"Haters don't really hate you. They hate themselves, because you're a reflection of what they wish to be."

   ♦ ♦ ♦   

Ian's POV

I went home with a genuine smile tugged on my lips as I reminisced our date earlier.

And especially our kiss.

That was the first time I had ever felt strongly when kissing a girl, which was a foreign feeling for me. But that was the kind of effect Rose would leave on you. Her presence was enough to make me feel like the happiest guy alive. I liked her scent, her smile, her childish side, her pretty face, her hourglass body.

But most of all, I liked her.

She owned me. It was as simple as that.

After I had arrived at my penthouse, I exhaustedly landed on my bed with a relief sigh. I took out my phone as a routine before going to bed but as soon as my phone was connected to the Wi-Fi, a startled gasp escaped my lips as my eyes fell on the notifications that appeared on my screen. It wasn't the multiple notifications causing my phone to buzz unstoppably that concerned me; it was the comments written under the photo I posted early today.

"Shit, shit, shit," I cursed out loud. I scrolled through the earlier comments and my mouth couldn't stop from muttering profanities under my breaths.

I buried my face in my palms, unable to believe what my eyes were showing to me. Some of the comments read:

WTF, she's so shameless.

Stop looking at him, you retard!

Ugly bitch.

Wasn't she the slut who got a ride from him before?

That desperate look though. Ew.

Omg she's such a creep.

I only posted the photo with the caption 'This girl behind me keeps giving me a creepy look. I'm scared' when we were riding the merry-go-round horses for fun. I didn't know people would simply make a false assumption and it'd get this far or even this bad. It was a simple joke.

What if Rose saw all of the comments? She might act nonchalantly, but I knew it'd hurt her.

And I didn't want to be the reason for her distress.

If I deleted the photo, it would only raise her suspicion because she saw with her own eyes that I posted the photo earlier. I quickly deleted the obnoxious comments, until there was none left.

My mind roamed around, trying to connect all of my brain cells together to come up with the perfect plan. In the end, I was left with only one solution.

To tell the truth.

♦ ♦ ♦

Hailey's POV

"What?!" I shouted in disbelief.

My mouth gaped open in surprise, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, forming a line until it seemed like they almost connected with each other.

"What the hell is he thinking?" I muttered to myself, my cheeks tinted with a light shade of pink as my face heated up.

I looked at the photo he just posted in less than an hour ago that I was tagged by him. It was the photo from the carnival; the photo when we were in the photo booth, the one he took using his phone since I wanted to have it to myself. The photo where we both smiled widely like there was nothing in the world that could ruin our jovial mood or destroy our euphoric souls. The photo that made us look like a happy couple and nothing could break us apart.

But above it all, the thing that flabbergasted me the most was the caption below the photo. To say that I was startled seemed an understatement; it totally caught me off guard. The caption read 'This girl next to me is the one from the photo earlier. The caption I wrote before was just a harmless joke. I actually knew her and she's in fact a good friend of mine, who I have a crush on. I like her, so stop badmouthing her just because of a stupid joke. I will truly appreciate it if there will be no hateful comments in the future. Further vile comments will be removed immediately, and mark my words, I will block you right at the moment. Don't take my threat lightly. Thank you."

That post of his had already got 1000 likes and 100 comments. I opened my mouth in astonishment, my eyes were as big as saucers.

Geez, how famous is this guy? I can't believe it. Wa— Wait a second. Did he just confess in front of the whole world that he has a crush on me?!

My face crimsoned as I read the comments below the photo.

You guys will make a cute couple!

Aww, that's so sweet. Such a lucky girl!

I'm so jealous!

*Dies of jealousy*

I wish my boyfriend is this protective of me...

She's extremely stunning. I don't mind letting go of Ian as long as he's with a girl like you *winks*

And this is the moment I gave up on Ian *sighs*. Well you can have him now, girl.

I suppressed a smile from curving on my lips. Butterflies erupted in my stomach as I read the comments once again. But my smile faltered as soon as I realized that he was talking about hateful comments on his caption. I went back to the photo when we were at the merry-go-round, but I was left in puzzlement when I noticed there was no hateful comments under it like he wrote. In fact, nice comments and compliments kept coming in, bombarding the photo. And that wasn't the end of it. Since Ian had tagged me on his latest photo, people kept stalking me, leaving likes and votes on some of my photos which caused my phone to vibrate non-stop. I was dumbfounded.

How could a college student be this famous?

But my question was answered in a flash when I scrolled through his old photos and noticed that he was actually a part-time model for his friend's modeling agency.

So that's why he's so popular...

After spending almost an hour of being a stalker, I finally had it enough and turned off my phone. I snuggled closer to Mr. Smirky Pants and within a few minutes, I finally dozed off and dreamed about a certain guy with green eyes.

  ♦ ♦ ♦  

"Hey, look at this shirt. It's so pretty," Helen said excitedly, almost squealing.

"Just buy it already. Hurry up, I'm so thirsty right now." I groaned in annoyance.

"Fine, fine!" she huffed. She quickly went to the cashier and paid for the shirt.

"Finally," I muttered with a sigh.

She swatted my arm playfully. "Hey, in my defense, it's not easy to find a shirt that will look good on us, girls, you know."

"Whatever," I dismissed her, rolling my eyes.

When we finally made a stop at Starbucks, I promptly ordered double chocolate chip frappuccino, my favorite of all time, while Helen ordered caramel cinnamon latte.

When we finally sit at a small table, Helen suddenly exclaimed in panic, "Shit! Hide!"

