The Girl They Ignored Returned as the Woman Seven Men Would Die For novel Chapter 1

Dying once was all it took for Mika Miller to realize the truth.

Good girls were eventually rewarded with nothing but a pat on the back.

But bad girls—

They got everything.

-

Spring in Juniper Springs was always relentlessly rainy.

Outside the women's dormitories at Hudson University.

A tall, broad-shouldered young man stood in the pouring rain wearing a plain white muscle tank. He stared down at his phone, a flicker of disappointment crossing his eyes as the chat box remained agonizingly quiet.

The rain battered his chiseled shoulders, the water trailing down his taut, muscular arms before dripping onto the plastic takeout bag of breakfast he clutched in his left hand.

Up on a balcony, a girl brushing her teeth leaned over the railing, peering down with a mouth full of foam.

"Look, isn't that Jude Jensen from the Sports Science Department?"

"Is he waiting to give his crush breakfast? God, who would let a gorgeous guy like that wait out in the rain?"

"Ugh, getting drenched just makes him look hotter, like an abandoned puppy!"

An eighteen-year-old college athlete in his prime was kryptonite to women of all ages, especially one with a flawless face and eight-pack abs.

The moment Jude stepped on campus, he shot into the top three of the university's unofficial hot-guy rankings.

Naturally, he had a massive reputation among the student body.

"Someone's going down to see him!" The girl with the toothbrush poked her head out further, hungry for gossip.

"Who? Who is it?"

"The umbrella is blocking her, I can't see..."

Downstairs.

Mika stepped up to the young man, holding a red umbrella.

As a pair of white sneakers entered his line of sight, Jude's head snapped up.

But the moment he realized it was Mika, the light in his eyes vanished, replaced by an instant, crushing disappointment.

Because the person he was waiting for wasn't Mika. It was her best friend—

She looked up at him, her grip tightening slightly on the umbrella handle.

"Jude, why don't you date me instead?"

Jude froze. Shock washed over his face, quickly followed by a thinly veiled layer of utter disgust.

"Mika, we're not a good fit!"

He instinctively stumbled back two steps, retreating into the pouring rain.

It was as if sharing an umbrella with her made him physically nauseous.

Mika caught every micro-expression, a faint, self-deprecating shadow crossing her eyes.

She knew exactly why he was so repulsed.

After all, who would have thought that the beautiful Seraphina Sutton's absolute best friend was the most notoriously unattractive girl at Hudson University?

Mika was five-foot-six but weighed over two hundred pounds. Standing next to any average girl, she looked like a walking mountain.

After freshman orientation under the blazing sun, her skin had tanned to a dull, muddy brown, and her face was heavily scarred from relentless acne. Behind her back, people ruthlessly whispered that she was repulsive.

In truth, her facial structure was quite balanced. If someone bothered to look closely, she wasn't actually that ugly...