Chapter 2

When Sophie heard my words, she ignored the fact that we were surrounded by cameras and walked straight over, blocking my mouth in front of everyone.

Her eyes were filled with rage and shock as she shouted at me.

“Ethan, have you lost your mind? Is this your apology to Ryan?”

“I thought you were at least a man who could take responsibility for his actions. I never expected you to be this kind of person.”

“Ethan, I really misjudged you. You’re such a bastard!”

Her voice grew higher and sharper with every word.

She had misjudged me?

As I listened to her, the sorrow in my eyes deepened.

We had been together for three years, and no one knew what kind of person I was better than she did.

Yet today, for the sake of her childhood friend’s reputation, she had trampled on my dream and my innocence again and again.

By then, the reporters had taken the notebook from my hands.

It was the original notebook in which I had written my proposal.

I had one bad habit: I didn’t like writing game proposals on a computer. I preferred recording my ideas with pen and paper first, then transferring them to a computer after everything had been fully developed.

The notebook was filled with every detail of my proposal, revised over and over again.

Anyone with a brain could see the entire process of how I had created the proposal from nothing.

This was irrefutable proof that I had written it.

Ryan could steal my files and steal my finished proposal, but he couldn’t steal the thoughts and process behind it.

Everyone who read my notes at the scene was amazed, and several veteran designers invited to serve as judges had already pulled out their phones to record my ideas.

Only Ryan, standing off to the side, had gone pale, his forehead covered in sweat.

He hadn’t known the notebook existed, and he had no idea how much effort it took to perfect a game proposal.

I gently removed Sophie’s hand and tried to hold it, but she immediately yanked it away.

In my mind, Sophie had always hated evil as fiercely as she loved justice. She would even curse the villains in short TikTok dramas.

Faced with such ironclad evidence, there was no way she could still believe Ryan.

The handwriting could be compared and examined too. It was obviously mine.

The game competition organizers hated plagiarism and copying more than anything.

Once this was confirmed, her childhood friend would have no way to continue competing.

Ever since the story that I had stolen Ryan’s proposal spread, Sophie hadn’t given me a single kind look.

She had even cursed me harshly countless times.

But I didn’t care. I only wanted her to come back to me and return the love I had lost.

It had to be because of some mistake I had made that she no longer liked me. It had to be that way.

With hope and delight, I looked toward Sophie’s face.

But all I received in response was her tightly furrowed brow and even more furious eyes.

The reporters’ cameras gradually shifted from me to Ryan, who was trembling.

He was shaking even harder now.

Sophie turned her head away and stopped looking at me.

I said to her, “Sophie, I’m not a thief. I wrote all of this.”

Maybe if I said it aloud, she would finally cut ties with Ryan.

But she didn’t.

She watched as the reporters moved closer and closer to Ryan, watching his body tremble more and more violently.

She didn’t answer me. Instead, she walked straight in front of Ryan and blocked every camera pointed at him.

Standing before all the cameras, she shouted at me, “Ethan! Don’t you know that this is Ryan’s lifelong dream?”

“Is this how you casually trample on his dream?”

I looked at Sophie’s furious face, confusion filling my eyes.

I remembered that she hadn’t used to be like this. Ryan had clearly stolen from me!

Sophie knew that, and she also knew that my lifelong dream was to create the perfect game in my heart.

This college game competition was my only chance.

I opened my mouth, wanting to say something to Sophie.

But nothing came out, as if something were stuck in my throat.

A bitter ache churned endlessly inside my chest.

Sophie looked at the reporters and me, then resolutely said,

“I watched Ryan create all of this from start to finish. I’m the strongest witness here.”

“And this notebook was also created by Ryan. Ethan is the real thief!”

I stared at her with unfocused eyes. Was this really the girlfriend I had loved all along?

Her eyes were firm, with a trace of disdain and anger as she continued.

“For an accusation as serious as theft, I’ll make sure you end up in court!”

The moment she said those words, every expectation I had placed in her vanished without a trace.