Three Years Later, He Came Back Begging novel Chapter 472

Without missing a beat, Lawrence answered smoothly, "A chance to be friends again, obviously. We're in college now. Shirley isn't watching your every move anymore, right?"

The word hit Bonnie like a lead weight. *Friends.* A sudden, bitter wave of self-pity washed over her. She was the one who severed the connection. She was the one who demanded they act like strangers. And yet, she was the one standing here, feeling utterly crushed by a single, harmless sentence.

Was this the agonizing reality of an unrequited crush?

It felt like a thousand needles under her skin.

She was painfully, brutally aware that she wanted so much more than a casual friendship, but the image of that gorgeous girl laughing by his side flashed behind her eyes, locking the words in her throat.

After a suffocating silence, she met his gaze with dead seriousness. "We shouldn't be friends. Your girlfriend would hate it. No girl wants her boyfriend keeping a bunch of random female friends around."

Especially a girl like her, who had once stood dangerously close to crossing the line.

She braced herself, fully expecting him to accept the rejection and walk away. Instead, Lawrence froze for a fraction of a second before bursting into a deep, chest-rumbling laugh. He laughed so hard his shoulders shook, his eyes gleaming with an amusement she couldn't even begin to decipher.

His laughter felt like an insult. The embarrassment morphed instantly into white-hot fury.

Bonnie shot him a venomous glare, spun around, and stormed off, completely forgetting which direction her dorm was even in. She just wanted to be as far away from him as physically possible. Lawrence scrambled to catch up, his hand shooting out to gently grip her arm.

"Bonnie, come on, you're not even going to let me explain?" Lawrence sighed, a smile still tugging at his lips. "Two years apart, and your temper is worse than ever..."

He meant to tease her, but the words died in his throat when she looked back at him. The edges of her eyes were rimmed a painful red. Stray strands of hair from her brutal Drill Week training clung to her forehead, framing eyes that looked so fiercely vulnerable they practically shattered his chest.

It was the first time he had ever seen the cool, untouchable girl look so violently close to tears. A sharp pain pierced his heart, and his voice immediately dropped into a low, soothing murmur.

Suddenly, the urge to push her buttons was irresistible.

"What about you, Bonnie?" He leaned in close, his gaze locking onto her reddened eyes, practically trapping her in his gravity. "Why were you so furious about the idea of me having a girlfriend? Why are you crying?"

The heat in her cheeks exploded into a full-blown inferno. It felt as though he had reached straight into her chest and pulled her deepest, most humiliating secret out into the daylight.

If romance was a psychological war, Lawrence had just flanked her entirely. His counterattack was a brutal, flawless checkmate.

She had absolutely zero experience with this. She was so flustered her face burned hot enough to start a fire. She felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to punch him in the chest, followed immediately by the urge to burst into tears.

But Bonnie swallowed it down. She forced her chin up into a proud, arrogant tilt and delivered her coldest, most aristocratic sneer. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't want anything to do with you. We stopped being friends two years ago, Lawrence. