The System Chose the Wrong Girl

In the third year of trying to win over Arthur Sterling, the System suddenly told me it made a mistake.

It wasn't that it got the target wrong; it got the player wrong.

I misheard! The player is supposed to be Chloe, not Zoey, hehehe.

Chloe will be at the class reunion tomorrow. Zoey, you don't need to try and win Arthur over anymore! Just tell Chloe to come."

I was silent for a moment, then softly said, "Okay."

This was for the best.

Arthur never liked me anyway.

This undefined, nameless relationship should have ended a long time ago.

When the System told me it had the wrong person, I had just finished knitting Arthur's scarf.

It was supposed to be my birthday present for him.

On my phone, the message I just sent was still visible:

"Arthur, Arthur! Guess what I got you for your birthday this year?"

The message sank like a stone in the ocean, just like always.

Arthur never replied to my messages right away.

The System chattered away next to me:

"Oh man, look at this mess. Your name and Chloe's sound so similar, I didn't look closely and accidentally bound myself to you.

"Good thing you didn't manage to win him over in three years. Otherwise, if you succeeded and then I found out I messed up, my job would be gone."

"My bad, my bad. I should have realized it when you couldn't win him over after so long. I mean, Chloe's profile says she's smart and beautiful, how could anyone not like her..."

It suddenly went quiet, then laughed awkwardly:

"I don't mean you're not good, haha! It's just that our Love Facilitation System specifically chooses couples who already have mutual feelings and ambiguity. This really was a big mistake..."

"I know," I said.

"You don't have to explain."

I finally understood.

Why Arthur and I had clearly done everything couples do, yet he absolutely refused to publicly acknowledge me as his girlfriend.

Why, no matter how hard I tried, I could never make him like me.

Why didn't I realize it three years ago?

Arthur was allergic to stupidity.

How could a guy like him ever like an idiot like me?

I planned to go to Arthur's house to pack up all my things.

After all, Chloe was coming tomorrow.

I didn't want to be caught between the handsome guy and the beautiful girl, playing the pathetic clown begging for love.

But I didn't expect Chloe to have already contacted Arthur in advance.

Through the fence, I saw Arthur sitting on his balcony, painting while on speakerphone.

Chloe's cheerful voice came through the phone.

"So, are you looking forward to seeing me tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Arthur dragged out the word.

"Old classmates, I'm pretty looking forward to it."

"Tsk, so you're not looking forward to seeing me specifically? And here I even prepared a birthday present for you! Don't you want to know what it is?"

"What is it?"

"Ta-da! It's a super hard math problem. If you can solve it, I'll tell you a secret.

"Your early birthday present has been sent. Please bring the answer to the class reunion tomorrow. Offer expires soon, Mr. Genius!"

I heard Arthur chuckle softly.

He put down his paintbrush and picked up his phone.

"Interesting."

Arthur never answered my calls while he was painting.

Even though I expected it, seeing it still made my eyes sting pathetically.

I turned to leave.

My phone suddenly buzzed.

It was Arthur.

He finally replied to my message, probably out of convenience.

There was only one word:

"Boring."

I was definitely a boring person, which is why the only birthday present I could think of was an unoriginal scarf.

In Arthur's words, it was probably something like, "Because you don't have a brain, you can only offer cheap manual labor."

I couldn't be like Chloe, designing a super hard math problem to discuss with Arthur. I wouldn't even be able to solve a problem of that difficulty.

I couldn't get my things today.

I walked home alone.

I had had a crush on Arthur since high school.

Or rather, I was just one of the many girls who had a crush on Arthur.

We were neighbors, but standing next to the radiant Arthur, no one noticed plain, invisible Zoey.

The only thing that made me different from the rest was that I used my neighborly advantage to deliver love letters to him for other girls.

Every time Arthur took a letter, he would say:

"Only good for running errands. You're so dumb."

Dumb.

That was the evaluation he gave me from childhood to adulthood.

But he didn't know I just wanted an excuse to say a few more words to him.

I never thought this secret crush would ever see the light of day.

Until the summer before my senior year, when a System found me.

It said it was a Love Facilitation System, choosing men and women who already had mutual feelings to start a 'conquest'. The standard for a successful conquest was officially declaring yourselves boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Our system's main goal is to let love change the world. After a successful conquest, you'll also receive a generous cash bonus..."

But I didn't hear anything after that.

I only heard six words.

Already had mutual feelings.

