Chapter 3
Even though I hated how much she affected me, Olivia kept inviting Nate and me out together.
It felt intentional.
Like a proud, beautiful bird swooping straight into our lives and building a nest there.
One day, she invited us to play badminton.
I didn’t want to go. But I also didn’t want Nate going alone with her.
“Can’t you just say no?” I pleaded. “I don’t even know how to play. I really don’t want to go.”
“But I want to,” Nate said, looking at me like I was being difficult on purpose.
“You can go with other friends. It doesn’t have to be with Olivia.”
His expression hardened immediately.
“So now because of you, I can’t even have normal hobbies? I never realized you were this unreasonable. Why are you so possessive?”
I fell silent.
His tone made one thing very clear.
I wasn’t stopping him.
So in the end, I changed into workout clothes and went.
At the court, Olivia was already there in a sporty little skirt, her ponytail swinging lightly behind her.
She looked like a proud white bird.
The moment she saw me, her eyes lit up. She tossed me a racket. “Emma, you play with me.”
“I’m not really—”
“I’ll play with you,” Nate cut in from the side.
Olivia smiled sweetly and shook her head. “No. I want Emma.”
Faced with that bright, relentless enthusiasm, I had no real way to refuse.
So I stepped onto the court.
And just like I expected, I got destroyed.
I couldn’t return a single serve. I ran around clumsily, my body heavy and awkward, feeling like some panicked raccoon being chased across pavement.
Inside, humiliation burned through me.
Was she doing this on purpose?
Standing across from me, she looked even more dazzling. Pretty, athletic, effortless. Perfect.
After a while, a few damp strands of hair stuck to her cheeks, and the sweat only made her look softer, prettier, more alive. Like a porcelain doll that somehow also knew how to win.
When another shuttlecock dropped uselessly in front of me, I lowered my racket.
“I’m done.”
Olivia smiled. “Okay. Let’s rest together.”
She set her racket down and started fixing her hair.
Deliberately, she caught the hair tie between her lips and lifted both arms, exposing that pale, elegant neck.
She looked beautiful.
Like a deer standing still in moonlight, innocent and inviting and fully aware of what she was doing.
My heart skipped.
But I already knew.
She was showing off.
I turned—
And saw Nate standing behind me, staring at her without blinking.
I hated Olivia.
More than that, I hated that helpless feeling inside me. That awful, sinking certainty that she was getting closer and closer to my boyfriend while I stood there powerless, watching it happen in slow motion.
Bit by bit, Nate stopped hiding how much he admired her.
But every time I brought it up, he’d only say, “Liv and I are just friends. You’re my girlfriend. Stop overthinking.”
And still…
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was just his backup plan.
The safe option.
The girl who loved him the most, treated him the best, demanded the least.
I was the one with the highest return and the lowest risk.
I was the “good girl” he settled for.