Back To His 18, I’m Not His Love

Chapter 5

Sylvia's POV:

The night breeze carried a faint chill.

Adrian and I walked out of the hospital together.

He glanced at me sidelong, his tone irritable. "Why do you keep staring at me like that? If my future wife Bianca ever found out you look at me this way, he'd get jealous."

My heart clenched, the feeling slowly fermenting into a sour, bitter ache. "...What if the person you end up marrying isn't Bianca?"

"Impossible. I'm definitely marrying her!" Adrian shot back without hesitation.

After a brief pause, he added, "And if I can't marry Bianca, then I'll find someone who looks like her."

The light in my eyes dimmed.

He really had done exactly that, finding me, someone who bore a passing resemblance to Bianca.

Adrian seemed to realize what he'd said. Panic flashed across his face like he'd tripped a wire, and he scrambled to explain. "Don't overthink it. I know you and Bianca look alike, but I've never treated you as his replacement!"

I clenched my fists and said nothing.

We didn't exchange a single word for the rest of the walk home.

Once I was back in my room, I opened my computer as usual.

Adrian's messages popped up like snowflakes, one after another. Bits and pieces of his day, casual check-ins, little questions about how I was doing.

Looking at the flirtatious chat history on messaging app, then remembering the look of open disgust Adrian had given me just moments ago, I felt nothing but exhaustion.

The next day, the school posted the announcement for the New Year's Gala.

During break, the class monitor stood at the front holding a list and called out, "Every class has to prepare a performance for the Gala. This year we drew the play The White Prince and the Black Knight. Any volunteers?"

The words had barely left his mouth before Adrian shot to his feet. "The White Prince is so handsome and gentlemanly, it has to be Bianca!"

I stared silently at my notes, entirely out of place amid the buzzing excitement.

After a flurry of chatter, the female lead was assigned to Bianca, the male lead to Adrian, and only the Black Knight, the character symbolizing disaster, remained unclaimed because no one wanted the part.

That was when Blair jumped in. "Just make Sylvia do it. Isn't she the one wedged between Bianca and Adrian anyway? A walking calamity. She'd basically be playing herself."

A knowing "ohhh" rippled through the class.

My grip tightened around my pen. I was about to refuse when Adrian's voice drifted over from behind me, light and careless. "Works for me."

He was that confident I wouldn't say no to him.

I looked up and met Bianca's gaze head-on, cool and faintly mocking.

The class monitor handed us the scripts. "Find some time to rehearse."

Adrian agreed readily enough, then skipped the last period of evening study hall.

He didn't come back until almost everyone had left for the night, carrying a small cake from Homestead Bakery.

He walked right past me and set the cake on Bianca's desk. "Bianca, this is for you."

Bianca paused for a moment, then deliberately glanced in my direction. "Nothing for Sylvia?"

Her transparently pointed remark made me feel suddenly exposed and pathetic.

Adrian's eyes were fixed entirely on Bianca. "She doesn't like sweets. Don't worry about her."

I liked sweets.

Anything sweet, as long as it came from him.

Not just the creamy milk candy. The cakes from Homestead Bakery too.

That shop had always been there, opening at two in the afternoon and closing before eight, with a line stretching half a block during business hours.

But Adrian used to spend half a day waiting in that line, just to buy me one small cake.

He'd said that a little sweetness now and then was good for the mood.

I gave a hollow smile and said, "That's right, I hate sweets."

After all, every sweet memory from before had turned bitter because of this time travel.

Adrian frowned at me, something unreadable darkening his gaze.

We didn't start running lines until Bianca finished the cake.

The two of them stood close together, so close it felt deliberate, like they were physically shutting me out.

"I will marry the maiden whose foot fits this glass slipper."

Adrian knelt before Bianca, who sat on a chair holding a textbook in place of the glass slipper.

Just as Adrian was about to touch Bianca's foot, Bianca stood abruptly, glancing at the clock on the wall with a frown.

"I forgot I have a tutoring session today. I need to go."

I could see the disappointment written plainly on Adrian's face, an expression identical to the prince watching his Cinderella walk away.

Just when I thought I might finally escape this suffocating, awkward atmosphere, Bianca scribbled a string of numbers on a slip of paper and handed it to Adrian.

"Add me online. We can run lines online."