Leads Me To You

Sitting on my boyfriend's lap, playfully teasing him, he suddenly turned serious and said, "Get off."

I turned around to see his childhood sweetheart entering through the door.

He explained to me that being too intimate in front of others wasn't appropriate.

I believed him.

Until later, when I saw a picture of him kissing his childhood sweetheart on his secret Twitter account, I finally understood.

I was the outsider all along.

1

The first time I met Derek's childhood friend, Kaylyn, was during our first year of graduate school.

It was a rare weekend, yet he disappeared for the entire night and didn't respond to any messages.

The next day, unable to hold back, I called him. It rang several times before he picked up, "Where did you go?"

There was a lot of noise on his end, and after a moment, a lively and sweet female voice chimed in, "Who's calling, Derek?"

In the wind, Derek's breathing paused for a moment.

"My girlfriend."

Those two words carried a complex, inexplicable emotion, like seaweed growing silently beneath the ocean's surface.

After a brief silence, Derek added, "Honey, my childhood friend came to visit. I'll bring her back to school later to introduce you."

The girl laughed and teased, "Oh, please, who's your childhood friend? I'm the boss!"

"Tsk."

Derek chuckled coldly, "I wonder who was so eager to call me grandpa just to borrow my summer homework."

The call ended abruptly.

I stood there holding my phone, feeling that Derek seemed strange at that moment.

He felt unfamiliar, as if he were miles away from me.

He sent me a location on Whatsapp, and seeing it was only four subway stops away from school, I grabbed a shared bike. By the time I reached the subway entrance, I was drenched in sweat.

There, Derek was holding a suitcase, talking to a girl beside him.

She had her hair in pigtails, wore a schoolgirl outfit with a blue and white plaid skirt, and though she wasn't very tall, she had a great figure and a sweet face.

Upon seeing me, she beamed brightly, "You're so pretty, sister. Derek doesn't deserve you!"

My usually calm and composed boyfriend actually sneered at her, "Whether I deserve her or not isn't for you to decide."

I could keenly sense something was off with his mood.

Kaylyn ignored his anger and commanded matter-of-factly, "Hurry up and get the water you bought earlier. Can't you see your girlfriend is sweating?"

Derek took out a bottle of cold mineral water, opened it, and handed it to me.

I hesitated for a moment, "I'm on my period, I can't drink cold things."

I had mentioned this to him during lunch the day before.

Derek's hand paused in mid-air.

Then Kaylyn took the bottle, looked around, and pointed to a nearby tea shop, "Go get Kaylee a hot milk tea."

Without a word, Derek headed over.

Kaylyn called after him, "I want one too."

"Oh, who was just saying on the subway they needed to lose weight?

Say pretty please, and I'll buy it for you."

Derek's tone sounded strange, and I instinctively sensed something was wrong, so I stepped forward and took his arm, "I'll go with you."

"......"

The atmosphere around us suddenly became awkwardly tense.

In this strange mood, Kaylyn and I each held a cup of milk tea, while Derek dragged her suitcase to a hotel outside the south gate of the school.

Kaylyn insisted on checking out the school cafeteria, curious about the food. So, we had lunch there.

After getting my meal, I asked Kaylyn if she wanted the complimentary soup offered by the cafeteria, and she stood up, intending to go with me.

"Kay, you sit. I'll go."

Because it was the holiday, the cafeteria was almost empty, and Derek's voice was particularly clear.

Kaylyn and I stopped at the same time, and she asked, "Who are you calling?"

Derek paused, then walked over to me, "I was calling my girlfriend, who else?

Son."

Kaylyn fell silent immediately.

She stood under the bright fluorescent lights of the cafeteria, her vibrant face turning slightly pale, looking a bit pitiful.

When Derek served the soup, he only handed me a bowl and went to another window to buy a pot of soup.

I was a bit stunned, "Doesn't Kaylyn want any?"

He seemed distracted and a bit irritated, "This stuff tastes bland and unappetizing. Kaylyn's picky, no way she'd drink it."

I can't describe how embarrassed I felt at that moment.

2

From the start, my relationship with Derek was unequal.

I had pursued him for three years before finally winning him over.

In our sophomore year, Derek switched majors to join our department, and we ended up in the same project group.

He was tall and lean, with sharp features and fair skin. When listening to the teacher explain concepts, his long fingers would lightly tap the desk.

By the time I realized I was staring at his hands, quite some time had passed.

I decided to strike up a conversation, "You switched from another department and haven't taken our core courses. Can you follow the lectures?"

"Not too bad," Derek replied indifferently, "I studied it in high school and competed in contests."

I fell silent immediately.

He was attending a local university, a top student from a middle-class family. It was said he missed the top scores in the college entrance exam, so he chose a university where he could transfer majors with high grades.

His composed aura made him seem like he was from a different world than me, a diligent student from a small town.

People are often attracted to qualities they don't possess, and I was no exception.

Falling for Derek wasn't surprising.

I followed online advice, orchestrating numerous "accidental" encounters with Derek, even pretending to trip and fall into his arms.

He held my waist and softly said my name, "Kaylee."

At that moment, my legs genuinely went weak.

