Too Late He Wanted Me Back Chapter 02
The person on the other end of the line was completely stunned. “Professor Astriage, are you serious? Everyone at NASA knows how much you loved Jaylen. You turned down so many great opportunities just for him. If it wasn’t for him, you would’ve become the chief engineer a long time ago.”
Seraphina felt a sharp sting of pain in her heart.
As a scientist, she was usually calm and logical about everything. But as soon as Jaylen was involved, her common sense would just disappear. He took up every part of her mind, leaving room for nothing else.
Seraphina had fallen for Jaylen the moment she saw him, and their years together only made those feelings stronger. They’d been classmates since primary school, and everyone used to tease them for being the “star students” of the class. In every exam, Jaylen always took first place, and Seraphina always came in second.
Seraphina hated losing, so she studied as hard as she could to beat Jaylen. Still, she failed every single time.
What hurt the most was that Jaylen was a natural genius. He barely studied, yet stayed at the top without effort, looking down on everyone else.
Seraphina challenged Jaylen openly, but deep down, she had always loved him.
During their senior year of high school, Seraphina finally worked up the courage to stand before him. Blushing deeply, she said, “Jaylen, if I get a higher score than you on the SAT, will you be my boyfriend?”
She fully expected him to reject her without mercy.
Instead, he leaned in close and whispered boldly in her ear, “If you become the top student in the country, I’ll marry you.”
Driven by that half-joking promise, Seraphina studied tirelessly throughout her final year. In the end, she scored 1,537 and was named the top science student across the country.
Jaylen kept his word. He proposed to Seraphina in a grand way in front of the national media. The scene was incredibly romantic. He chartered hundreds of helicopters to shower the entire city with rose petals, turning every street into a sea of flowers.
“Seraphina, I love you. When we reach the legal age, will you marry me?” Kneeling on one knee among the roses and in front of the cameras, Jaylen proposed to Seraphina.
At that moment, Seraphina had believed she was the happiest woman in the world.
She only found out later that Jaylen’s expensive, public proposal wasn’t because he loved her. It was just a distraction to cover up the scandals about him and his foster sister.
That year, Seraphina was the top student in the country. The media followed her everywhere. She had so much public attention that she was the perfect tool to hide Jaylen’s disgrace.
They’d been classmates since they were kids, two star students who were always competing. A perfect love story between two geniuses was exactly what the public wanted to see.
Therefore, Jaylen chose her.
“Professor Astriage? Are you still there?” the person from NASA asked softly. “You’ve gone quiet. Have you changed your mind? It’d be understandable. After all, you once loved Mr. Canyer so much.”
Seraphina cut him off. “I don’t have any regrets, and I never will. I stopped loving him a long time ago.”
The words had barely left her lips when the door swung open.
Jaylen stood there with a cold frown and a dark, threatening look in his eyes. “You don’t love me? Say that again, Seraphina. Tell me you don’t love me.”