Ghosting My E-Girlfriend, Only to Find Her at MIT

When my college acceptance letters arrived, I sent a text to my online crush.

I can't go to Harvard. Goodbye.

Then I turned around, enrolled at MIT, and blocked her number.

Fast forward to my freshman year practicum. The graduate teaching assistant stood at the front of the class and called my name.

"You. Come up to the board and solve this. I've taught you this before."

Me: "..."

Are you kidding me?! Why the hell is the girl I met online, who desperately wanted me to go to Harvard, teaching my class at MIT?!

During my junior year of high school, my grades took a massive nosedive.

I was absolutely terrified I wouldn't make the cut for MIT.

Out of sheer desperation, I went online and started flirting with an older girl whose username was "Harvard Reject," begging her to tutor me.

She was sweet, considerate, and incredibly understanding.

"Don't worry. With me here, I guarantee you'll get into Harvard."

I was flattered.

"No, no, it doesn't have to be Harvard."

Secretly, I was thinking: MIT is exactly what I want.

"Tsk, what kind of attitude is that? You can doubt your own IQ, but don't you dare insult my teaching abilities."

Me: "..."

Yes, ma'am.

I certainly didn't dare doubt her.

Because this girl actually knew her stuff.

Under her rigorous tutoring, my grades didn't just climb; they stabilized at the very top.

On my final practice SAT, I scored a flawless 1600.

I excitedly texted her to share the news.

She was completely unfazed.

"Mhm. That score should be enough to get you into Harvard."

It was definitely enough, but I didn't want to go to Harvard.

I had always dreamed of going to MIT.

But over the year she spent tutoring me, I distinctly felt her bizarre, borderline obsessive fixation with Harvard.

If she wasn't obsessed, she wouldn't have kept the username "Harvard Reject" for over a year.

If I didn't go to Harvard, would she be disappointed?

Looking at her message, I decided to test the waters.

"What if I don't end up going to Harvard?"

"Relax. You'll definitely get in."

Well...

She probably thought I was just having pre-college anxiety and was trying to comfort me.

Because of that, I never brought up my dream of MIT again.

The day before decision day, she texted me, telling me to relax.

She was swamped with her graduate thesis and told me to just text her my final college decision once everything was official.

Late spring rolled around, and the official acceptances came out.

I had my pick of the litter.

I could go to Harvard, or I could go to MIT.

While I was agonizing over the decision, the MIT admissions office called my mom directly at three in the morning to confirm a massive scholarship package.

So, she decisively chose MIT for me...

Goodbye, Harvard.

Getting into my dream school was amazing.

But whenever I thought of the girl who had tutored me for an entire year, a wave of anxiety hit me.

She had constantly pushed me toward Harvard. Choosing MIT felt like an ultimate betrayal.

While I was stressing over how to break the news, her text came through.

"Decisions are out, right? How did it go?"

Look at that gentle, caring check-in.

The guilt in my chest multiplied tenfold.

I hardened my heart, gritted my teeth, and typed out a message.

"I messed up. I can't go to Harvard."

"..."

She went silent.

Before she could send a second message, I quickly fired off another:

"I'm so sorry. Goodbye."

Then, I decisively blocked her number and went offline.

After that, I completely lost contact with her.

Even though it was just a fleeting, anonymous internet romance, when I arrived in Cambridge for my freshman year and walked past Harvard Yard, I couldn't help but stop and stare.

My roommate, Noah, asked me what was wrong.

Seeing the lingering regret and longing in my eyes, I sighed. "Once upon a time, I was this close to going to Harvard."

"..."

Noah rolled his eyes and dragged me toward the library to snag a seat.

"Let me tell you a secret: every single MIT student who walks past this campus says the exact same thing. Hurry up, or the library is gonna be full."

Me: "..."

Such a raw, unfiltered flex...

Sure enough, by the time we got to the library, there were barely any seats left.

Noah let out a groan of despair.

"Are these people demons?! You already got into MIT, why are you still grinding this hard?!"

At a glance, every table was packed.

There were a few seats in the group study area, but after listening to the chaotic babble of five different languages being spoken at once, we decided the silent reading room was a much safer bet.

"Hey, I see a spot! Over there!"

Noah excitedly smacked my shoulder and sprinted over to negotiate.

A few seconds later, he waved me over.

"Ethan, hurry up, there's room here."

I walked over just in time to catch the end of their conversation:

"No problem at all. You guys freshmen?"

"Yep!"

Noah was smiling so hard his face was practically glowing.

I glanced over and realized the person sitting across from us was an incredibly cute girl.

I quietly sat down. The seat directly across from me was empty, but there was a textbook resting on the desk.

"You should actually call me your senior. I'm a few years ahead of you guys. I'm in grad school now."

"Wow, you don't look it at all! That's awesome."

While I was busy wondering if the seat across from me was actually taken, Noah had already exchanged numbers with her.

Once we settled in, silence fell over our section.

I looked down at my textbook.

