The clueless innocent girl walked into the campus with a merry heart and whistling happily while greeting the people along her way.


    Then, she saw a very familiar figure wearing a gloomy face… near her locker.


    On normal days, Kaylee would greet him and act like a good friend, and joke around. But remembering what happened at Mister Old ck''s birthday made her hesitant to approach her best friend.


    Should she avoid him from now on?


    But she is Nick and not Kaylee. Wouldn''t it look even more suspicious if she avoided him?


    "Hi, Jack." Kaylee decided to walk up to the young man and greet him as ordinarily as possible.


    Jacob nced at her with a nce, then closed the locker indifferently without returning her greeting.


    "Jack? Jack, wait up." somehow, Kaylee felt ufortable when the young man was cold to her.


    After struggling to catch up with the young man with wider than usual strides, Kaylee grabbed the boy''s arm and demanded his exnation.


    "What''s wrong with you? Why did you give me the cold shoulder?"


    "What''s wrong with me? I should be the one asking that!" hissed Jacob bring her to further confusion.


    "What do you mean?"


    "It''s about Roe."


    Kaylee swallowed nervously. "What is it about her?"


    "Do you know she is Kaylee Zouch?"


    "... Yeah?"


    "Then, do you know she will be engaged to Den ck?"


    "…" Kaylee gasped in shock but didn''t acknowledge right away as she didn''t know how to answer.


    "Wow... what a good friend you are." sarcasm the young man. "If only I had known she was getting engaged to someone else, I wouldn''t have approached her. Thanks, Nick. You made me like a fool." Jacob walked away without giving her another look.


    Kaylee felt her heart twisted in a weird way and her tears threatening toe out made her feel hopeless.


    This was the first time someone had given her that sarcastic tone and cold shoulder. Not that she never received it, but she never cared about those people. But this was the first time her dearest friend treated her like this.


    Since she entered this campus, Jacob was her first friend, and the boy was her partner and almost inseparable. They even got the nickname ''inseparable duo'' from others. Kaylee felt the world around her darken when she heard Jacob''sst sentence.


    Kaylee decided to skip lessons and hide on the roof, looking up at the cloudy sky, simr to her mood.


    She didn''t mean to fool around with Jacob and genuinely wanted to be with the young man. Kaylee did not think that she would end up choosing Den in the end. No, it wasn''t like that. Den and the others kept cornering her, and if she could say, they forced her to be with Den until she had no other choice but to ept the man.


    No, it wasn''t like that either.


    If only Kaylee didn''t want to be with Den, she would do her best to run away instead of continuing toe back into the man''s arms.


    It seemed that her heart had chosen Den from the very beginning, but she realized it toote. Kaylee thought she would choose Jacob over Den and make a path for the young man to woo her.


    Unfortunately, the results did not match her expectations, and now she has broken the young man''s heart.


    What should she do?


    Kaylee still couldn''t find the answer, and now she has toe face to face with Jacob to practice for a music battle.


    Jacob, Adam, Fritz, and Letti have arrived at the music room to practice the uing music battle. Kaylee introduced Letti to the boys, and they, including Jacob, weed Letti''s presence with enthusiasm.


    Unfortunately, not once did Jacob nce at her. The young man considered it as if she was not in the room. Fritz realizes the cold war between his two friends. He approached Kaylee while whispering,


    "Dude, did you fight with Jacob?"


    Kaylee didn''t know what to answer and could only give him a straight thin smile.


    At least Jacob was still willing to help her to finish this music battle. It meant enough to her.


    "Letti, have you learned the song?" Adam asked politely, even more polite than he should have, as if Letti was some renowned public figure.


    "I''ve been studying it over the past weekend."


    "Very nice. Let''s try it first."


    After upying their respective positions, Jacob started by tapping the two drumsticks four times before everyone yed their instruments.


    The opening intro was eight bars, and Letti started to sing from the ninth bar with a jaw-dropping voice. Kaylee nearly yed the wrong chords on her guitar when she heard the beautiful voice from the girl.


    Her voice was like a sacred song that only a chosen angel could sing. Kaylee felt that the soprano singer on her orchestra team could not even bepared to Letti.


    Now she understood why the name Leticia Campbell was particrly well known on this campus. Her voice was another whole level!


    They were so engrossed in practicing that they didn''t notice someone had secretly opened the door and came in to check on them.


    The person who first noticed this uninvited guest was Letti because she often steered her eyes in all directions as if she wanted to interact with the audience when she appeared on stageter.


    And that''s when Letti''s eyes caught the familiar towering figure. She smiled slightly at that person, and her heart was blossoming as that person smiled back.


    "Pst... isn''t that Mister ck?"


    Kaylee heard a whisper from Adam, who walked over to her without stopping his bass ying. Kaylee nced near the door and saw Den standing there with his arms folded in front of his chest.


    Instantly she remembered her datest night where the man hugged her from behind while watching a street music concert. Luckily, Kaylee managed to get rid of that scene right away and did nothing wrong with her guitar ying.


    Every now and then, she would nce at Den and wonder what the man was doing here. She realized that Den''s gaze was not on her or her friends, but... Letti?


    A strange sensation ran through her heart as if tiny ants were covering her and biting her delicate skin. Kaylee didn''t know what feeling she just felt, but she knew… she didn''t like seeing that guy looking at any girl other than her.


    Kaylee did not divert her sights from this handsome man without realizing it, making her target noticed that someone was watching him.


    As Den shifted his gaze toward her, Kaylee panicked and made a mistake creating a very unpleasant chord. Instantly, her friends stopped ying and nced up at her in surprise.


    "Nick, what was that?"


    "I''m sorry. Let''s start over again." Kaylee apologized without ncing at Den and only kept a strange feeling in her heart.


    Den winced when he realized his rescuer was ying guitar to the singing Letti. He had heard about the music battle between Nichs and the rocker band team in the band''s music department.


    But he did not expect Letticia Campbell to sing in this music battle.


    When he receives a message from Letti saying she will practice singing with the band''s music team for the first time, Den decided to check on her.


    Den nced back at Letti with a gaze, ''Seriously?''


    Letti only gave her sheepish smile while putting her palms together as if to beg something.


    Den rubbed his temple in submission before smiling at the girl. ''Fine, do whatever you like.'' was the hidden words from his ck eyes.


    Without paying attention to the other kids or givingments, Den walked out of the room, leaving the others with different questions.


    Jacob: Why did my unclee here all of a sudden?


    Kaylee: What is their rtionship?


    The rest: Woah! What is the scariest professor doing here??


    Since no onemented on Mister ck''s presence in this music room, they decided to continue training as if the most influential man on campus had nevere to see their practice.


    They were worried that talking about Mister ck''s arrival would make them sluggish. Mister ck was infamous for his harsh criticism. Seeing that man walk out withoutment, didn''t that mean their appearance was horrible?


    Ah! They don''t want to think about this and continue to be eager to practice to win this music battle.


    After they finished practice, Kaylee approached Letti to find out the girl''s rtionship with Den. But the girl had left because she didn''t have any things to tidy up.


    Fortunately, the girl didn''t go very far as a group of girls from the singing ss stopped her.


    "What are you doing?"


    "Who do you think you are? You believe the campus idol likes you just because he wants you to be his singer?"


    Kaylee was about to help Letti, but her steps stopped when she heard the voice of authority from behind.


    "What are you girls doing here?"


    Kaylee''s heart broke when she heard Den''s voice. She never saw the man would protect another girl like this.


    Kaylee clutched her front chest when she found it difficult to breathe.


    Why does her heart hurt so much?