So Arthur... actually liked me a little bit too?

My heart leaped with a joy I had never felt before.

So, after finding out he got injured playing basketball, I gathered my courage and knocked on his door.

"Take care of me?" Hearing my intentions, he leaned against the doorframe, smirking through half-lidded eyes:

"Offering help for no reason... what do you want?"

I looked up at him.

"You."

Facing him, I couldn't lie.

I whispered, "I want you."

He burst out laughing.

"You're such an idiot."

But he opened the door.

Summer was long. Every day, I braved the scorching sun to run from Unit 4 to Unit 1.

The AC broke, and his leg was injured, so he couldn't move well. I climbed the ladder to check it out while he held it steady.

I lost my balance and fell into his arms, and we rolled onto the floor together.

It was summer, so we were dressed lightly.

I felt his body react and pushed him away, blushing. But he grabbed both my wrists and pinned them above my head.

"Didn't you want me? Why are you backing down now?"

He gave a half-smile.

His eyes reflected my stunned face.

As our lips and teeth met, I heard his voice.

"If you want it, let's try it."

That "try" lasted for three years.

Only, after trying for three years, we still weren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend.

During that time, it wasn't like I never asked to make it official.

"Does it matter if we're officially boyfriend and girlfriend? You wanted me, you got me, isn't that enough?"

My brain wasn't as sharp as his; I couldn't navigate the twists and turns in his words.

"But I want to be your girlfriend."

"I don't like restrictive relationships right now," he said. "Is the title of 'girlfriend' really that important to you? Do we really need to fight over something so trivial?"

It is important.

I wanted to say.

But I couldn't out-argue him. It always made me look like I was making a big deal out of nothing.

Over time, I started brainwashing myself.

He does like me.

The System wouldn't make a mistake.

He just doesn't want to be tied down.

Give it some more time, and we'll eventually become a real couple.

But now, the System told me that this relationship was a mistake from the very beginning.

When I got home, I sat quietly for a few hours.

I picked up my phone and sent Arthur a message.

Even though he might not care.

But I still wanted a clean end to what we started.

"Let's end this."

The next day at the class reunion, I arrived early.

Arthur wasn't there yet, but Chloe was.

As the class president, she was surrounded like a star in the middle of the table.

"Oh wow, Little Glasses is here too!"

When there are students with similar names in a class, classmates often add prefixes to differentiate them.

Like boy/girl, big/little, fat/skinny.

It was the same for Chloe and me.

But the way we were differentiated was different from everyone else.

She was "Chloe."

I was "Little Glasses."

Whenever she was around, no one called me by my name.

Chloe looked at me, a hint of interest floating in her eyes.

"Oh stop, don't say that about Zoey. She doesn't wear glasses anymore, stop giving her nicknames," she said with a grin.

But she was the one who complained in high school that people couldn't tell us apart and gave me that nickname in the first place.

"True, without her glasses, Zoey is actually pretty cute," a guy suddenly said.

"Yeah, our Little Glasses is a beauty now."

"Zoey, do you have a boyfriend..."

"Hey, Liam, Mason, weren't you two asking me about grad school advisors earlier?" Chloe interrupted. "Let me tell you about it before the reunion officially starts."

"Oh, right! Hey, Little Glasses, come sit at our table!" another guy enthusiastically invited me.

"No need..."

"Sorry I'm late."

A cool voice sounded from behind me, and my breath hitched.

"Whoa! Arthur, the genius! Finally!"

"Come sit! Sit!"

Our classmates enthusiastically swarmed him.

I silently moved to the side.

"Arthur, sit here," Chloe smiled, pointing to the empty seat next to her.

Arthur cast a fleeting glance at me.

"What's everyone talking about? It's so lively."

"Just chatting! Oh right, we were just saying how Little Glasses looks so pretty now that she took her glasses off!" the guy pointing at me said.

"Oh?"

Arthur casually tossed his bag onto the chair next to mine, his gaze sweeping over me as I stood there.

I didn't look at him.

Instead, the moment he sat down, I grabbed my bag and walked over to the furthest table.

Arthur raised an eyebrow, his expression unreadable.

As soon as I sat down, I heard his voice again.

"Her?"

He gave a short laugh, looking at the guy.

"When did you go blind?"

The crowd burst into laughter.

Because Arthur was sitting at the table on the edge, the people from the center table practically stampeded over.

My table was the furthest away and wasn't even full.

