After Dylan left, I immediately called Chloe, recounting everything. But to my utter disbelief, she didn’t believe me. Her voice, on the phone, was laced with an almost palpable impatience. “Caleb, I’ve already explained everything. There’s absolutely nothing going on between Dylan and me. Why are you constantly so suspicious? We grew up together, I know exactly what kind of person he is. Why would you try to slander him like this?”
“I’m slandering him?” My voice rose sharply. The line went silent for a moment, thick with unspoken accusation. “Chloe, is that truly how you see me? As someone so vile?”
The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating. Finally, she spoke again. “If you really dislike it that much, I’ll make sure Dylan leaves as soon as his internship is over.” Her voice dropped, growing weary. “But Caleb, I’m already so stressed with the company. Even if you can’t help me, please don’t add to my problems right now. You’re making things so much harder.” She paused, a tired sigh esc- aping her. “And you’re busy with your final thesis, right? Let’s just… not see each other for a while. Let’s both cool off. We can talk properly after graduation.”
With that, she hung up, leaving only a chilling dial tone in my ear. She’d rather believe I was slandering Dylan than accept he was capable of such words. That was the first time I truly felt Chloe wasn’t worth my devotion. And the first time we truly had a cold
war.
Chloe was true to her word. For the next month, I didn’t reach out to her, and she didn’t contact me either. Even when we passed each other on campus, she’d look right through me, as if I were a ghost.
Until graduation day. I was just about to accept my cap and gown from my advisor when the department head suddenly appeared. Right there, in front of all the students and faculty, he asked, “Mr. Caldwell, your thesis and Mr. Hayes’s thesis are identical. Who copied whom?”
I stared at the department head, my mind reeling. “Dean, that’s impossible. I wrote my thesis myself!”
Dylan, conveniently, appeared beside the dean at that moment, quickly proclaiming his innocence. “Dean, I didn’t copy anyone. Every single word of my thesis is my own! If you don’t believe me, ask Chloe. She can vouch for me!”
Suddenly everyone in
Suddenly, every eye in the room swiveled to Chloe. My own gaze was fixed on her. But Chloe just… avoided my gaze. At that mom- ent, if I hadn’t understood what was happening, I’d be truly, irredeemably dense. I’d habitually saved all my thesis drafts and impor- tant research to a shared cloud drive that Chloe and I used. So, the question of who gave my thesis to Dylan was instantly, sickeni-
ngly clear.
The dean’s scrutinizing gaze landed on Chloe. Chloe took a shaky breath, then spoke to the dean. “Dean, Dylan is interning at my company right now. I’ve personally seen him burning the midnight oil, working on his thesis.”
With Chloe’s testimony, the identity of the plagiarist became undeniably clear: it was me. Under the searing, contemptuous gazes of everyone present, I walked up to Chloe, looking her straight in the eye, and asked, each word deliberate and measured. “Chloe, are you saying my thesis is plagiarized from Dylan’s?”
I saw the flicker of hesitation, the internal struggle in her eyes. But I waited, and waited, and all I got was a single, devastating
sentence. “I only know that Dylan wrote his own thesis.”
Hearing that, I actually laughed out loud. This was the woman I had poured my heart and soul into loving for four long years. If I could, I’d have walked right then and there to the nearest ophthalmologist and paid them whatever it took to cure my inexplicable
blindness.
Seeing my expression, a fleeting flicker of something – perhaps regret – crossed Chloe’s face. She was about to say something when Dylan, quick as a viper, cut her off. “Mr. Caldwell, I know you’re Chloe’s boyfriend, but you can’t force her to commit perjury for you! I know you don’t like me. You always picked on me, bullied me. You even tried to force me to give you exam answers! And when I refused, you sent thugs after me to beat me up!” As he spoke, he dramatically rolled up his sleeves, revealing a network of angry–looking bruises and purpling marks. “If Chloe hadn’t shown up that day, I probably would have been seriously hurt by those
thugs.”
Hearing Dylan’s outlandish accusations, I honestly wondered if my ears had malfunctioned. Every word he uttered was in English, yet strung together, they made absolutely no sense. Bullying him? Cheating off his exams? Sending thugs after him?
“Dylan, if you’re suffering from paranoid delusions, I suggest you see a doctor. But don’t you dare try to drag me into your twisted
fantasy!”
