Chapter 14 Jace's reappearance was like a storm breaking on a sunny day. He was everywhere. In front of the teaching building early in the morning, he would appear holding a paper bag from her favorite dessert shop, still steaming, trying to shove it into her hand. "Sloane, you definitely didn't eat breakfast. This..." Outside the practice room in the afternoon, he would be waiting holding a large bouquet of vibrant white roses, causing passing classmates to glance over. "I remember you said white is the prettiest." On the tree-lined path back to the dorm at dusk, stepping out from the shadows, bloodshot eyes pleading, "Sloane, let's talk, just five minutes, okay? I know I was wrong... Each time, Sloane reacted the same way. 11 She wouldn't look at him for more than a second. She stepped around the gifts without hesitation. If he tried to block her path, she said calmly, "Not needed." "Move." "You're bothering me. 11 Once, when he reached for her wrist in front of a crowd, she pulled away sharply and said, not loudly but clearly enough for everyone nearby to hear. "Jace, we are not familiar. Please stop doing these troubling things." The words pierced like needles dipped in ice. Rumors began to spread across campus like creeping vines. "Did you hear? That really handsome guy always looking for Sloane is her ex-boyfriend!" "They were childhood sweethearts, apparently. Why did they break up?" "Seems like the guy regrets it, chased her all the way to Southridge." "But Sloane looks like she really hates him..." Whispers and curious stares followed Sloane everywhere. She responded the only way she knew how-by working harder. She threw herself into her studies and club activities, keeping so busy that the noise couldn't touch her. And in the middle of this chaos, Eli became her quiet, steady shield. Chapter 14 63.64% He never once asked about Jace. But one evening, when she was cornered again on the path back to the dorm, pale and trembling slightly, Eli happened to pass by on his bike. "Sloane!" He stopped a few steps away, one foot on the ground, his tone natural. "Was just looking for you! The publicity department urgently needs the original photos from our last event. They asked me to take you over there. Is now convenient?" His voice broke the tension like a knife through fog. Sloane nodded immediately and walked over to him. Sloane put down her fork, about to get up and leave, when Eli and a few club members walked over with their trays. "This seat taken?" Eli asked with a smile, naturally slipping into the spot beside her, cutting Jace off completely. Then he turned to his friends and launched into a conversation about a coding competition, easing the tension and completely ignoring Jace's dark, stormy glare. Every one of these perfectly timed interventions poured fuel on Jace's blazing jealousy. He got worse-showing up more, following more closely, giving more extravagant gifts, apologizing more desperately. He even started digging into Eli's background. "Sloane, stay away from him! Do you even know what kind of person he is?" "What does he have? How can our years of relationship not compare to someone you've known for a few months?" "Do you like him? Answer me!" But the more hysterical and controlling he became, the colder her response. Her heart had turned to ice. No amount of begging, no display of humility, no outburst of passion could melt it now. Jace stood under the trees and watched her walk away with Eli once again. She didn't even glance in his direction. Not once. Chapter 14 63.64%