Chapter 2 Back then , his dad and stepmom had fled the country , leaving him high and dry with all the family assets frozen solid . The golden boy had fallen from grace - friends ghosted him to save their own asses , Cherry wouldn't even answer her door , and everywhere he went people whispered and pointed . [ ] And me ? I could barely keep myself fed , but I still brought him home . [ " Dylan , let me take care of you . " ] ] He was just sitting there on the ground , all six - foot - two of him looking like a broken toy that someone had tossed in the trash . Even his voice sounded rusty , like gears that hadn't been oiled in years : ] " Do I know you ? " ] " Yeah , I work at that bubble tea place near your campus . " He gave me this look - like I was some creepy stalker trying to take advantage of his situation . Which , to be fair , I totally was . [ ] He hadn't eaten in three days and had spent the whole night getting soaked in the rain outside Cherry's place . Guy was so weak a strong breeze could've knocked him over . Growing up in foster care made me tough as nails , so I basically dragged his ass back to my shitty studio apartment and didn't let him leave for two weeks straight . ] After that … Dylan just never left . [ ] Poor little rich boy had no clue how the real world worked - zero survival skills . ] So I busted my ass working morning delivery runs , washing dishes at lunch , slinging drinks in the afternoon , and doing food delivery at night just to keep us both alive . [ ] Sometimes he'd get this guilty look and say stuff like : ] " Why are you doing this ? You're just making your own life harder . " ] But most of the time , he just acted like I was invisible . [ ] Thing is , in my twenty years on this planet , only my parents had ever really stuck around for me . ] Mom and Dad were there for me - they were good to me without expecting anything back . [ ] So when I was there for Dylan , obviously I had to be good to him too " Annie , can you grab those boxes ? You're spacing out again - that's like the third time today . " || The bubble tea shop manager's voice snapped me back to reality . ] I nodded and hurried outside . ] The delivery truck was parked right by the entrance , so I jogged over to start unloading . I'd just grabbed two cases of milk when I turned around and saw Dylan . Cherry was hanging off his arm , chattering away : " Let's try that new place tonight ! My friend says it's pretty good . Only like two hundred per person though - probably can't compare , to those spots we hit up in Paris . " Dylan obviously spotted me too . He hesitated for a split second . But then he just looked away and responded to Cherry in this gentle voice : ] " Sounds perfect . " [ ] Mr. Fine Dining over here - guess I should feel honored he choked down my boxed mac and cheese for two whole years and actually seemed to enjoy it . ] ] " Wait , is that idiot working here ? " Cherry tilted her head , studying me , then glanced up at the shop sign . ] " Bubble Bliss … Oh my god , I can't believe they have these trashy chains on campus . " " I heard they sell drinks for like four bucks . That's so gross - aren't you afraid of getting food poisoning ? " I stared right at Dylan and shot back " Of course not ! " [ ] Dylan had drunk our stuff before . When I'd bring it to him , he'd bitch about it but always finished every drop . He seemed to remember that too , because he looked away all awkward and dragged Cherry off . ] Back inside , my manager asked curiously ! " Wasn't that your boyfriend ? How come he was with some other chick ? " ] On campus , Dylan always avoided me like I had the plague - nobody knew we were together ! ] under those dim streetlights after But when there were rumors about some sketchy dude lurking around , he'd still wait for me unde my closing shifts . My manager had seen lum before and even said : " Your boyfriend's a total catch . You're one lucky girl.- | ] Nobody had ever called me lucky before - not since my parents died . I was totally stoked . [ ] When I practically skipped over to Dylan all excited , he just turned around and walked away . [ ] Those long legs of his moved fast , never slowing down for me , always keeping just enough distance between us . ] Seeing me zone out again , my manager didn't push it . He just stared at all the inventory and let out this heavy sigh : ] " Another month in the red . I swear , I might have to close this place down . " ] In Manhattan , selling four bucks smoothies apparently really was business suicide . ] We'd been hemorrhaging money lately . [ ] I set down the boxes and looked my boss straight in the eye : [ ] " That offer you made before - three hundred thousand for the whole operation - is that still on the table ? " ||