Fading Slowly but Surely

It was raining heavily outside, and almost all the taxis had stopped running. The group was stuck waiting at the entrance of the bar.

Emmett called for his family chauffeur. He intended to send Sadie back. She immediately put on a smug expression as she glanced sideways at Isla.

Sadie deliberately asked, "It's so late now, and everyone has left. Is it really okay for Isla to be the only one left here waiting for a taxi?"

Emmett took the umbrella from his chauffeur and replied indifferently, "She can walk."

After that, he got into the car with Sadie without giving another look at Isla.

Isla remained unbothered as she watched the sports car leave in the rain. She continued to hail a ride on her taxi app.

The rain only eased up after she waited in the cold for more than two hours. Only then did a driver finally accept her ride request.

…

It was already 2:00 am by the time Isla arrived home. She brushed off the raindrops from her trench coat and slowly made her way to the door. She entered the passcode.

Just as she opened her door, the door opposite to hers opened up as well. Emmett walked out and looked at her coldly. "Come back earlier next time. You're being too loud with the door, and it's disturbing my rest."

Isla glanced at the way he was still in his earlier outfit and understood what was going on. She chucked coldly and hummed perfunctorily before walking right into her room. She then turned on the lights and closed the door.

It wasn't until she got her shoes changed that she heard a loud bang from outside.

Isla paid it no mind. She stripped off her wet clothes, turned on the air conditioner, and curled up on the couch with a blanket.

She had bought this apartment six months ago after hearing that Emmett had moved out of his dorm.

Isla had also moved out just to be his neighbor. She sent him breakfast in the mornings and bid him good night each night. She tried to create all sorts of daily encounters just to win his heart.

Yet no matter how much she showed concern for Emmett, he always ignored her. He rarely responded. It wasn't until she had found out about his secret that she realized he had been pretending not to care all along.

Just like tonight—he'd clearly been home for a while, yet he hadn't even changed out of his clothes. He had kept himself awake as he was worried for her safety.

Isla was already tired of Emmett's mixed signals and mind games. She no longer wanted to play along.

She opened her phone and clicked on the real estate app to list her property.

Now that Isla had decided to leave, she wanted to cut ties completely.

…

The agent came to inspect the apartment the next morning. Isla opened the door groggily and briefly introduced the details of the apartment.

After they were done, she was about to see the agent out when the door across the hallway suddenly opened.

Emmett was holding his car keys and was about to leave. He instinctively frowned when he saw the male stranger beside Isla. "Who's he?"

"This is my uncle. He came to bring some things to me," she lied effortlessly.

The agent turned to her in shock, yet he was professional enough not to call her out for her lie. He soon gave an excuse and left.

Isla returned to her room to get changed for class. As soon as she rounded a corner, she saw someone standing in front of the elevator and blocking her way.

She looked up and saw that it was Emmett. She felt perplexed seeing that he was still here even though he wanted to leave earlier.

He noticed the confusion on her face and replied awkwardly, "I'll send you to the university today."

Isla wasn't sure why he was acting differently today. She shook her head and declined his offer.

However, Emmett insisted on sending her and came up with excuse after excuse, from being almost late to claiming it was on his way. He might even blurt out that it was eco-friendly at this point.

Seeing that she couldn't win against him, and she did not want to delay any longer, Isla agreed to his offer.

Both of them stayed silent in the car throughout their journey.

Emmett was not used to Isla being so quiet. He was used to hearing her chatter whenever he was beside her.

He was surprised to find that it wasn't his imagination—she had truly changed in the past few days. And for some reason, these changes made him feel uneasy.

…

Once they arrived at the university, Isla unbuckled her seatbelt, thanked him, and left soon after.

She briskly walked into the campus, yet she noticed that everyone was staring at her weirdly and whispering among themselves.

One asked, "That's Isla Stokerton, right?"

"Yes, she's the one who's trending. What an embarrassment!"

Hearing those baffling words, Isla quickly pulled out her phone and saw the links sent by her friends.

Upon clicking into it, she realized someone had submitted the story of her confessing to Emmett to the rant bot, and it had even made it to the trending topics.

Isla was shocked to see the entries in the hashtag "Quintessa Uni's obsessive pining woman."

The most popular entry was that post, which compiled all her effort in pursuing Emmett in great detail, even putting out the content of her love letters.

From a distance, Isla saw a crowd gathering in front of the university's bulletin board, which was full of the love letters she had written. They were all laughing and commenting on the love letters.

Someone commented, "What does she mean by 'I'm lost in your eyes'? That's so cheesy!"

Another said, "All 99 love letters were written in every possible way. How scary are those lovestruck fools!"

One asked, "Isn't she supposed to be the most talented woman in Quintessa University? Why is she pining so obsessively?"

Isla's heart sank when she heard the unforgiving mocking. She pushed past the crowd and started tearing the love letters down.

Sadie's sharp voice sounded just as Isla finished taking down the last piece. "Isla confessed to you so many times, Emmett. So, how fond are you toward her?"

Emmett's voice sounded as cold as usual when he uttered, "Not at all."