On the slopes, I stumbled across a video that made me want to confront my boyfriend Ryan.

But I fell and got a concussion that wiped my memory clean.

When I woke up, Ryan told me my boyfriend was actually his roommate Paxton.

I believed him and spent two weeks getting close to this stranger who was supposedly my boyfriend.

He took such tender care of me—peeling apples to feed me, blushing to his ears whenever I leaned against his shoulder.

Until my memory returned.

Ryan smugly said, "I told you you'd come crawling back to me, didn't I?"

Looking at my hot, gentle "new boyfriend" Paxton, I couldn't bear to let him go.

So why not just switch them?

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1

I woke up to a searing pain, my head throbbing against the icy ground. That fall on the slopes had the whole world spinning. I reached back to touch my head, and my fingertips came away wet and sticky. Blood.

I distantly heard screaming, the chaotic clatter of skis and poles around me. Then, everything went black.

But before I blacked out, one image kept replaying in my mind: the short video I’d just seen on Instagram.

The scene was a frat party, the lights flashing and the music deafening.

My boyfriend, Ryan Parker, was in the middle of a smoky basement packed with college students.

We’d known each other forever; in my eyes, he was flawless. But in the video, he was completely wasted.

Madison Thompson, our year's cheerleader captain, was plastered to his side, her fingers tracing circles on his muscular chest. "Ryan, sweetie, don't drink too much. You have that game tomorrow."

Her gaze was practically glued to him, dripping with a sickly sweet adoration. In the dim light, she was practically in his lap, and he wasn't doing a thing to stop her.

Someone in the video hollered, "Hey Ryan, want us to call your girl to come get you?"

He raised his red solo cup, laughing sloppily. "No way in hell. If she showed up, she'd kill the vibe for everyone. I finally managed to ditch her for a night. I've never met a more clingy girl."

The video had been sent to me from an anonymous account. I watched it over and over, my mind reeling, unable to accept that this was how Ryan really felt.

We'd been together since high school. Our families were close friends. Everyone just assumed we'd get engaged after graduation.

With our similar backgrounds and parents already discussing engagement parties, it all felt like a foregone conclusion.

In the video, Madison fanned the flames, her voice feigning innocence. "No way. Haven't you and Fabiola been together for years? She's so in love with you."

I watched Ryan tilt his head back and snort.

"Like I can say a single bad thing about her? My parents would skin me alive if I tried to break up, and hers would finish the job."

"You guys are all jealous, but this relationship is a goddamn cage. Sometimes, I really envy you guys. You can sleep with whoever you want in college while I'm chained to her."

By that point, my vision was blurry. I rubbed my eyes, only to find my face was streaked with tears. I thought we were soulmates. Turns out, in his eyes, I was just baggage he was stuck with.

At the end of the video, a man's cold, annoyed voice cut through the noise. "Tell him to shut up."

But I didn't care about that. My only thought was to storm over to that frat house, shove my phone in Ryan's face, and demand if any of it was true.

I’m Fabiola Martinez, and I’m not the type to cling to someone who doesn’t want me. If Ryan thought I was a burden, then I’d give him exactly what he wanted.

But just as I was about to go confront him, I accidentally fell and hit the back of my head hard on the ground.

When I slowly opened my eyes, the room was spinning, and my head ached as if it were about to split open. I heard a doctor talking to someone. "The patient has a concussion from the fall. Fortunately, it's a minor one, with no internal bleeding."

A voice, low and laced with a tremor despite its coolness, asked, "Then why was there so much blood?"

"Head wounds bleed a lot; that's to be expected. The cut isn't deep. We've already taken care of it. We'll just need to observe her once she wakes up."

Then, another man’s voice cut in. "Thanks, doc. Any idea when she'll wake up? I've got places to be tonight. Can't be stuck here all day."

That’s when the man noticed my eyes were open.

"Doctor, she's awake!" he yelled.

My head was pounding. My mind was a total blank. I could only stare at him blankly. "Who are you?"

The man’s expression shifted from agitation to surprise, then to something odd I couldn't place. "I'm Ryan Parker."

I thought I saw a flicker of guilt in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant.

He offered an awkward smile, took a step back, and pushed the man beside him forward, toward my bed.

