Their blatant defense of Ethan chilled me to the bone.

I had grown up with them. For as long as I could remember, Jessica and Megan had been like family to me. They once swore they would treat me well for a lifetime—that no matter who I chose in the future, the other would sincerely support me.

But everything changed in our second year of high school, when Ethan transferred to our school.

He told me he was a poor student my family had been sponsoring all along, and even brought me sweet potatoes from his village as a token of gratitude.

He seemed honest and sincere, so I introduced him to Jessica and Megan. I never expected that from that moment on, everything would change.

They shifted all their attention and care to Ethan, repeatedly using our bond as leverage to pressure me into yielding to him.

Back then, I was foolish. I still held onto hope in them, and that was how I ended up losing my life.

Now, I only wanted to stay as far away from them as possible.

"Then from now on, let's stop contacting each other. You can go to your community college, I'll go to the university of my choice. Let's pretend we never knew each other."

Jessica and Megan clearly hadn't expected such an answer. Both of them stiffened.

Without looking at them again, I picked up my laptop bag and turned to leave. But suddenly, Ethan snatched it from my hands.

"Ryan, I know you've always liked Jessica and Megan. You're just saying this out of anger. Just so you won't regret it later, I'll fill out your application for you."

He opened my laptop and logged into my account, preparing to submit my choices himself.

Panic flared in me immediately. I rushed forward to grab it back, but he quickly hid behind Jessica and Megan, using them to block me.

Alone, I couldn't get past them. I could only watch helplessly as he filled in a community college as my choice.

Once the application was submitted, he handed the laptop back to me, his eyes brimming with smug satisfaction.

"You only get three chances to modify your application. I've already used them all. Now, you have no choice but to go to community college with us."

Rage surged through me. I raised my hand and slapped him.

"How dare you make decisions for me without my permission!"

Jessica seized my wrist and shoved me hard to the ground, snapping, "Ethan was doing this for your own good. I can't believe you not only refuse to be grateful, but actually repay kindness with ingratitude!"

Megan looked down at me from above. "It's done now. The application is finalized. Just accept it and attend community college with us."

"Ethan has already agreed that after school starts, he'll choose one of us to be his girlfriend. The one he doesn't choose can reluctantly be your girlfriend instead."

I stared at them coldly. "Do you think I'm a trash bin? Picking up whatever he throws away?"

Jessica and Megan glared at me in fury. Ethan quickly stepped in to calm them.

"Jessica, Megan, don't be angry. Ryan will eventually understand that we're doing this for his good. The movie is about to start. Let's go."

The three of them turned and walked toward the cinema upstairs together.

I looked at the submitted application on my laptop, a hollow coldness filling my chest. Had I really been reborn just to end up entangled with these three again?

Clutching the laptop, I went home to find my parents.

The moment they saw me, all the grievance I had been holding back surged up. Tears fell uncontrollably from my eyes.

My mother reached out and gently wiped them away. "Ryan, what happened?"

My voice broke as I told them everything that had just occurred.

My father slammed his hand on the table, his face dark with anger. "Outrageous! That ungrateful bastard! After everything our family did to support his education, this is how he repays us?"

My mother was equally anxious. "Now that Ryan's application has been submitted, what do we do?"

Without hesitation, my father picked up his phone and called the teacher, asking whether a wrongly submitted application could still be revoked.

The teacher explained that as long as the application period had not ended, students could modify their choices an unlimited number of times.

The so-called "only three changes allowed" rule was nothing more than a scare tactic to make students take the application process more seriously.

My choices were restored.

But I knew very well that things between me and Ethan—and those two girls—were far from over. Since neither in this life nor the last had they been willing to let me go, I would no longer be a sitting duck.

After planning everything carefully, I finally felt the heavy weight in my chest lift.

Believing that my admission to a community college was already set in stone, Ethan went traveling with Jessica and Megan.

Every day, he sent me photos of the three of them being intimate.

[Ryan, how does it feel to watch the two women you like fawning all over me? Not good, right?]

[Jessica and Megan both said they'd rather be my second choice than pick you. As a man, don't you think that's pretty pathetic?]

Faced with his constant provocation, I felt nothing at all. I simply knew his good days were numbered.

When the acceptance letter from Horvarte University arrived, the homeowners' association posted an announcement in the community group chat.

[One student in our community has been admitted to Horvarte University. The Local Community Foundation will award a 10,000-dollar scholarship as an encouragement. Residents who are available tomorrow are invited to attend the award ceremony!]

This was a long-standing tradition in our community. For top universities like Horvarte and Stanferte, acceptance letters would first be held by the foundation, and an award ceremony would be held before they were officially handed over.

The group chat immediately exploded with congratulatory messages.

Then Jessica's mother sent a voice message.

"Thank you all for your blessings. Jessica will continue to work hard once she gets to Horvarte!"

Immediately, the residents began praising her and asking for parenting advice.

At that moment, Megan's mother also sent a voice message.

"The one who got into Horvarte is obviously Megan. Mrs. Miller, how shameless can you be to claim it as your daughter's?"

Mrs. Miller fired back instantly. "You're the shameless one! My Jessica scored a 1490. She already told me she was admitted to Horvarte!"

Mrs. Flores replied, furious. "My Megan scored a 1510! If anyone got in, it's her! Don't you know that in top-tier admissions, even ten points can make a world of difference? 20 points is a huge gap!"

The two of them argued viciously in the group chat, each insisting their daughter had been admitted to Horvarte.

Watching the flood of messages, I sneered inwardly. If they knew their precious daughters had abandoned top universities just to chase some poor guy to the worst community college, I wondered if they would pass out from rage.

In the end, the foundation stepped in to mediate and confirmed that only one student in our entire community had been admitted to Horvarte. As for who it was, that would be revealed at the award ceremony the next day.

Because of the chaos in the group chat the night before, the award ceremony drew an unusually large crowd. Everyone wanted to see which family had produced the Horvarte admit.

Before the ceremony began, the three of them—Ethan, Jessica, and Megan—approached me.

Ethan looked at me and said, "Ryan, you should have reflected on yourself by now. As long as you sincerely apologize and promise that my tuition and living expenses at the community college will still be covered by your family, the four of us can go back to how things were before—best friends."

"But community college is expensive. It's not like before when it was 500 dollars a month. Now it needs at least 2,000 dollars a month."

I nearly laughed out of sheer anger at his shamelessness.

"Ethan, let me make this clear—my family will not sponsor you a single cent from this moment on."

His eyes turned red as he looked toward Jessica and Megan for support.

They immediately turned on me.

"Ryan, don't be ungrateful! Ethan is still willing to accept your family's support—that's already doing you a favor."

"If you don't agree today, don't expect us to look out for you at the community college!"

A cold smile curved my lips as I looked at them.

"You should be worrying about yourselves instead."

...

On stage, the foundation representative held up the Horvarte acceptance letter and announced loudly, "Please welcome Ryan Jenkins to the stage to receive your Horvarte University acceptance letter and a cash scholarship of 10,000 dollars."

Under the gaze of everyone present, I walked onto the stage and received what was rightfully mine—the Horvarte acceptance letter.

At that moment, Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Flores rushed onto the stage, shouting in disbelief.

"This is impossible! There must be a mistake! That acceptance letter belongs to my daughter, Megan!"

"The one admitted to Horvarte should be my Jessica!"

Just then, a delivery driver in a blue uniform stepped forward and called out, "Jessica Miller and Megan Flores, your acceptance letters have arrived."