Chapter 2: The Destiny Script

Three months ago, I bumped into a girl at the campus library—her books almost toppled everywhere. I said sorry, helped her pick them up, and didn’t think twice. I had no idea how much my life was about to change.

That night, I had the weirdest dream: it was like a movie montage, scenes I’d never lived, a narrator describing destinies, my own face flickering across pages that turned too fast. When I woke up, I was sweating and shaking.

Caleb was the male lead. But the heroine? Definitely not me.

A cold, sinking feeling hit me, like the air before a tornado. In this story, I was just a pit stop.

I, Natalie Evans, was cannon fodder—a supporting character—while the heroine was the girl I’d bumped into: Aubrey Monroe.

Her name echoed in my head. I remembered her shy smile, her earnest "thank you." I never imagined she was the main character in the story of my life—and I was just a plot obstacle.

After meeting her, Caleb would realize all his feelings for me—his childhood friend—weren’t love at all.

That line stung like lemon on a paper cut. I replayed every memory, suddenly seeing them as doomed. I couldn’t believe my own love story was just filler in someone else’s.

He’d fall for Aubrey, and my jealousy would turn me into the villain, making me hurt the heroine again and again, until Caleb’s last shred of affection for me vanished.

The script played out in my head: every bad move, already written. The more I clung to him, the more I’d drive him away—until nothing was left but regret.

Even my parents, who adored me, would end up targeting the heroine for my sake.

It wasn’t just my heart at stake, but my whole family’s. Their unconditional love, twisted by the plot, would destroy us all.

In the end, everything would be ruined.

I stared at the ceiling, heart pounding, feeling the weight of that ending crushing me. I couldn’t let it happen.

At first, I tried to laugh it off—blaming stress, finals, too much late-night pizza. But the signs wouldn’t go away.

No matter where I went with Caleb, Aubrey was always there.

The universe kept shoving her into our path. Coincidence after coincidence, until it felt like a cosmic prank.

We went shopping—she was handing out flyers by the supermarket.

I tried to ignore her, but Caleb glanced over, his lips twitching like he recognized her from a dream.

We ate at a steakhouse—she was the waitress.

She took our order with a smile, her apron way too big for her. I felt her eyes linger on Caleb for a second too long.

Even when I switched majors and took Caleb to a college in another state, Aubrey somehow ended up in the same major and class as Caleb.

It made zero sense. I felt trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t wake from, every move already countered before I played it.

It was like destiny, and the word tasted bitter.

In the days that followed, I watched her bump into Caleb over and over—her bike grazing his car, her getting bullied, always with Caleb right there to rescue her.

The world seemed to orbit around them, drawing them together like magnets. I watched from the sidelines, helpless and angry.

Even if he did nothing, the bullies vanished the moment he appeared, and Aubrey looked at Caleb like he was a superhero.

It was the same script every time: Caleb, brooding and distant, would step in. Aubrey would look at him like he invented gravity. I felt like a background extra in my own story.

She’d bring him cookies she’d baked herself.

She shyly pressed a bag of cookies into his hands after class. He refused at first, but her hopeful smile broke him. I stood there, invisible.

Caleb’s coldness toward her didn’t comfort me—it just made me panic more.

He tried to keep his distance, but I saw the cracks forming. Every time Aubrey showed up, his guard slipped. My anxiety became a fist in my chest.

Because in the book, he treated Aubrey the same way at first.

It all felt too familiar—the chilly politeness, the slow melting. I knew exactly where this road went, even if he didn’t.

Aubrey was a ticking time bomb, a reminder that my Caleb was already slipping away.

She haunted every happy moment, a shadow I couldn’t outrun.

No matter how I tried to avoid their meetings, fate always shoved them together.

I was fighting the tide with a paper boat, every effort leaving me more exhausted than before.