Chapter 28

Josie looked at Zoey and thought back to when she first moved into the dorm. She'd come from a small town, and the money her village lent her barely covered her tuition. Even then, she still had to pay about a hundred dollars a month in interest. Scared she wouldn’t be able to pay it back, she didn’t dare borrow any extra. When school started, she only had a dozen dollars to her name.

All she had were some old clothes and a thin, worn-out blanket from home. She couldn't afford to buy anything else she needed.

One morning, when Josie was feeling really low and getting ready to just splash her face with water before class, Zoey quietly gave her everything—towels, a toothbrush, soap, and even laundry detergent. Worried Josie might not accept them, Zoey had bought the same set for everyone in the room and called it a welcome gift.

It took Josie almost a month to realize Zoey had always been looking out for her. She never made a big deal about it—just quietly helped behind the scenes, making sure Josie didn’t feel embarrassed. Back then, Zoey even treated Josie to meals once in a while.

Later, Josie pulled through that hard time. She found part-time jobs, won scholarships, and paid back the loan from her village. Even though she eventually gave Zoey plenty of gifts and treated her to food in return, Josie never forgot her kindness.

She used to think of her roommates as family—until she joined Aiden’s research team. At some point, the way her roommates treated her started to change. But Josie had been so caught up with Aiden and the other four that she didn’t notice it at the time. She just thought they were distant because she’d been too busy to connect. Looking back now, she figured it probably had something to do with Zoey liking Aiden.

While Josie was lost in thought, Zoey had already read halfway through the diary. “You don’t like Aiden, huh?” she asked, sounding surprised.

“Who said I did?” Josie replied. She honestly hadn’t felt anything for Aiden—not even a little crush.

Before time turned back, Kyle had gotten hold of her diary a few years later. By that point, the team had already treated her terribly, and David had given her a bad evaluation. She'd been hanging on by a thread. That was when Aiden stepped in, acted like he cared, and used his connections to get her into his research center. It was the same center that the rest of the team joined after graduation—the place where Natalie later became the top cytology researcher in the country.

Back then, Josie had no idea it was all part of Natalie’s plan. She really thought Aiden cared about her. She fell hard for him—completely believed in him and started to love him. At the time, Aiden and Natalie hadn’t officially gotten together or announced any engagement.

“No… no one said that,” Zoey said quickly, flustered. “I just assumed.” Zoey didn’t think Aiden would lie, but Josie’s diary left no room for doubt. It had dates, memories—everything laid out clearly.

“You really don’t like Aiden, right?” Zoey asked again, wanting to make sure.

Josie shook her head. “No, I don’t. The diary just says I was grateful. I admired him. He helped me out when I first started school and got me onto Professor Lawson’s team.” But that was back then. Now, all she felt toward Aiden was disgust and hate.

Zoey looked a little relieved. She felt bad for having misunderstood Josie all this time. “I’m sorry. I thought you liked Aiden, so…”

“Wait!” Josie suddenly remembered something and cut her off. “You said you told Aiden you liked him. So, what happened? Did you start acting cold to me because he turned you down? Or did Aiden say something to you about me?” Josie knew Zoey wasn’t the kind of person who’d hold a grudge just because someone turned her down. Aiden had to have said something.

“I think Aiden got the wrong idea. But that was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter anymore. Let’s not talk about it,” Zoey said, clearly embarrassed and not wanting to revisit it.

But Josie didn’t want to drop it. She needed Zoey to see Aiden for who he really was—before it was too late. If Zoey kept liking him, Natalie would end up hurting her later. Zoey had been good to Josie, and it would've been a tragedy if someone like her ended up dead because of it.

Josie hadn’t known any of this before. But now that she did, she couldn’t just pretend she didn’t. She grabbed Zoey’s hand. “Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, I hope you’ll tell me everything. Some things aren’t always what they seem.”

“Yeah, I think we should clear the air,” Adeline added. “No point letting some misunderstanding mess up our friendship. We used to be so close—at least before Josie joined Professor Lawson’s team.”

Adeline wouldn’t have dared bring it up in the past. She’d been afraid Josie might think they were just jealous. But now that Josie had quit the team and hadn’t said a word about why, the timing felt right. Plus, Zoey had brought up the confession again, so it made sense to sort everything out. It had been the reason Zoey started acting cold toward Josie anyway.

Josie wasn’t someone who opened up easily or showed much emotion. If they didn’t talk things through, she might always assume they’d distanced themselves because they were jealous she made it onto David’s team. A lot of people had said that, after all.

“I agree,” Allison said. “When you got into Professor Lawson’s team, we were honestly happy for you. We wouldn’t have pulled away if it weren’t for what happened after Zoey confessed.”

“You probably didn’t know, but people kept saying we were just jealous, and that’s why we stopped hanging out with you. It wasn't fair.”

Josie frowned. “So what exactly happened when Zoey confessed?”

The three of them exchanged looks. Then Zoey finally spoke. “After the school dance, I went to find Aiden and told him I liked him. I’d had feelings for him for a whole semester.

“At first, I didn’t have the courage to say anything. But you always talked about how nice he was—how he never got mad and treated everyone well. I figured even if he didn’t like me, he’d let me down gently. But that day…” Just thinking about what he said still made Zoey’s face heat up. But seeing how serious everyone else looked, she took a deep breath and kept going.

She looked at Josie. “He said he knew who I was—your stuck-up, snobby roommate. He asked how I even had the nerve to say something like that to him.

“He said if I had even half your good traits, he wouldn’t have had to talk to me like that. He told me not to bully you just because I was pretty and came from money.

“He said from now on, you’d have people looking out for you, and girls like me should keep their distance. But he also said I could learn from you, because you’d never say something so dumb to him.”