In our senior year, the list for graduate school recommendations came out.

Both Derek and I were on it.

As an outstanding student representative, I gave a speech, subtly mentioning my family background.

After the speech, the applause was thunderous. I instinctively searched for Derek in the crowd and met his deep, bright eyes, his emotions unreadable.

I thought it was admiration, appreciating how I climbed out of the mud to stand alongside such top students.

But it was just my assumption.

Before graduation, Derek finally confessed to me.

After we started dating, Derek was different from before.

He would wait downstairs with breakfast every day and take me out for good food on weekends.

Last week, we went to an expensive Japanese restaurant. He peeled sweet shrimp and placed them in my bowl, even mixing the sushi sauce perfectly for me.

"I made it the way I usually eat. Not sure if it suits your taste."

The bill made my eyebrows twitch, and I was about to transfer money to Derek when he suddenly took my phone from my hand.

"We're dating. Do we really need to split the bill so precisely?"

He suddenly leaned over, resting his chin on my shoulder, his warm breath tickling my ear, "......Honey."

In an instant, my face turned beet red. I opened my mouth but was too shy to speak.

On the night of the graduation ceremony, we had a class dinner, and I got a bit tipsy.

Wanting to clear my head, I headed to the rooftop for some fresh air. Turning the corner, I stumbled upon Derek and his friends.

The lighting was dim, and they didn't seem to notice me.

"Why did you suddenly start dating Kaylee?

You knew she liked you for a while."

Derek stood sideways, a cigarette between his fingers, his expression one I had never seen before—strangely gloomy and cold.

"Because it's not too much trouble."

The next day, after sobering up, he was as gentle and distant as ever.

He would suddenly pull me close at the station, lean down to kiss me, "Come back early when school starts.

I'll take you out."

I thought it was just a drunken fantasy.

The entire summer, I stayed home, helping my grandparents.

After my mom passed away, they took care of me.

To help with expenses, I took an online tutoring job in math and physics, keeping me busy and not in touch with Derek much.

He seemed busy too, rarely messaging me, only sending a quick goodnight before bed.

3

When the first year of graduate school started, Derek and I ended up in different labs.

My advisor had been abroad for the past few months due to a joint venture project, so he arranged for a senior student, Zachary, to guide us in the lab.

Zachary was taller than Derek, with a commanding presence and an air of untouchable elegance.

If Derek was a star, Zachary was like a distant, untouchable moon.

In the place where I grew up, I had never encountered someone like him.

My roommate, Marlee, told me that Zachary's parents were both professors at the university. He had been admitted with outstanding grades and was the top student of his year, securing a direct path to a master's and doctoral program.

He was destined to stand out.

While eating in the cafeteria, I mentioned Zachary to Derek. He chuckled, "Don't get your hopes up; he's way out of your league."

My hand froze on my chopsticks, along with the smile on my lips.

It was the first time I realized he somewhat looked down on me.

In my daze, Zachary, the subject of our conversation, passed by with his tray and suddenly stopped beside me.

He looked down at me slightly, "Kaylee." "…Mr. Clark."

"Come to the lab early this afternoon. There's an issue with the data you submitted yesterday."

After Zachary left, I picked up my tray and said goodbye to Derek.

I stayed late in the lab that afternoon, expecting Derek to wait for me outside the building as usual. But when I stepped out, I saw only the empty trees under the streetlights, casting my solitary shadow.

I paused for a moment, and then Zachary's voice came from behind, "Why aren't you leaving?

Did you forget something?"

I shook my head, "No, I'm just about to head back, Mr. Clark."

He nodded, "Alright, let's go together then. It's on the way."

Walking side by side, I couldn't help but notice that my shoulder barely reached Zachary's chest.

But I'm 1.72 meters tall, quite tall for a girl.

No wonder he always seemed so prominent in a crowd.

Zachary stopped at the entrance of the girls' dormitory. His dorm was across a flowerbed on the opposite side.

I waved, "Goodbye, Mr. Clark."

He looked at me with his clear, cold eyes for a few seconds, then said, "Goodnight."

That "goodnight" didn't linger in my mind because the next day, Kaylyn arrived.

On the third day of the holiday, Kaylyn suggested visiting a famous spot in Jestrya.

During the National Day holiday week, N City was swarming with tourists.

Derek disliked crowded places, so he refused.

Kaylyn sneered, "If you don't accompany me, I'll tell Mr. Murphy and Ms. Gill when I get back."

"How old are you, still playing the tattletale game?"

Derek scoffed, and Kaylyn lunged at him, grabbing his collar with a smug smile, "So, are you coming with me or not?"

"Fine, fine, I'll bring my girlfriend along too, okay?"

Then Kaylyn turned to me, "Sister, do you want to join us?"

I took a deep breath and smiled at her, "Sure."

At the most popular wishing platform, the crowd was overwhelming. Kaylyn, being short, almost got lost among the people.

Derek quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her out.

She stumbled before regaining her balance, glaring at him, "Derek!

You hurt my wrist!"

"If I hadn't grabbed you, you might have been knocked over and trampled."

Derek gritted his teeth, "Stay close to me and Kaylee from now on, no wandering off."