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Everyone at school knew I was Shane Sinclair's lapdog.

But no matter how contemptuously Shane Sinclair treated me, I never left his side.

That is, until a basketball game where Shane Sinclair got a cut on his cheek.

I frowned as I got to my feet. 'A replacement I worked so hard to find. What a pity.'

1

Shane Sinclair called me in the middle of the night, telling me to bring something to a hotel near campus.

He sounded frantic, rushing me three times in a single sentence.

I didn't have time to change, just throwing a heavy coat on in the dead of winter before heading out.

I stopped by a convenience store to buy what he needed, then jogged the rest of the way to the hotel he'd mentioned.

But before I even made it inside, I saw Shane Sinclair standing by the entrance from a distance, a girl in his arms.

"Hahaha, see? I told you she'd come!" Spotting me running up, Shane Sinclair gloated to the people around him.

The smile on his face was particularly jarring. A faint blush crept up beneath his eyes, a clear sign he'd been drinking again.

Whenever he drank too much, his usually sharp features would soften unexpectedly.

I found myself staring, lost in a daze for a moment. By the time I snapped out of it, one of the friends standing next to him had already started talking.

"Damn, you were right. But seriously, man, aside from your pretty face, what else have you got going for you? How'd you get this girl so wrapped around your finger she'd even buy *that kind of stuff* for you?"

That kind of stuff.

The unspoken-of items were clutched in my hand right now.

The girl in Shane Sinclair's arms blushed and burrowed shyly into his chest, which only made him laugh louder.

As for his opinion of me, he offered only three words.

"Because she's pathetic!"

That's just how Shane Sinclair was. He thought I was in love with him, so he acted however he pleased. He never bothered to hide his disgust for me, no matter who was watching.

I was used to it, so I just lowered my head and pretended I hadn't heard.

It was just that the crowd he was with today was even sleazier than usual.

Hearing Shane Sinclair call me pathetic, they exchanged glances and snickered. "Exactly how pathetic? You ever try her out?"

Shane Sinclair instantly caught their meaning. He shot me a disgusted look and waved a dismissive hand. "I'm not *that* desperate."

"True. When is Shane ever short on girls?"

The group erupted in laughter.

The girl in Shane Sinclair's arms, however, was not pleased. Her eyes widened, welling up with tears. "Didn't you say you liked me best?"

"I do. I like you best," Shane Sinclair said, rubbing her shoulder and murmuring the same sweet nothings he always used to placate girls. "Don't listen to them. They're just messing with you."

With his captivating face, a single, casual lie was all it took to make her stop crying.

Then, Shane Sinclair's gaze shifted to me, but he spoke to the girl in his arms. "Go get that stuff from her. We're heading in."

The girl walked over in a few steps. As she took the items from me, she made a point to lean in and whisper in my ear, "Heh. Once a lapdog, always a lapdog."

2

I thought she would say something else, maybe a warning.

After all, the last girl who went to a hotel with Shane Sinclair at least slapped me and warned me not to get any funny ideas.

But this one just called me a bootlicker. It was hardly effective.

I shoved the items into her hands expressionlessly, took one last, deep look at Shane Sinclair standing on the steps, and turned to leave.

By the time I finally rushed back to my dorm, the door was already locked.

I clutched my coat and knocked again and again until I woke up the dorm supervisor and she let me in.

"It's so late. Why are you just getting back now?" the dorm supervisor asked, looking me up and down.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I'm late." I signed the register and sweet-talked her a bit before finally getting back to my room.

The lights in the dorm room were already out.

The sound of me opening the door startled my three roommates.

"I was just about to ask, where have you been so late?" Our dorm leader, Quinn, poked her head out from behind her bed curtain.

"Do you even need to ask? It was Shane Sinclair again, wasn't it?" Susie chimed in.

"I'm not trying to be mean, but besides his handsome face, what part of Shane Sinclair is worth you liking him this much?" Mona threw open her curtain, fuming.

Even in the darkness, I could feel the indignation in their eyes.

"Exactly! With your looks, even if you can't get the Campus Heartthrob, you could at least land a Department Heartthrob! And what about Sean Rollins from Class 6? He likes you so much! He even got into a fight last time because Shane Sinclair was making fun of you, so why do you..."

Susie was a chatterbox; once she got started, she could go on forever.

I ignored her, washed up, and climbed into bed, clutching the old phone from my drawer.

Seeing that I hadn't said a word, Susie finally sighed, shut her mouth, and went to sleep.

: 3

3

The girls in our dorm have always been close, mostly because the other three couldn't stand how love-brained I was.

Just two days into college, I made a grand confession to Shane Sinclair in front of our whole class.

Shane Sinclair had probably been spoiled by girls his whole life, so he was completely unmoved by my grand, public confession.

He just sat in his chair with a mocking smile. "You say you like me? How many days have you even known me?"

I stared at his face. "Three days."

School had only been in session for three days, and here I was confessing to him. It was no wonder he looked so utterly disdainful.

'But with a face like his, I felt that even waiting three days to confess was a bit too long.'

"You've only known me for three days and you're already saying you like me. Who do you think you are?"

"Are you the Newly-crowned Campus Belle or some rich man's daughter? What a joke!"

His words were sharp and cruel, but my gaze on him didn't waver in the slightest.

That was probably why Shane Sinclair started to take an interest in me.

"You're not my type, but if I rejected you outright, that wouldn't be very nice of me, now would it?"

"How about this. If you can keep liking me for three months, and do whatever I tell you to, then I'll agree to go out with you!"

I nodded.

From then on, whenever Shane Sinclair called, I would drop whatever I was doing and run to him. I never refused.

At first, my roommates just talked about me behind my back.

Then one day, I accidentally walked in on them bad-mouthing me in our dorm room, so I just told them they could say it to my face from now on.

"So, you know you're love-brained?" Susie, who I didn't know very well back then, was the boldest one.

She asked me bluntly, and I nodded in admission.

"But why? Why are you so set on liking him?" Susie asked, unable to understand.

"You're so pretty, and it looks like your family's well-off. Why are you so fixated on a scumbag who doesn't even like you back?"