Loving the Unloving

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“You’re Russell Link’s wife?”

The three of us froze.

Every muscle in my body stiffened.

That voice..

It hadn’t come from Nari.Or Giselle.

Slowly, we turned toward the source.

A tall figure stood behind our table.

His expression was unreadable.

But judging from the shock in his eyes…

He had heard everything.

My heart dropped.

Oh no.

Of all people…

Why did it have to be him?

I quickly covered his mouth.

“Jay, seriously!” I pulled him down to sit beside me.

“But is it true?” He still looked completely unconvinced.

Jay was one of my closest guy friends—although, to this day, I had no idea how we even became friends in the first place.

The only thing I clearly remembered was that he was the one who helped me during enrollment at this university.

Well, “helped” might be the wrong word.

He was actually the one who gave me the wrong directions.

Since we ended up sharing a minor subject, we gradually became friends. He could be grumpy and annoyingly blunt, but deep down, he was a decent person.

He belonged to the Engineering Department—Computer Engineering, according to him.

I wasn’t the type to pry into people’s lives, and Jay definitely wasn’t the type to volunteer information. Every conversation with him was a one-question, one-answer ordeal. Sometimes talking to him felt like interviewing a brick wall.

He was tall, fair-skinned, handsome, and looked ridiculously rich.

In short, he had the looks.

“Shhh!” I warned, still trying to keep him quiet.

“That’s exactly how I reacted too, Jay,” Nari added.

Honestly, who wouldn’t be shocked?

How could someone like Link—a genius and one of the most well-known students in the entire university—possibly be interested in someone like me?

Link was an Architecture student.

“How the hell did you even propose to him?” Jay asked in disbelief.

“With actual legal documents? Not some wedding booth certificate?”

He shook his head dramatically.

“No way. Even if it came from a wedding booth, I still wouldn’t believe it.”

“Wow. You sure have a lot to say today, Jay,” I shot back.

The three of them exchanged glances, still looking unconvinced.

“I’ll tell you everything when the time is right,” I said with a mischievous grin.

“Bring the documents too,” Jay replied immediately. “And don’t even think about making fake ones, you retard.”

“Am I really that ugly in your eyes, Jay?” I asked before lightly punching his arm.

“What kind of answer do you want?” he shot back. “The fake one or the real one?”

So annoying.

I let out a dramatic sigh.

“You don’t sound like a friend at all. Why are you even hanging around our department?”

“Exactly!” Nari chimed in.

“Is there some law that says Engineering students aren’t allowed to visit the Medical Department’s cafeteria?” Jay replied lazily.

The three of us burst out laughing.

Jay was the type of person who genuinely didn’t care about what anyone thought of him. A clothing brand had even tried to recruit him as a model once, but he turned them down without hesitation.

His reason?

“I’m not cheap.”

That was it.

“What about your annoying friend?” Giselle asked.

She was referring to Miggy.

A ridiculously hyper Korean guy.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure why, but it felt like half the students in this university had foreign blood.

“He’s dead,” Jay answered coldly.

At the same time, he casually grabbed the canned soda sitting in front of me.

“Hey! Freeloader!”

Truthfully, fitting in here hadn’t been easy.

I came from a family that struggled to make ends meet. Compared to most students in this university, I was practically from a different world.

Still, I wasn’t the type to pick fights, and fortunately, I had never been bullied either.

Maybe I was just lucky.

“It’s a miracle he hasn’t bothered you today, Ari,” Jay said.

He was still talking about Miggy.

That guy was unbelievably persistent.

He constantly called me “crush.”

At first, it made me uncomfortable, but eventually I got used to it. Since he spent most of his break times hanging out with our group, his teasing slowly became part of our daily routine.

“Hi, cruuuush!”

Oh no.

“Speaking of the dead,” Giselle muttered.

“Right on cue. I wonder what that i***t brought this time,” Nari added.

Even the students at the neighboring tables turned to look in our direction.

Miggy walked toward us carrying a paper bag.

The logo of Pepper Lunch was printed on the side.

“You should eat healthier food, Crush.”

He placed the bag in front of me with a proud smile.

“Tss.”

Jay clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Thanks, Miggy, but we’ve already eaten,” I said apologetically.

Miggy ignored that and sat beside me.

I nudged Jay, silently asking him to move over, but he didn’t budge.

So I elbowed him lightly.

Still nothing.

“Damn, I’m late,” Miggy complained.

Miggy was cute.

Not just handsome—cute.

He had the kind of fresh, clean aura that made him seem like he constantly smelled like baby powder. Sometimes he looked more like a K-pop idol than an engineering student.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a rookie trainee from some entertainment company.

Like Jay, he was also an Engineering student and one of Jay’s classmates.

The two of them were close friends, but their personalities couldn’t have been more different.

Miggy was loud, energetic, and impossible to ignore.

Jay was strict, quiet, and permanently irritated by everything.

Despite everything, I somehow found my place with them—Nari, Giselle, Jay, and Miggy.

Even though I often felt that my life was completely different from theirs, I could feel the sincerity of their friendship.

After my father died and I moved in with the Veylan family, I constantly felt alone.