"Enough already," a girl named Sophie sitting next to me muttered. "It's been years since we graduated, and they're still acting like there's a caste system. Those 'good students' have always loved forming their little cliques. Disgusting."

"Well, who told us to be bad at studying and unsuccessful? I heard they even have a hidden big shot among them who sponsored this whole reunion," another person chimed in. "Let's just entertain ourselves at this table."

"Who says bad students are unsuccessful?! Julian won an award for his business case study in his sophomore year of college! He started his own company before he even graduated. Isn't that better than those nerds? Am I right, Julian?"

That's when I finally noticed the guy sitting next to me.

"You're Julian?! You lost so much weight?!"

If there was anyone in the class who was a more pathetic nickname victim than me, "Little Glasses," it was him, "Little Fatty."

He smiled somewhat shyly. "Yeah, I lost it during the summer after senior year."

I never thought that after losing weight, he'd turn into such a handsome guy.

Maybe because he was a CEO now, he acted much more mature than the rest of us. He raised his glass: "Even though our table didn't have the best grades, we all have our own unique strengths. Let's not sell ourselves short. After we eat, I'm treating everyone here to afternoon tea."

"Yeah! Boss Julian is the man!" Everyone cheered.

I was infected by the atmosphere and unconsciously smiled.

Suddenly, a piece of braised swordfish was placed on my plate.

I turned my head.

Julian coughed lightly: "Um, I remember you used to always line up for the swordfish in the school cafeteria on Mondays."

I was surprised: "You actually remember that."

He looked a bit embarrassed. "Because I always went that day too."

"You're really amazing. How did you succeed with your startup?"

"Just lucky. But my company makes robots, it's pretty fun. Want to come play sometime?"

My interest was instantly piqued. "Like the ones that can dance K-pop?"

Julian clearly froze for a second.

"If you want to see them, they can dance."

"Sure! When can I go?"

"Zoey! Hey! Little Glasses!"

I froze. People from Arthur's table were calling me.

"Arthur won't say it himself, but as his neighbor, you must know, right?"

I was confused. Know what?

"Oh come on, does he have a girlfriend or not?!"

Arthur acted like he didn't hear them, continuing to chat softly with Chloe.

Chloe was giggling non-stop.

"Never seen one," I heard my own calm voice say. "We're not close."

Arthur's head stopped moving. He looked up, his dark eyes locking onto me.

I turned my head away and continued chatting with Julian.

But we were chatting so happily that I didn't notice and swallowed a slice of hot pepper.

I instantly started coughing violently.

"Are you okay?" Julian quickly handed me a glass of water.

"I'm fine." I coughed until my face was red and stood up.

"I'm going to the restroom."

After coming out of the restroom, I passed by an empty private dining room.

Suddenly, someone reached out and yanked me inside.

"You call me 'not close'? Hmm?"

My chin was gripped by cool hands, and a sharp pain flared as my lip was bitten.

"If you're not close to me, who are you close to? Julian? Does he know how you can only soothe the burn of spicy food? Or does he know that you tremble all over when I bite you while kissing?"

I violently snapped back to reality and shoved him away.

"What are you doing?"

Caught off guard, he stumbled back a few steps.

He looked displeased.

"I should be asking you that, Zoey. Since yesterday, what exactly are you throwing a fit about?"

I wiped my lips. "I'm not throwing a fit. I meant exactly what I said."

"I'm done with you."

"Heh," he chuckled lightly.

A bottle of yogurt was tossed into my arms.

"And here I was, rushing to the front desk to buy you yogurt because I saw you coughing. This is how you treat me."

"If you're mad at me, be mad at me. Why torture yourself by eating spicy peppers? Can you even handle spicy food, trying to show off to other guys?"

I looked at the yogurt in my arms, silent.

He let out a short laugh.

"But I guess you're finally being smart for once? Learned how to use a public setting to force my hand? Chatting so happily with Julian, trying so hard to make me jealous? Is your vanity that fragile? Do you want me to announce to everyone that you're my girlfriend that badly?"

I froze, looking at him.

"What did you say?"

"Am I wrong? You deliberately texted me yesterday saying we were done, and today you're throwing a very public tantrum. Isn't that exactly what you're doing?"

Suddenly, I just felt... tired.

"And what if it is? What if everything is exactly as you think? What if I schemed and plotted just to get a title? Would you give it to me?"

He went silent.

"Do you care about that so much?"