My gaze landed on the other man. His expression was cool and distant, but his deep eyes betrayed a worry he couldn't hide.

Ryan said, "This is Paxton Sullivan. He's your boyfriend. I'm his roommate and your neighbor. I came with him when I heard about your accident."

The hospital room fell silent. I watched Paxton turn to glare at Ryan, his anger palpable. Ryan just nudged him with his elbow and shot him a look.

Paxton’s clenched fist slowly relaxed.

He ignored Ryan and knelt by my bedside, his voice soft. "How are you feeling? Does your head still hurt?"

I nodded, but the movement sent a fresh wave of pain through my head, making me wince.

"Don't move!" he said urgently. "Watch the wound."

I blinked, my voice raspy. "Are you my boyfriend?"

A flash of hesitation crossed Paxton’s eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ryan jumped in first. "Yes, he is! Pax, you stay here and take care of your girlfriend. I gotta go meet Madison about our project. I'll see you later."

Before I could process, he was gone, shutting the door behind him as if he couldn’t get away fast enough.

After he left, Paxton turned back to me. Meeting my gaze, he gave a short, hesitant nod. "Yeah. I'm your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend," I said, licking my chapped lips. "I need some water."

Paxton had this naturally distant vibe. When he wasn't smiling, he looked cool and unapproachable.

His personality seemed to match.

But surprisingly, he was a surprisingly gentle caretaker. He gently helped me sit up and brought a cup of water to my lips, feeding it to me sip by sip.

Then, he peeled an apple and cut it into small, easy-to-eat pieces.

He was so attentive that even the nurse on her rounds couldn't help but tease us. "Your boyfriend looks so serious, but he's surprisingly good at taking care of you."

Paxton didn't react to the compliment, his focus entirely on me as I ate the apple slices.

The doctor said my memory loss was from the concussion and wasn't serious. It would likely take a month at most for my memories to return.

So far, all I knew was that Paxton and I went to the same college and had the same major. But I couldn't shake the feeling that something about him being my boyfriend was… off.

When we watched movies together in my room, I'd instinctively reach for his hand or lean against him. But the first time I rested my head on his shoulder, his whole body went rigid, his muscles tight as a rock.

I looked up and saw that the tips of his ears were bright red. "Paxton," I asked, "how long have we been together?"

He seemed startled for a second before answering, "Three years."

That only made me more confused. If we'd been together for three years, why would he still get shy over me just holding his hand?

A week later, Ryan showed up at my room again.

The doctor had cleared me for discharge, and Paxton was packing my things—the stuff he’d brought me on my first day in the hospital.

Ryan walked in to see me clinging to Paxton’s arm while he packed. "Paxton," I asked, "are we living together, or are we still in the dorms?"

"Maybe we should move off-campus? You said the other day that the dorms weren't convenient… you know, if we wanted to do other things," I hinted with a wink.

Paxton, trapped with me attached to him, sighed helplessly as he tried to pack. "We can talk about that later."

I pouted at that answer, so I decided to tease him.

I moved behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my chest flush against his solid back. I felt him tense up immediately. I brought my lips close to his ear and whispered, my breath ghosting against his skin, "Can we decide in the next few days? Pretty please?"

Just then, Ryan burst into the room, his face dark with fury as he roared, "What the hell are you two doing?"

The raw anger on Ryan’s face was baffling. I glanced at Paxton, whose expression was just as grim, his cold eyes fixed on Ryan.

"You've got some nerve, Paxton!" Ryan snarled.

The air crackled with tension, and I immediately stepped in front of Paxton. "Do you have a problem with my boyfriend?"

Hearing that, Ryan's face twisted into an ugly mask.

Just then, Paxton gently stroked my hair. "I need to talk to him for a second. Wait here for me, okay?"

Then he shoved Ryan out of the room and shut the door. I could faintly hear their muffled argument through the door, the volume rising and falling.

"Are you insane, Paxton? Did you forget that Fabiola is—"

"You're the one who said it was fine, weren't you?"

"So that's how it is? Fine. You can have her. But I can't wait to see what she thinks of you when she gets her memory back!"

I was still trying to figure out what that meant when I heard a dull thud from outside. Paxton and Ryan were fighting!

By the time I ru