Are you crazy? She’s obviously a transfer student; otherwise, how come I haven’t seen her before?"

That’s when I realized that Felicity had not only become William’s neighbor, but was also about to become our classmate.

What I didn’t expect was that when choosing a deskmate, Felicity chose me.

"Emily, you’re the only girl I know in this class. You’ll have to help me out in the future."

"I know you and William are close. Can you take me with you next time?"

Her smile was radiant, like the warm sun in winter.

And I, it seemed, couldn’t find any reason to refuse.

From then on, a third person entered between William and me.

I didn’t have many friends in class, and ever since Felicity arrived, my classmates all thought that she and William were perfect for each other, even though William liked me.

"The class beauty and the class heartthrob are together; why does Emily keep getting in the way?"

"Who knows, a toad trying to eat swan meat."

Back then, I sincerely considered Felicity a friend and even asked her if I really didn’t deserve William.

But Felicity simply smiled and said, "How could that be, Emily? Even if you’re not pretty, William doesn’t care about that."

"By the way, William wants to take you to the amusement park this weekend. He was too shy to tell you himself, so he asked me to pass the message. Don’t forget!"

Although William and I already had an unspoken understanding, this was the first time we had ever gone on a date like that.

That day after class, I left early on purpose. It was pouring hard, but I still went to a faraway mall to buy William a gift.

I chose a tie, and the salesperson asked if it was for my boyfriend. I nodded shyly.

On the day of the amusement park trip, I wore a pale yellow dress, letting my hair down from its usual ponytail. While waiting at the entrance, I kept wondering if I looked too dressed up.

But I waited until it turned dark, and William never appeared. My messages went unanswered.

I completely lost hope; I worried something had happened to William.

It was already dark, and on the way there, I slipped and fell in a muddy puddle. My pale yellow dress was covered in mud, and the tie flew away.

When I arrived, the moment I pushed open the door, I saw Felicity lying on William’s bed, while William was preparing her cold medicine.

"Why are you only coming now? Where have you been? I couldn’t find you all day."

"You don’t know, Felicity got caught in the rain yesterday. She fainted with a fever early this morning. If I didn’t live next door, I don’t know how dangerous it would’ve been."

He gave me no explanation for standing me up—only anger and blame. In all the years we’d known each other, this was the first time he’d ever been this angry with me.

Felicity, eyes brimming with tears, said, "Emily, I know you had something urgent yesterday, but in such heavy rain, you shouldn’t have taken my umbrella."

"I didn’t have any cold medicine, and my parents were away on a business trip. I kept messaging you, but you blocked me. Luckily, I collapsed when I came to find William, or I don’t know what would have happened."

At that, Felicity choked up, "Emily, I came here just to study, and I’ve always treated you as my best friend. Why did you do this…" William reached out and wiped her tears, cutting her off, "That’s enough, you don’t need to say more."

I froze. So Felicity had given him a completely different story.

My eyes filled with tears, and it took a long time before I could speak. I tried to hand the tie to William, saying, "I didn’t, I just…" but William didn’t even look at me. Instead, he handed his cup to Felicity.

I felt like an outsider. After a long moment, I chose not to stay and walked out of William’s house.

Because of this, William and I had our first cold war.

After school resumed, I quietly changed seats, no longer sitting beside Felicity.

And the looks from the other students grew increasingly strange. Felicity told everyone I was pretending to be a victim because William favored her.

Wherever I went, the classroom buzzed with gossip about me.

"See? I told you she wasn’t worthy of the class heartthrob; she just had to interfere."

"It's only because the class beauty is kind-hearted that she’s willing to spend time with her. If it were me, I would’ve walked away long ago. In the end, she’s even worse than before. What’s with all this fake high-mindedness?"

Suddenly, I felt like a rat everyone wanted to stomp on, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

Even William wouldn’t spare me a second glance.

Back then, as a teenager, I couldn’t bear that kind of humiliation.

Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and went to find William after evening self-study.

He was still correcting Felicity’s mistakes, and when he saw it was me, surprise flickered in his eyes.

I walked home with William, and I told him all my grievances, asking why he was treating me like this.

But when I mentioned Felicity had deliberately tricked me into going to the amusement park and then falsely accused me of taking her umbrella, William frowned.

He cut me off impatiently, saying, "I don’t know why you’re always so hostile to her. She’s not the person you think she is; she can’t understand your scheming."

"Since meeting Felicity, I’ve realized how jealous you are. She’s so kind to you, yet you talk about her like that. Just because she’s pretty, you keep framing her?"

"Do you know she had a high fever that day, and even after you left, she kept wondering if she’d said too many hurtful things?"

I was stunned. After so many years, I didn’t expect William to distrust me this much.

"Emily, after all these years, this is the first time you’ve made me feel so disgusted. Is it because you’re ordinary that you can’t stand seeing others do well?"

I couldn’t believe those words came from William.

He seemed to realize he’d gone too far and reached out to tug at my sleeve.

"Emily… I didn’t mean that."

But I had lost all my patience. I rushed home, locked myself in my room, and cried the whole night.

I stopped talking to William, burying myself in my studies every day, wanting only to leave this place as soon as possible.

I remember when I first entered high school, I told William I wanted to go to the same university as him, but now I just wanted to be as far from him as possible.

Throughout the second semester of senior year, I didn’t say a single word to William.

After the college entrance exam, William came to find me.

He came to my house holding a bouquet of jasmine.

"Emily, I went too far before. Can you forgive me?"

"I still don’t want to be separated from you. I’m giving you jasmine, hoping you won’t leave."

He promised he would never let others hurt me again, and that he would always put me first.

In the end, I softened, and we agreed to choose the same place.

When filling out applications, William and I were together.

We picked the most likely schools in London; he applied to MIT and Harvard University, while I chose an art academy.

At the time, I was grateful, thinking I might stay happy with William forever.

But I was wrong. I forgot to log out of William’s computer.

It wasn’t until I wasn’t admitted anywhere that I found out my applications had been changed.

All my safety schools were replaced with ones far beyond my score. I failed to get into any of my choices.

The only one who could do this, and with a motive, was Felicity.

Because she filled out her application at William’s house, and she used his computer.

I frantically found her and slapped her in front of William.

William, who had promised not to hurt me again, grabbed my sleeve and asked if I was delusional, accusing Felicity of his own failure to be accepted.