Like I didn’t belong.

They never mistreated me, but there was always a certain distance between us.

Aliya and Eliya, the twins, were polite enough. But Link, especially Link, was impossible to read.

Sometimes, I felt that Aunt Eleanor wasn’t particularly fond of me either.

The family only seemed genuinely warm whenever we visited Mr. Veylan at the hospital.

As far back as I could remember, the hospital had practically become his second home. His health was monitored around the clock, twenty-four hours a day.

Even when my father was still working as a gardener at the Veylan estate, I rarely saw Mr. Veylan in person.

That was why I enjoyed coming to school.

For a few hours every day, I could forget the loneliness.

Here, with my friends, I felt like I belonged somewhere.

And that was enough.

Enough to keep moving forward.

Enough to keep dreaming.

Back then, my father was all I had.

No relatives.

No mother.

My life was filled with unanswered questions, but my father’s answer never changed.

My mother had died shortly after giving birth to me.

My grandparents were gone too. They had no siblings, and the few relatives we had lived far away in the province.

In the end, it had always been just the two of us against the world.

“Bye, Ari! My ride’s here. See you tomorrow!” Nari called out cheerfully before waving goodbye.

I smiled and nodded.

Giselle had already left earlier. She had offered to drive me home, but I declined. Our houses were in completely different directions, and I didn’t want to inconvenience her.

As usual, I planned to wait for a jeepney and then walk the rest of the way into the subdivision.

I had barely made it past the school gate when disaster struck.

The handle of my bag suddenly snapped.

The weight of the textbooks inside was apparently too much for the worn-out material.

Before I could react, my belongings spilled onto the pavement.

Books.

Pens.

Notebooks.

Even the small pouch containing my school supplies rolled several feet away.

“Oh, Ari!”

A few of my classmates happened to be passing by.

They quickly crouched down and helped gather some of the things scattered across the ground.

“Th-thank you,” I said softly.

Embarrassed, I immediately tried to hide the broken strap behind my back.

Unfortunately, they had already seen it.

“I have an extra bag at home, if you want.”

The girl who spoke smiled.

To anyone else, it might have sounded like a kind offer.

But the look in her eyes told a different story.

The subtle mockery.

The amusement.

The way her friends exchanged knowing glances.

I felt myself shrink under their gazes.

My fingers tightened around the torn strap.

“Thank you, but you don’t have to bother,” I replied politely.

I turned, intending to leave.

“No, I insist.”

One of her friends giggled.

The sound immediately set off alarm bells in my head.

“Seriously, stop using that broken bag.”

Another laugh.

“You’re really forcing yourself to carry that thing around?”

Their eyes traveled over my worn uniform, my old shoes, and the damaged bag I was desperately trying to hide.

“The tuition at this university costs a fortune, but you can’t even afford a new bag?”

More laughter followed.

Each word felt like a needle.

I lowered my gaze.

Not because they were right.

But because I was tired.

Tired of people looking at me that way.

“By the way,” another girl added, crossing her arms, “I’ve always wanted to ask…”

Her smile widened.

“How exactly did you get into this school?”

The others exchanged amused looks.

The implication was obvious.

Someone like me didn’t belong here.

I took a slow breath.

There was no point arguing.

No point defending myself.

People who had already decided who you were never listened anyway.

So I chose to walk away.

But before I could take more than a step, someone grabbed my arm.

Hard.

I froze.

“I’m talking to you, witch.”

The insult was accompanied by a sharp tug.

Before I could respond—

“Hey, stupid!”

A deep male voice suddenly echoed across the area.

The girl immediately released my arm.

Everyone turned.

Including me.

A tall figure was striding toward us.

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

The casual amusement disappeared from their faces.

The young man stopped a few feet away.

His expression was cold.

Dangerously cold.

His eyes moved from my face to my wrist, where faint red marks were beginning to form.

Then he looked at the girls.

“Do you have a problem with her?”

His voice wasn’t loud.

But it carried authority.

The kind that made people instinctively straighten their backs.

“N-No,” my classmate stammered.

“We were just talking.”

“Talking?”

His gaze dropped to the broken bag in my hands.

The girl’s confidence visibly faltered.

“I-I was only telling her that I have an extra bag at home. Her bag is damaged already, and it’s kind of old…”

The excuse sounded weak even to my own ears.

For a brief moment, his eyes lingered on the torn strap.

Then he looked back at her.

“You sure about that?”

His voice became even colder.

“Because from where I was standing, it looked more like you were harassing her.”

Silence.Nobody dared answer.

I wanted to stop him.I wanted to tell him it wasn’t worth making a scene.

But the words refused to come out.

Too many students had already stopped to watch.

Whispers spread through the crowd.

The girls looked increasingly uncomfortable.

The young man took one step forward.

Only one.

Yet it was enough to make them retreat.

His gaze never left theirs.

“I’ll give you one warning.”

His voice was calm.

Which somehow made it even more terrifying.

“Do this again…”

The corner of his jaw tightened.

“…and you’ll find out exactly what happens next.”

The girls immediately fell silent.

Not a single one of them dared laugh anymore.