"Why? What's wrong?" I tilted my face to the other side in confusion, my eyebrows shot up.

"My ex from high school! He's here!" Helen shouted harshly and hid her face instantly.

"I didn't know your ex from high school lives around here," I inquired.

"That's because I've never told you about him. I didn't even tell a soul! Oh no, he's coming this way!" she said, alarmed.

"Which one is he?" I swiveled my head around and tried to find the mysterious ex-boyfriend Helen was talking about.

"The one in the dark blue shirt," Helen whispered, still hiding her face.

"Connor Stevenson is your ex?!" I almost yelled, my eyes bulged open in surprise.

"Yup, he's my— wait a second. Why is he with Ian?" she asked, her voice twirled with surprise.

"What?" I turned around, and sure enough, Ian was trailing behind Connor before he sidled up next to him. They were laughing, but then Ian seemed to notice my presence because his laugh died down as he cast a gaze on me.

"Helen, um, I think we've been caught," I stated sheepishly.

Helen's eyes roamed around frantically, a look of worry crossed her face when Ian started to wave at her and began his steps towards us. She swiftly bent down her head and buried her face in between her arms on the table.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Ian asked as soon as he arrived at our table.

"Just going shopping," I answered casually. "You?"

"I had to accompany him to buy some things," he said before elbowing Connor in the ribs.

"Ouch," Connor shrieked.

"What?" Ian asked innocently. "Hey, is she sick or what?"

It didn't take a genius to find out that he was talking about Helen.

"Helen," I called out softly. "Helen." When there was literally no reaction from her, I harshly stepped on her foot, receiving a yelp from her. She finally raised her head just a bit, only enough for Ian to see her but not Connor, since he was standing behind Ian. "Sorry, I was... um... sleeping."

I quirked an eyebrow.

Sleeping? Really Helen? That was the best excuse you could come up with?

"I didn't get enough sleep last night. So, yeah, I was exhausted, so since this seat is very comfortable, I thought why not just sleep here right?"

Helen you're making it worse...

"Sure," Ian replied incredulously, clearly didn't buy her lie. Ian then cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'm gonna introduce you to my best friend, Connor."

"I'm Hailey," I briefly introduced myself to him with a small smile. Connor advanced forward to shake my hand.

"I'm Connor." He mimicked my smile.

"And that one is her best friend, Helen," Ian said, pointing his index finger towards Helen. When Connor's grey eyes finally captured Helen's brown ones, they promptly locked gaze intensely.

"We— We have to go," Helen said, her eyes wandered around everywhere except Connor's face. "Come on," Helen urged me, her eyebrows furrowed infuriatingly.

I quickly waved Ian a goodbye before catching up to her.

"Can you explain what the hell just happened?" I asked as soon as we were a bit far from Starbucks.

Helen groaned in annoyance. "Like I just told you, he's my ex."

"Yeah, I know, but how did Connor Stevenson end up being your ex? Why did you guys break up?"

Aside from the Matthews' brothers, Connor was also one of the most eligible bachelors at our college since he was unusually hot and sexy. But nobody could beat Ian's hotness, so that was saying something.

"It's a long story," she muttered softly.

"One that I'm eager to find out," I responded.

She stopped half-way before she swiveled her head around to eye me. She was reluctant for a moment, before she finally gave in. "Fine. Let's go home first. Then I'll spill my guts."

"I hope you don't mean literally," I joked around, trying to lighten the mood, but she just rolled her eyes without a smile.

Serious Helen was never a good thing.

When we finally arrived at our apartment, I exhaustedly jumped and landed on the couch and Helen also did the same with the other couch.

"So..." I started, unable to hide the curiosity that was killing my inside since earlier.

Helen heaved a deep sigh. "Well, when we were in high school, we were together for a year. But then time flied so fast and it was finally the time for our graduation. I just wanted to apply for a college around here, while his goal was to go to a university in UK. Knowing about his dream, I asked for a breakup and gave up on him. I mean, long-distance relationship probably wouldn't work out, right?" Helen laughed bitterly. "He tried to persuade me not to break up with him, but I just had to. I wanted him to chase his dream. His life goal is more important than our relationship to me. A life around me wouldn't get him far. But then, the first day I went to register for our current college, I saw him. I freaking saw him. He didn't go to UK. Until now, I don't even know why. Started from that day, I was determined to avoid him. I just couldn't face him. I'd feel bad because my guts somehow told me that the reason he didn't go to UK was because of me."

"Woah," I answered shortly, my mind was still absorbing and comprehending the information that I just received.

"I thought maybe, just maybe, I could avoid him until the end of our college year since our college is huge, right? But well, clearly it wasn't big enough. And I didn't know that he was Ian's best friend until just recently."

"I didn't know too," I answered sympathetically. "Well, past is past , right? Maybe you could have a fresh start with him? Maybe he still loves you? And I doubt that you didn't love him anymore."

"He doesn't love me anymore." She smiled sadly. "I mean, why would he still love me when he could obviously go to other girls who are prettier, smarter and better than me, the girl who left him." She was silent for a moment. "But to answer your question, yeah, I do," she whispered. "I haven't stopped loving him until today."

  ♦ ♦ ♦ 

Soooo sorryyyy for the extremely late update! The first week was very hectic since I had an orientation for 5 days. But it got better and it went well. I'll try to update regularly though after this. So sorry again! Please forgive me! *makes puppy eyes*

I know that this chapter is kinda boring and all, but I would truly appreciate it if you guys could leave some votes and comments on it. Thank you :)

xx,

Tris.