Chapter 5 : Love blinded her

Scarlett didn’t even know when it had all started. The moments she caught herself staring, the little blushes that crept onto her cheeks when he smiled, the way her hands fumbled when he came near—it all seemed natural, like breathing.

To her, it was love. Pure, simple, all-consuming. She was in love, and that made the world a little softer, a little brighter. Even when she felt a pang in her chest, she told herself it was excitement, butterflies. Not pain.

But the truth? The truth was sharper than she wanted to see.

Andrian’s friends noticed. Always. Every little glance, every small gesture Scarlett made around him—they saw it all. They whispered sometimes, laughed quietly when she wasn’t looking. They didn’t mean to hurt her; it was just obvious. Everyone could see what Scarlett couldn’t or wouldn’t see.

Andrian noticed too.

He noticed the way her eyes followed him across the hallways, how her voice became softer when she spoke to him, how her laughter sounded different when he was around. He saw it, and yet… he smiled. That same lazy, knowing smile he always wore.

But it wasn’t the smile she thought it was.

To Andrian, Scarlett was a junior. A sweet, harmless junior who liked to fawn over him. That was all. Nothing more. There was no spark in his gaze, no flutter in his chest. She didn’t exist as someone he could love. She existed as a part of the world he could smile at, amuse himself with, but never truly care for.

Scarlett, of course, didn’t think of any of that.

She didn’t notice how he never leaned closer when they spoke. She didn’t notice how his eyes would flicker over her with amusement rather than interest. She didn’t notice that his heart didn’t race when she walked into the same room.

She was in love.

And when she thought of him, everything else faded.

Even the girl.

The girl he liked. The pick-me girl. The one Scarlett secretly despised. She had all the qualities Scarlett would never admire—she was flashy, attention-seeking, and completely confident that she could charm anyone she wanted. But Scarlett didn’t focus on that. Because when you’re in love, the flaws of the person you adore are invisible.

Scarlett would never have admitted it out loud, but she wished he would notice her. Her laughter, her jokes, her quirks. She wished he would see her the way she saw him—like the center of her own little universe.

Instead, he noticed her friends whispering, noticed the way she stared, noticed her shy smiles. And all he did was smile back.

A small, knowing smile. That smile that made Scarlett’s stomach flutter, that smile she interpreted as affection, as interest, as something she could hold onto.

She couldn’t see that it was only amusement.

The hallways became a stage. Scarlett walking, heart racing, eyes searching for him. His friends’ eyes occasionally flicking toward her, exchanging quiet, knowing glances. And him, just there—standing tall, looking effortlessly composed, smiling when she looked at him, but never stopping to notice her.

She clutched her bag tighter as she passed him one day. Her heart jumped, cheeks burning.

He smiled.

Her world spun.

That smile… he smiled at me… she thought.

And yet, everything about it was wrong. She didn’t know it then, but she would soon. That smile was not for her. It was a smile of a senior who noticed a junior’s affection but had no intention of ever returning it.

Andrian liked someone else.

Someone Scarlett would never compete with. Someone flawless in his eyes. The pick-me girl of the class who knew exactly how to get his attention, who rejected him once just for fun, and yet remained friends with him. Scarlett didn’t think about the rejection, didn’t see the way she manipulated his feelings. She didn’t notice the game. She didn’t want to.

Because Scarlett was in love.

She believed in the smile. She believed in the small moments. She believed that perhaps one day, he would look at her differently.

Her friends sometimes warned her, teasing, whispering, “You’re so obvious, Scarlett. He doesn’t even care.”

She laughed along, pretending not to notice, because deep down… she didn’t want to notice.

Love blinded her.

And it would hurt her in ways she wasn’t ready for.

For now, she clung to the illusion. She clung to the small smiles, the casual glances, the fleeting moments where she felt… seen.

But the truth was always there, waiting.

And Scarlett, in all her sweetness and devotion, had yet to realize it.

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