After My Groom Kissed the Bridesmaid, I Was Done with Him

Fate can be quite amusing; it's like it’s designed to challenge us or reveal hidden truths. I've returned to being seventeen, starting my junior year of high school. My memories linger at the moment I heard Dax Taylor's words. The courage I had been gathering suddenly dissolved. I wanted to say a proper goodbye, but as soon as I turned away, I could taste the salty tang of tears on my lips.

So, when a car appeared suddenly from the side, I didn't react quickly enough. The last thing I heard was Dax's desperate cries behind me. Dax... I instinctively glanced to the side. But that spot, it was empty now. Dax's new seat was across the aisle from mine. When I looked at him, he quickly looked away, as if afraid any association with me would linger. It seemed he had come back too. Perhaps to stand by his words, to distance himself from me. From being my desk partner, he had become just another classmate separated by an aisle.

"Octavia, did you hear? Dax Taylor is planning to confess to someone," said the bubbly girl with pigtails in front of me, Capri Perkins, winking playfully. It was no secret that Dax liked me. I clenched my test paper tightly, forcing a smile, and responded casually. But Capri wasn't satisfied with my reaction. She pouted and asked, "Aren't you surprised?"

Surprised by what? The first thing he does after turning seventeen again is to stop acting like a love-struck fool over me. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them back down. I gestured to the empty seat next to me and said, "He's not confessing to me; he's already moved away." Capri looked puzzled and was about to say something when Dax's carefree voice suddenly echoed from the corridor.

A delicate pink gift box sat on his desk. Amidst the teasing of our classmates, he finally spoke up. "Yeah, I like Josie from the next class. Is there a problem with that?" The teasing abruptly stopped.

"Look, this is obviously for—" the guy in front of me had just placed the pink gift box on my desk, his smile freezing on his face the next moment. "Dax, this—"

The guy stood awkwardly beside me, glancing uneasily at Dax. Dax cast a quick look in my direction, got up, and casually retrieved the gift box from my desk. He remarked offhandedly, "My friend made a mistake; he gave it to the wrong person. It won't happen again."