Chapter 12
A day later, someone connected screenshots of my Facebook posts with news about the accident, creating a detailed explanatory post.
This content immediately attracted even more attention.
[I thought this was just fiction.]
[Same as above, I thought it was made up. Never expected to see the actual crime scene on Facebook, LOL.]
[Lucky to have witnessed the entire incident. If you have questions, leave a comment and I’ll reply to each one.]
Classmates also sent me various messages.
[Jackson really ignored his parents’ accident for Morgan?]
[I heard Jackson’s parents didn’t approve their relation, so he deliberately damaged their car?]
[Ava, since you broke up with Jackson, consider me?]
I smiled bitterly and tossed my phone aside.
I had blocked Jackson’s number, but he sent me messages every day using his father’s phone.
[I was wrong. I truly realize it now. Ava, I deeply regret making such a huge mistake. I know I can’t expect your immediate forgiveness, but I won’t give up.]
[I told my parents I’m not going to college. I’ll repeat senior year instead. Next year, I’ll get into a Boston university to be with you.]
My mom rolled her eyes reading these.
She insisted on finding Jackson to give him a piece of her mind, but my dad grabbed her arm to stop her.
“No matter what, Jackson’s dad just came back from the brink of death. If you go confront that punk now, we’ll look like the
unreasonable ones.”
I also playfully reassured her:
“Are you really worried I might soften? Even if the heavens turned upside down, I wouldn’t give him a second glance!”
In truth, after the brief excitement of Jackson accepting my confession, I had noticed his abnormal hot-and-cold behavior.
Though I didn’t know the cause, I had guessed countless times that perhaps he didn’t love me.
I was mentally prepared.
Although I felt pain when I truly discovered his affair with Morgan and learned he had changed his college plans behind everyone’s backs, that pain had long since healed when I received the phone, iPad, camera, laptop, skincare set… from my parents.
A week later, accompanied by my parents, I boarded the northbound train.
Yet the public criticism against Jackson showed no signs of abating.
Jackson’s mom called, sighing deeply.
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9.3%
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“I don’t dare go out. Whenever I do, people laugh and say, ‘Your son is quite the romantic!””
“How am I supposed to respond to that?”
At first, my mom just silently listened to her complaining.
Later, after she’d run out of things to complain about, my mom stopped answering her calls too.
“That whole family treated us like fools?”
“If my son had done something like this, I’d be too ashamed to even show my face in public.”
“And she expects me to comfort her?”
Dad quickly pulled out his phone and, right in front of Mom, opened Amazon and bought ten dresses in one go, which finally managed to dilute some of her anger.
Just then, Jackson’s brother sent me a photo-it was Jackson, but he’d lost so much weight he was barely recognizable.
[He truly regrets it.]
I looked at it for a moment, then added his number to my blacklist, smiling as I answered the welcome question from a senior student.
“Yes, I’m a freshman, majoring in New Energy Science and Engineering. Thank you for your help, senior.”