A few minutes later, the lighting shifted as a delicate, floral scent drifted over the table.

A slender silhouette pulled out the chair directly across from me and sat down.

A whispered conversation immediately followed:

"The professor dragged you into his office again?"

"Yeah. There was a margin of error in one of the datasets. I had to recalculate the whole thing."

The first voice belonged to the girl who had let us sit there.

The second voice, while unfamiliar, was incredibly melodic and soothing.

I sneaked a glance upward. Sitting across from me was a breathtakingly pretty girl wearing thin, wire-rimmed glasses.

She had straight, raven-black hair, porcelain skin, and long, dense eyelashes.

Her eyes were exceptionally beautiful, almost like they were drawn straight out of an anime.

Perhaps sensing my gaze, she looked up.

The moment our eyes met, my breath literally hitched.

She was stunning.

But this anime-like girl merely gave me a cold, indifferent glance.

Then, her eyes landed on the textbook resting in front of me, and a flash of surprise crossed her face.

"Materials Science and Engineering? Is that your major?"

Wait, she actually spoke to me?

I nodded.

I was a total STEM kid in high school. Thanks to my "Harvard Reject" tutor, my foundation was rock solid, so I declared this major the second I got to MIT.

I didn't know if I was imagining things, but the corners of her lips curled up ever so slightly. "Not bad."

While I was trying to figure out what she meant, the friendly girl sitting next to her chimed in:

"What a coincidence! That's our major too."

Ah, well, that is a coincidence. Direct upperclassmen.

"Nice to meet you both."

I greeted them politely.

The girl across from me just gave a faint "Mhm," her demeanor immediately returning to freezing cold.

"Don't mind her, Emily is just like that," her friend whispered with an apologetic smile.

I smiled back, brushing it off.

My major was notoriously brutal.

The coursework was heavy, and the assignments were soul-crushing.

It was another weekend.

Noah and I were trapped in our dorm room, agonizing over a physical chemistry problem set.

Finally, Noah let out a tortured wail.

"I can't do this anymore! Just kill me! How is this so damn hard?! I've recalculated it five times, and it's wrong every single time!"

Looking at the few strands of hair he had literally ripped from his own scalp, I genuinely felt bad for him.

But there was nothing we could do.

The difficulty spike from high school to college was a massive, vertical cliff.

"Should we try asking someone else?" I suggested.

"Ask who?"

That was a very good question.

The professor? We were way too intimidated.

Our classmates?

The guy sitting next to me was the literal state valedictorian, and he was currently tearing his hair out.

While I was agonizing over it, a specific person popped into my head.

My online tutor!

If she were here, these problems would be an absolute breeze for her.

But... I had already blocked and deleted her!

If I had known I'd be suffering this much in college, I never would have acted so impulsively.

Suddenly, Noah bolted upright from his desk like a zombie coming back to life.

"I know who we can ask!"

"Who?"

"That grad student we met at the library! Chloe! I have her number! She's in our major, she definitely knows how to do this."

Noah was a man of action.

He immediately grabbed his phone and fired off a text.

A minute later, he excitedly yanked me out of my chair.

"Let's go, let's go! She said yes. We're going to meet her right now."

Noah dragged me all the way to the research and laboratory building.

"They're running an experiment right now, we just have to wait a bit."

Not long after, people started trickling out of the lab.

Soon enough, Chloethe girl who had given us the seatswalked out and waved us inside.

"Is it okay for us to just walk into the lab?"

"The actual sterile lab is further in. This is just the briefing room, it's totally fine."

Noah nodded eagerly and pulled me into an empty seat.

Chloe sat across from Noah, and I sat next to him, just listening in.

I have to admit, grad students really are built differently.

Within minutes, Noah was nodding in absolute enlightenment.

I was just about to ask a follow-up question.

When the door to the briefing room swung open.

The person who walked in stopped, and the three of us stared at each other in dead silence.

"Oh, Emily, you're back?"

The girl standing in the doorway was the incredibly pretty, glasses-wearing senior from the library.

Emily.

Her cold eyes swept over Noah and me.

Chloe quickly explained:

"Oh, these are the freshmen we met at the library. They got stuck on a few problems, so they came by to ask for help."

"Mhm."

Her attitude was as freezing and distant as ever.

Noah and I exchanged a quick glance.

We read the exact same thought in each other's eyes: What an ice queen.

Noah pulled me up from the chair.

"Well, uh, we got what we needed, so we'll get out of your hair! Thanks so much, Chloe."

"No problem at all! Oh, by the way, our lab is actually looking for two undergraduate assistants. Are you guys interested?" Chloe suddenly asked.

Noah and I both froze.

I acutely noticed Emily furrow her brow.

She was clearly not thrilled about the idea.

I was just about to politely decline.

When Noah blurted out, "We'd love to! Ethan, come here, exchange contact info with them so we can set it up."

Wait, why did I have to exchange info?

Didn't he already have Chloe's number?

While I was standing there in confusion, Noah practically shoved me forward, winking at me like a maniac.