I blinked. That fast?
Pinnacle Group was headquartered in the capital — the largest multinational architecture and design conglomerate in the country, with notoriously demanding hiring standards.
But for a company that size, did the general manager really have nothing better to do?
“Don't worry, I'm not a scammer. I'm the direct supervisor for your position and wanted to discuss the role with you ahead of time.”
“If you confirm you're joining, please accept the friend request as soon as possible and let me know your start date so HR can prepare the contract.”
So that was all it was.
Before I could reply, a text from an unknown number buzzed in.
“Little Toby, I heard your eyes were red again today?”
"Fine, so you've got no family background, no body to speak of, and zero personality. But I guess your face is passable.”
“I ordered a Black Forest cake to your dorm. Don't be mad at me, okay?"
When I first arrived at the Morton house, I barely spoke. All I did was sit with my head down, drawing little houses.
Willow tried everything — jokes, toys — and none of it could get a word out of me.
Until one day she pointed at my drawing and wrinkled her nose—
“That's the ugliest house I've ever seen. Did your dad teach you that? Ugh, his drawings must be terrible.”
I lifted my head, indignant.
“My dad draws the best houses in the whole world!”
Willow broke into a grin. “So the little mute can talk after all.”
I couldn't even say what hurt, but the tears came rolling down anyway.
She panicked instantly. “Don't cry! I was just talking nonsense!”
“What if I buy you a Black Forest cake to make up for it?”
The cake was just as sweet as the ones my dad used to buy me. I stopped crying on the spot.
After that, whenever she wanted to pull me out of my shell, she'd pick a fight on purpose, then bribe me with cake to make it right.
Thinking of this, I typed something I hadn't planned to—
“If I left the Morton house one day — left the city — would you be sad?”
The moment I hit send, her call came through.
My heartbeat was deafening. I pressed accept with shaking fingers.
The next second, Willow's scoff filled my ear.
“Little Toby, so you're awake after all. Then why are you dreaming?”
“Of course not. Not in a million years.”
Faintly, in the background, I heard Clyde's voice.
“Willow, so the wallpaper on your new phone is my photo now, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
I went still.
That summer, we'd binged a drama together. The female lead set the male lead's photo as her phone wallpaper.
Willow said romance dramas were cringey, but she still sat through it with me.
When she caught me staring at the screen with envy, she shoved a chip into my mouth and said, half-jealous herself—
“She's not even as pretty as me. Are you seriously that starstruck?”
“When I get a boyfriend someday, I'll do the same thing — so he never has to be jealous of anyone else. You just sit tight and wait.”
I thought she was hinting at something. My heart pounded so hard it hurt.
Turns out she wasn't telling me to wait to become her boyfriend.
She was telling me to wait and watch her be happy with someone else.
I hung up without a word and accepted the friend request on my phone.
By accident, I tapped into her profile.
When I saw the photo, I froze.
The general manager of Pinnacle Group was her?
Clyde took a photo of Willow's phone wallpaper and posted it online.
By the next day, news that they were together had spread everywhere.
Willow never confirmed it. She never denied it either.
But in everyone else's eyes, silence was confirmation enough.
And me — the ‘lovesick fool’ — I became a tool. Anyone who wanted a shot at a job at Sawyer Corp figured the fastest way to Clyde's good side was through me.
It started Friday evening. I was getting dinner in the cafeteria when someone slammed into me out of nowhere, sending food all over my clothes.
The guy just shrugged, grinning.
“Oh man, Fox the Top Student — my bad. My eyes went blurry for a second there. Thought some dog in heat was charging at me.”
