Chapter 3

I looked at Sophie’s determined, furious eyes and left the venue.

Under Sophie’s testimony, the game had become Ryan’s property. It was no longer mine.

At least for now, everyone believed that Ryan had created the game proposal.

The organizing committee would never give the award to me.

I could only clear my name after the court heard the case.

But at that moment, the venue no longer belonged to me.

I was already in my senior year, and this was my final chance to participate in the college game competition.

I had made a bet with my family. If I managed to make a name for myself this time, they would support me in continuing to make games.

But if I disappeared into the crowd, I would have to go home and inherit the family’s billion-dollar fortune. There would be no negotiation.

Ryan was only a junior. He still had another year and another chance to compete.

If Sophie had just talked to me properly, I might really have written Ryan a similar proposal so he could find teammates for the next competition.

But they said nothing. Instead, they dumped all the blame on me.

They stepped over my innocence and my dream as they walked into the awards ceremony.

Before long, Ryan and Sophie walked out hand in hand, wearing smug smiles.

While I was crouching outside the venue, I heard the host announce the award inside.

My proposal had won first place.

At the College Game Competition, when all the games were roughly equal in scale, music, and visuals, the proposal was the most important factor in determining whether a game could win.

Sophie’s voice was no longer cold. Instead, it was sweet and almost sugary as she spoke to Ryan.

“Ryan, you really are a genius. You wrote such an amazing proposal on your first try!”

Ryan scratched his head and said to Sophie, “Sophie, that’s because you taught me so well.”

The sweetness of victory seemed to linger around them as their faces drew closer and closer together.

Just as they were about to kiss, I couldn’t take it anymore and stood up.

When Sophie saw me, the joy and flirtation on her face vanished instantly, leaving behind only the sweet blush that had just colored her cheeks.

The way she looked at me was not the way someone looked at the boyfriend she had dated for three years.

It was the way someone looked at an enemy with a blood feud.

I stared at the two of them, my eyes filled with rage.

“Sophie, what exactly are you trying to do?”

“I’m your boyfriend. He’s the one who stole from me, not the other way around!”

“Why are you still defending him?”

“He’s nothing but a shut-in who spends all day playing games. He’s never read a single book about game design. Ask him what numerical balance is, or what flow design means!”

I shouted at them, but my eyes still held a trace of longing.

I only hoped Sophie would question him—ask him about the details of the proposal and the game’s flow design.

As long as she asked a few professional questions, Ryan would definitely be exposed.

But Sophie seemed determined never to let me have that hope.

It was as if she hadn’t heard me at all.

She only stared at me, fury burning brighter and brighter in her eyes.

She spoke one word at a time.

“I told you. Ryan is a genius. He’s the best!”

I looked at the furious Sophie in front of me, and sadness surged like a tide, pounding against my heart again and again.

The pain followed the waves, unending.

I had always known that she had a childhood friend named Ryan. When I first met her, his name was constantly on her lips.

I knew Ryan was impossible for her to forget, but I still held on to fantasies.

I always believed that if I did well enough, I could make her forget him.

She and Ryan had grown up together and had promised to attend college together.

But Ryan had been obsessed with games throughout high school, failed his entrance exams, and missed out on a good college, so he had to repeat his final year.

After Sophie got together with me, she told me that she treated Ryan like a younger brother and hoped I could help him.

At the time, all my friends urged me to stay away from her, but I had been blinded by love and didn’t care about any of that.

The next day, I made up an excuse to get $200,000 in spending money from my family and used it to get Ryan, who had barely passed his entrance exams, into our university.

I thought that after that, Sophie and I would finally be able to be together properly.

But I never expected that after Ryan arrived, the two of them would spend every day wrapped up in each other.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t pull them apart.

When I got sick, she was with Ryan. When I got into trouble, she was with Ryan. On my birthday, she was with Ryan. Even when I wanted to surprise her, she was still with Ryan.

I kept telling myself that things would get better after some time, that everything would get better after some time.

But time passed, and today they were still clinging to each other.

I had always treated her like a goddess. I thought it was an honor that she had chosen me. Whatever I did, I put her happiness first. I had never argued with her, and I had never questioned her.

But today, I had to question her.

I stared into Sophie’s beautiful eyes and demanded, “If you hate me, why did you get together with me?”

“You have to choose between Ryan and me!”