More Than One Online Chat Partner

I was about to confess to my online chat partner in person when a barrage of comments suddenly flashed across my mind.

[Don't bother. Jedediah is avoiding her right now. He's regretting ever mixing her up with someone else.]

[It's all her fault for using a profile picture so similar to Georgia's. Otherwise, Jedediah wouldn't have gotten confused.]

[It's annoying to think that when Jedediah lost a game, it was the supporting role, Monica, who comforted him. All those sweet words he said were meant for the female lead, Georgia.]

[Jedediah is grossed out by it, too. Georgia only added him as a friend yesterday. It's so frustrating.]

[Monica is a bane!]

Dazed, I ran into Jedediah Merritt, who had just finished playing basketball.

He quickly averted his gaze, but I moved around him, shoving the love letter into his roommate's hands.

Online chat partner? I had more than one, sending my goodnight voice messages to several people every night.

When I first saw the barrage, I was a bit dazed.

Standing outside the basketball court, I looked at the scrolling comments in the air. Slowly, the pieces started to fall into place.

According to the messages, I was nothing more than a minor supporting character in a campus romance novel, and my online chat partner, Jedediah Merritt, was the male lead.

I looked down at the love letter in my hands. It all made sense now.

No wonder his replies to my messages had been so slow and indifferent these past few days, with hints of irritation. He had mixed me up with someone else from the start, thinking I was the female lead, Georgia Roberts.

That was why he had added me on WhatsApp and started chatting with me. Slowly, feelings had developed through casual "good morning" and "good night" messages.

But now that he knew the truth, he was avoiding me and even saw me as an obstacle between Georgia and him.

I heard some noise in the distance. Looking up, I saw Jedediah walking toward me.

He was dressed in a blue basketball jersey, his forehead covered by a white sports headband. He casually grabbed the water bottle a classmate handed him and took a swig.

He was glowing, radiating a charm that made him the object of admiration for girls.

As he walked closer, he noticed me, and his steps faltered. He quickly looked away, pretending to focus on his teammates.

His reaction made me sigh. It seemed those comments were right after all.

[If I were Monica Lovell, I'd stay far away from Jedediah and stop embarrassing myself.]

[Exactly. The male and female leads are meant to be together. Monica shouldn't be in the way. Doesn't she think it's pathetic?]

[Jedediah won't even look at her.]

Indeed, Jedediah didn't look at me. He lowered his head, fiddling with his phone, likely replying to someone's message.

His face broke into a smile. Probably, it was Georgia who had just added him as a friend.

Just