Three Years Too Late Chapter 03
In a daze, my mind drifted back to that summer.
Kellen was just a teenager in threadbare clothes, clutching his perfect exam scores, his voice trembling as he admitted he couldn’t afford tuition.
Dad couldn’t stand the thought of a gifted kid losing his shot at an education.
So, he paid out of pocket to put Kellen through both high school and college.
Kellen was brilliant.
He churned out countless ideas during undergrad, but turning those ideas into reality took startup capital.
Dad supported him unconditionally. He literally emptied our family’s savings to fund Kellen, even taking out a loan to cover the rest.
That was exactly why I couldn’t borrow enough money when Dad eventually got sick.
Kellen was always so quick to criticize me, calling me superficial and obsessed with money.
He had no clue.
Since every dime my family had went to him, I had to hustle to cover my own living expenses, travel, and just about everything else.
Later on, Kellen and Denise both got into Stanford University.
Meanwhile, I ended up at an average university a thousand kilometers away.
During every break, I scrimped and saved just to afford the trip out to see him. I was so insanely frugal that I’d even haggle over the price of a bottle of water.
Kellen would just stare at me, looking cold and annoyed.
“Jazlynn, do you really care about money that much? You’re arguing over a single dollar.”
I’d just smile and brush it off. “Kellen, everyone likes money.”
He wouldn’t argue.
He’d just look away in silence.
Whenever we actually went out on a date, Denise always found some excuse to tag along.
She’d wear this constant, beaming smile, using an innocent voice that made her seem completely oblivious to normal social boundaries.
“It’s perfectly normal,” she’d say.
“We don’t care about material things; we’re entirely focused on our research. But some people only care about money.
“We really need to keep our distance from superficial people like that.”
While she spoke, she’d shoot me this pointed look.
The hostility wasn’t exactly subtle.
Before I could even get a word in, Kellen would turn back to her, diving into formulas and theories that went way over my head.
It was supposed to be our date, but it always morphed into a private chat between him and Denise.
They used their academic work as a shield to ignore me, which made it so any frustration I showed just looked like I was being petty and unreasonable.
But I wasn’t about to just sit there and take that kind of treatment.
The third time he pulled that stunt, I decided I was done. I was going to break up with him.
When it was time to say our goodbyes at the train station, I stared right into his amber eyes.
I’d practiced my speech in my head over and over, and the words were finally ready.
“Kellen, let’s break—”
But before I could even finish the sentence, he shoved a thick stack of papers into my hands. “I put together these study materials for you,” he said, his voice distant and detached. “Make sure you read all of them.”
I froze, staring down at the page covered in Kellen’s messy scrawl—just vocab words and notes.
Whatever I’d planned to say completely vanished.
I couldn’t get a single word out.
He was always like this. He had this infuriating mix of good and bad traits that made walking away from him totally impossible.
When I finally snapped out of it, Kellen was watching me intently. “What were you going to say?” he asked.
Forcing a smile, I caught his hand and gently pressed it to my cheek before answering.
“I was going to say… don’t forget to miss me when we go our separate ways.”
The tips of his ears flushed a faint pink. He looked away, offering just a soft hum of agreement.
It was moments like that that kept me constantly second-guessing myself.
By the sweltering summer after the SATs, I had finally made up my mind to stop chasing him.
But then he confessed.
He told me he liked me and wanted to take care of me for the rest of our lives.
Later, when Denise found out we were dating, she marched right up and slapped me across the face before I could even blink.
Shoving a finger in my face, she screamed, “Jazlynn, do you have zero shame? You knew Kel and I were about to get together, but you shamelessly used all those favors you did for him to force his hand!
“Look at yourself—what makes you think you deserve him? You’re just some girl who throws herself at guys. You’re exactly like your pathetic father, permanently stuck at the bottom of the barrel!”