Chapter 5

Jamie transferred the money she owed Alvin and sent him the receipt. However, Alvin cancelled the transaction, refusing to take her money.

"You've got such a temper. You know you need the money, so why are you still pretending to be so generous?" Jamie muttered under her breath.

She quickly sent Alvin another message.

"How could you cancel the transaction and refuse to take my lunch money after getting my number? Does this mean you actually want me to show up at your place with the cash? I may consider that."

Alvin still never replied to her messages.

Jamie refused to give up. She sent him another one after that.

"Fine. I'm going to your dorm now. I'll be waiting downstairs."

This time, Jamie realized that her message had never been sent. The blue ticks never appeared. She eventually realized that Alvin had blocked her number because she couldn't even see his profile picture anymore.

Jamie was at a loss for words. She just stared at his blank profile picture and got so mad that she laughed out loud.

This was peak Alvin behavior. He was cold, kept to himself, and refused to have much contact with the opposite sex. Even if he was being nice to her, he still preferred doing it secretly from behind the shadows.

Still, Jamie knew that he would behave differently if he were passionate about something or somebody. He would reserve all of his attention and emotions for her and treat her like the apple of his eye. He would even die for her.

However, someone like him ended up losing everything for her in the past life. The only thing left that he could do was to stand vigil by her grave day and night until the end.

Jamie fell quiet. She suddenly thought of Xavier.

Xavier was the kind of person who would be extremely passionate with her and spoil her to the max with gifts and attention. However, he would never give her his heart.

The head of the Lockhart family was a heartless robot.

Maybe the only love he had all belonged to Andrea, and Andrea only.

Jamie still couldn't understand how Xavier actually felt about her. Did he act the way he did only because an 18-year-old student refused to give up on him and kept pestering him until he finally gave in? Or was there any other reason for it?

Even when Jamie was dying under his watch, Xavier still delivered her his fatal last blow.

He had stared at her in the bloody mess, watching silently as her blood all drained from her body and the baby in her womb went quiet.

Jamie felt suffocated every time she recalled these memories of desolation and despair. Everything hurt, but she just didn't have any strength left to struggle.

That was why she chose to run away in this life.

When Jamie finally pulled herself out of her memories, she realized that she was covered in a layer of cold sweat.

She quickly got up and put her dirty dishes in their designated places. Then, she started walking out of the cafeteria.

Jamie planned to go to the campus library next. She knew that Alvin would always spend most of his evenings studying there. However, on her way to the library, she suddenly caught sight of a black Bentley at the side of the road.

Jamie went silent at once.

That car belonged to the Lockharts. Did this mean that Xavier was here?

Suddenly, Jamie was filled with a sense of dread all over again. Without thinking, she immediately turned away and hurried along a path in the opposite direction. She made sure to keep herself hidden in the shadows, not even daring to lift her head.

She hadn't seen Xavier in nearly half a year.

She had her own life to live. Also, Xavier and Andrea's wedding date had been set for October 3rd. So, everything worked out perfectly fine. She would go her way alone, and they would go their way as a happy couple.

Jamie didn't want any of the pains of her past to appear again in this life.

She was terrified that Xavier would find her. She walked even more quickly and even started running toward the end.

"Ah!"

Jamie suddenly let out a loud cry. She had been so busy trying to run away that she never noticed the curb in her way. Also, she was wearing a dress. If she tripped and fell down, she would be in a very sorry state.

Just as Jamie braced herself for an ugly fall, she suddenly felt a firm arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her back to safety.

Jamie was so frightened that all the color had drained from her face. To calm down, she thumped on her chest a few times.

"Be careful."

It had been Alvin. He only just spoke up then. However, he quickly drew his arm away and stepped away from her.

Jamie stared at Alvin in silence. She hadn't even gone to find him yet, and here he was, appearing right before her like magic.

She opened her mouth, wanting to speak, but Alvin just nodded in the direction of the library before she could say a thing. Then, he started walking away.

He seemed as though he was planning to ignore Jamie again.

"Go on, keep up that act," Jamie thought as she stared at him. A second later, she quickly walked after Alvin and grabbed his hand.

She could feel the warmth of his hand in her palms.

His palms were also filled with calluses. However, this wasn't surprising to her. After all, Alvin worked at an auto repair workshop on weekends and during school breaks.

Alvin was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage. He had learned how to repair cars because he wanted to learn a skill that would allow him to survive and sustain himself. After that, he worked at a few workshops to pay for his school fees and living expenses.

That was how the scars and calluses on his hands came about.

Alvin frowned when Jamie held his hand.

Jamie, however, spoke first. "Alvin Summers, why won't you let me pay you back?"

Seeing that Alvin didn't respond, Jamie continued interrogating him. "Why did you block me?"

She kept hounding him with questions, and Alvin was starting to get a headache.

"Didn't you just block me on WhatsApp? So, what are you doing here playing Superman?" Jamie asked, cocking her eyebrow at him. She didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

This time, the tips of Alvin's ears turned red at once. He was embarrassed because Jamie had seen right through him.

He had indeed been waiting there for her. He regretted blocking and deleting her number from his phone, but he didn't know how to salvage the situation.

Since this was a path that every female student had to pass when entering or leaving their dorms, Alvin decided to wait for her.

Yet, when he saw her, he was simply at a loss for what to say.

Still, Jamie didn't seem to mind. She laughed aloud and spoke in a low voice while staring at him, "Alvin, are you… embarrassed?"

She had hit the nail right in the head.

"You're talking nonsense," Alvin immediately responded. But he never seemed to realize that they were still holding hands. It also didn't feel wrong for them to be holding hands here, on a path where Jamie was bound to pass by.

"Fine. I'll give you another chance to get my number. You're not allowed to block me this time, understand?" Jamie said, passing the ball back into his court.

Alvin said nothing. He just looked at her in silence. He felt as though Jamie had suddenly changed. She was bold and assertive. She wasn't acting like the haughty ice princess he used to know in high school.

Still, Alvin knew that he could never compare to Jamie. She was way beyond his league, and he could never ever reach her level.

He would never be able to give her the life she was used to, but he couldn't help liking her. He kept wanting to get close to her, even though he knew it was wrong and completely unacceptable.

Alvin had done well in his SATs and could have chosen to go to a more prominent, more prestigious college than here. However, he wanted to stay in the same city as Jamie, so he ultimately chose Aster College.

From what he could remember, Jamie rarely did well in her studies. He figured that she would be sent abroad to "further her studies" as soon as the SATs were over. So, he had chosen to continue his masters in that same country too, with the intention of being close to her as much as possible.

However, Alvin never thought that Jamie would do so well on her SATs that she could enroll at Aster College, too.

While lost in his thoughts, Jamie unblocked her number on his phone and sent him another message so he could save her contact information once more.

When the phone buzzed in Alvin's hand, Jamie made sure to stare at the phone screen, which had automatically locked earlier.

As Alvin unlocked his screen to save her contact number, Jamie suddenly drawled his name out loud.

"Alvinnnnn," she said, purposely drawing out the second syllable of his name. Her tone went as light as a feather as she continued, "I think I found out about your secret."

"What?"

Alvin was taken aback. He still hadn't realized it.