Chapter 1

After my online relationship finally became real,I happened to see a post on our school's anonymous confession wall.

"If you could go back six months,what would you change?"

Some people in the comments said they would retake the SAT.

Some said they would break up with their ex sooner.

Some said they would stop their parents from getting divorced.

Only one comment was pushed all the way to the top.

"I'd ask for her contact myself."

"Then my friend wouldn't have given me the wrong account,and I wouldn't have spent half a year talking to another girl."

"Now we've already met in person.I guess I can only keep going with the mistake."

I was about to scroll past.

Then I realized the avatar,the ID,even the profile bio,were exactly the same as my boyfriend Ethan Hale's.

The boyfriend I had just met in person.

Everything suddenly made sense.

I finally understood why,after we met in person,he was still gentle with me but clearly distant,nowhere near as sweet as he had been online.

And why,when he saw me in person for the first time,he had frozen so obviously for a second.

Because,the affection he had given me had been meant for someone else all along.

...

The next afternoon,I met Ethan at the school cafe.

He was sitting by the window,still wearing his deep-blue team jacket.Ethan Hale was one of the most popular boys at Westbridge Prep,the son of a board member,and the football captain.

And I was just an ordinary scholarship student.

If it had not been for that online relationship that began with a mistake,he and I probably never would have crossed paths at all.

"You're here?"

When Ethan saw me,he pushed the hot chocolate in front of him toward me.

"Less sugar,no whipped cream,extra cinnamon.You didn't eat much dinner yesterday.Is your stomach still bothering you?"

He had always been thoughtful.

Even before we met in person,he had never missed a holiday gift or a birthday surprise.

He knew I worked at the cafe after school and often forgot dinner,so he would order a sandwich ahead of time for me.Yesterday,when we had pasta together for the first time,he had naturally picked the mushrooms out for me.

Mia had once said with envy that I must have been blessed by the goddess of love.

But now I knew.

None of that kindness had really been meant for me.

Ethan waved a hand in front of my face and smiled.

"What's wrong?Now that we've met,you're suddenly afraid to look at me?You'll have plenty of time to stare later.Drink something first before your stomach starts hurting again."

Under the table,my hand clenched tight.

In the end,I pushed my phone toward him.

On the screen was that answer from the anonymous wall.

The smile slowly faded from Ethan's face.

"Six months ago,did Noah give you the wrong account?"

Ethan was silent for a while.

People moved in and out of the cafe.Someone nearby was talking about a weekend party,and someone else was rushing through a college application essay.Only at our table was the atmosphere somber.

After a long time,he finally said,"At first,I really did think you were Ava."

I had already guessed it.

But hearing him say it out loud still made me feel humiliated.

Ava Whitmore.

Student council vice president,cheer captain,daughter of a board member,and the girl everyone at Westbridge Prep thought was the perfect match for Ethan.

Six months ago,at the fall dance,she had been standing right beside me.

She had been wearing a silver slip dress,beautiful in a cool,untouchable way.

I had been wearing a white server's shirt for my part-time shift,carrying a tray as I walked through them.

That day,Noah said a friend of his wanted to know me.

Later,Ethan followed me on Instagram.

He said he remembered the way I had stood under the lights.He said I looked pretty when I smiled.He said the first time he saw me,he thought I was different from everyone else.

So he had mistaken me for someone else from the very beginning.

I put the note I had prepared in front of him.Ava's Instagram was written on it.

"This is her contact.You don't have to keep settling for me just because your friend gave you the wrong account."

"If she's the person you wanted to know,you can go know her now."

Ethan frowned.

"Lily,I never said I was settling."

I looked at him.

"I don't want to be the idiot pretending she doesn't know anything."

His expression turned a little ugly.

"That answer was just something I wrote casually.I didn't think you'd see it."

"So if I hadn't seen it,were you planning to keep pretending nothing happened and keep dating me?"

Ethan said nothing.

His silence gave me my answer.

For the past six months,I had really thought I had something good.

During the six months we dated online,every planned video call fell apart because something always came up.That was why he didn't realize I wasn't the girl he wanted until we finally met in person.

But he would order food for me before my late shifts,stay on the phone while I revised my college application essays,and remember which days I had exams and which nights I worked until closing.

I had thought all of that was love.

Now I realized maybe he had only kept going because he found out he had the wrong person and did not know how to end it.

"Don't worry."

I picked up my bag and stood.

"I won't tell anyone we talked for six months,and I won't let Ava know you mistook me for her at first."

"When we see each other at school,we'll just be regular classmates."

Ethan looked up at me,his expression complicated.

"You really don't have to do this."

"I do."

I cut him off.

I did not want to be the mistake in anyone's story.

And I did not want this to be dug up later and twisted into me stealing Ava's boyfriend.

Ethan was silent for a long time before he said quietly,"As compensation,I can promise you one thing,as long as it's something I can do."

He looked serious.

As if he would not feel at ease unless I agreed.

I did not want anything from him.But I did not want to keep arguing with him either,so I nodded.

Only then did he seem to let out a breath.

"Drink something first.This hot chocolate's gone cold.I'll buy you another one."

I glanced at the hot chocolate on the table.

Then I picked up my bag and turned to leave.

"No thanks.I have class this afternoon."