Chapter: 205

Noticing Bethany's confused look, Jonathan took her hand. “Come with me."

He guided her to the car and drove back to East Shade Bay. In the study, amid the neatly arranged junior high textbooks, he retrieved a letter and handed it to her.

Bethany recognized the envelope.

Wasn't this the one she had found before? It even had 0825 written on it.

“iihat's this?" she asked.

“Open it and see."

Bethany gave Jonathan a skeptical look and then opened the envelope.

The first line of the letter read: Bethany, my desk mate.

The letter was evidently old; the ink had faded at the edges, but Jonathan's firm, decisive handwriting was still clear.

"Is this letter meant for me?"

"Yes, I wrote it to you."

"Okay. But I don't remember this." Despite trying, Bethany could not recall any meaningful interactions with Jonathan.

Their conversations had been minimal.

Back then, although they shared a desk, she had always kept to herself, silently hoping the teacher would move her to a different seat.

She wanted to escape the endless gossip and the girls who constantly sent him love letters or asked her to pass along messages. She didn't want to be the unnoticed girl next to the popular boy, inadvertently making him look even more desirable and herself more invisible.

"You must have forgotten; you gave it back to me," Jonathan said.

He remembered placing the letter in her desk, then being called out for a basketball game. When he returned, he found her with the letter in hand, her expression one of mild irritation as she threw it back onto his desk.

After that, they stopped talking altogether. Jonathan would hastily leave for the playground as soon as the bell rang.

"I must not have realized it was from you." Bethany believed that was the only explanation. "There were so many love letters for you at that time, they filled my entire desk, so I..."

“So you assumed this was just another love letter from someone else for me?"

Bethany nodded vigorously and murmured a quiet "yes."

Jonathan remained silent for a moment.

"Don't be upset. It's just as well I read it now!" Seeing the tension on Jonathan's handsome face, she feared his anger and quickly moved to read the next part of the letter.

But suddenly, Jonathan snatched the letter away. “Don't read any further."