"Dora, have you eaten? I made you some sweet bean pastry. At least have a bite—you'll crush it today."
I didn't reach for it.
I just stared at him.
"No thanks. The college entrance exam is too important. I'm not eating anything handed to me by a stranger."
I stepped past him and walked away.
The smile on Landon's face froze solid.
"A stranger?"
He frowned and followed after me. "Dora, what's wrong? Why are you suddenly being so… distant?"
He looked genuinely confused.
Because before the exam, we'd made a promise: once we got into the same university, we'd be together.
I'd always believed it was mutual. That we both felt the same way.
I never imagined I was just a pawn in his hand.
A stepping stone to help Leonora Pruitt get everything she wanted.
I didn't even spare him a glance. I lengthened my stride toward the exam hall, trying to shake him off as fast as I could.
"Dora, my stomach— it hurts, all of a sudden!"
Landon clutched his stomach, his face twisted in pain, and grabbed my arm.
"I can't take it. Can you… take me to the hospital?"
I stopped. Turned around and looked at him.
His face was pale and drawn, and he really did look like someone in the grip of some sudden attack.
I almost laughed.
So the car crash didn't work. Time for Plan B, is that it?
I said nothing.
A flicker of guilt passed through Landon's eyes, but he kept up the agonized act.
"Dora, please. I'm begging you. It's one test—if it doesn't work out, we can just retake next year together."
"I think— it's the hereditary thing, the one that runs in my family. If I don't get to a hospital soon, I could actually die here…"
I smiled, cold, and pointed toward the staff at the entrance.
"If you need help, go ask them. Why are you coming to me? I'm a student about to sit an exam."
"Landon."
I locked my eyes on his and spoke word by word.
"What makes you think I'd throw away my one shot at this exam for you?"
Something cracked in his expression.
He clearly hadn't expected me to say that.
The old Dora Sullivan loved him so deeply she would have dropped her exam pass and carried him to the hospital herself.
"Dora, you've changed."
He clutched his stomach, his voice shaking. "You weren't like this before. So cold. So heartless."
"You're right. I've changed."
I glanced at my watch. "There are forty minutes until the math exam. You have two choices."
"One: go find a staff member. They'll call you an ambulance. Two: keep performing out here, and I call the police and report you for disrupting the exam."
Every trace of color drained from Landon's face.
I smiled and added one more thing.
"Besides, nobody knows better than I do that you, Landon Henson, don't have any hereditary condition."
After all, in my past life we were married for ten years. Every single physical came back clean. This whole act was just another way to stall me until the exam started without me.
More and more students were pouring into the exam hall. I had no interest in wasting another second on him. I turned and walked away.
"Dora Sullivan, how can you be this cruel? You're just going to abandon me?"
I kept walking, pace quick and unhesitating, when a body slammed into me from the side.
"Ow!"
"God, do you not have eyes? Watch where you're walking!"
Leonora rubbed her shoulder, all wounded indignation, and glared at me.
"I mean, sure, we're in the same exam hall, and everyone knows you're the big genius—but do you really have to barrel in here like you're trying to kill me?"