Hah.

I tossed the yogurt back at him.

"And? What do you think I should care about? That I got you, fulfilling my unrequited love dreams? That I should be eternally grateful just for being able to touch Arthur Sterling?"

"Arthur, what did you treat me as these past three years? Because you knew I liked you, you handed out little scraps of affection, sitting on your high horse watching me pathetically beg for a title over and over again. Did you enjoy that?"

He frowned.

"What do you mean by that? Our relationship was strictly consensual. Don't act like you're the victim here. I told you, I hate being tied down, and I hate clinginess. You were the one who knocked on my door, weren't you?"

"Yes, it was consensual before. But I'm not willing anymore. I want to break it off with you. It's that simple."

I started to walk away.

He grabbed my arm.

"What did you say? Are you serious?" He stared at me. "Just because of a title?"

"Are you deaf?" I shook off his hand.

"Heh.

"Fine."

He let me go.

"Fine, let's end it.

"But Zoey, I'm not a public park. You can't just come and go as you please.

"You made this choice. Don't regret it."

"I won't," I said.

Our beginning was a mistake anyway.

I turned and walked away.

Clang!

A loud noise came from behind me.

It was the bottle of yogurt. He had thrown it into the trash can.

Arthur and I returned to the private room one after another.

The teasing started up again.

"Then Arthur and Chloe should just make it official today!"

"Perfect timing, we can all be witnesses!"

"Oh stop, I told you guys to quit joking." Chloe blushed.

"Right, Little Glasses? As Arthur's neighbor and sharing Chloe's name, why don't you be the representative of the masses? Tell us, are they a good match?!" Someone called out to me again.

I calmly picked up some food with my chopsticks.

"Yeah, they're a perfect match. A handsome guy and a beautiful girl, made for each other. Remember to invite me to the wedding, I'll definitely give a gift as a neighbor."

Smack! Arthur slammed his chopsticks onto the table.

The room went dead silent.

"I have a girlfriend."

"Huh?" Everyone was confused.

Chloe's smile froze on her face.

"But we just broke up."

He stared at me, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"I was going to introduce her to you all."

"But she threw a tantrum."

"Wanted to break up. I didn't coddle her."

"Oh wow, which fairy descended from heaven to land our Arthur and still didn't cherish him..."

Chloe laughed too: "Girls nowadays can be so demanding. They get what they want and don't appreciate it. I honestly can't understand them either."

"By the way," she turned back to Arthur, "Genius, did you solve the math problem I gave you?"

"Ooo, you two have secrets we don't know about," someone teased again.

Arthur glanced at me.

"Of course I solved it. The answer is 1314521 [I love you forever]."

"Wow, impressive! Then I'll tell you my secret," Chloe playfully pressed her index finger to her lips. "I got accepted into the grad program at your university! We're going to be schoolmates from now on."

"I just wonder, will our genius give me a welcome gift?"

Over at my table, Julian poured me a cup of yogurt.

"Drink some yogurt, it'll help with the spice."

I smiled: "Thanks."

Arthur slammed his cup onto the table with a loud clank.

"What do you want?"

"Aren't you best at drawing portraits? Can you draw one for me?" Chloe continued with a grin.

My hand holding the chopsticks paused.

Over the past three years, I had begged Arthur countless times to draw a portrait of me.

But he never agreed.

"You keep fidgeting; you can't be a model," he would always say.

"I can stay still! How will you know if you don't try?"

"So I should waste my precious time on your trial and error?" he retorted coldly.

"Sure." In this moment, I heard Arthur's voice.

So that was it.

The two simple words I had been begging for all this time.

Whether he liked someone or not, it was so incredibly obvious.

Even though I understood it all, I still couldn't help but feel ridiculous about my own stupidity over the last three years.

My stomach churned.

I put down my chopsticks.

"Do you want to see a video?" Julian suddenly said.

He held his phone screen in front of my face. It was a video of him alone on a beach, flailing his arms and legs wildly, with the background music from a cartoon monkey king's entrance.

"Here comes Old Sun..."

I couldn't hold it back and burst out laughing.

I almost laughed until I cried.

"You're too funny! What made you want to film this?"

He smiled. "I saw people doing it online before. I went to Miami for New Year's, so I just filmed it while I was there."

"Do you have any more?"

"Yeah..."

"Zoey."

The cold voice cut across the tables again.

I looked up to meet Arthur's dark, thunderous face.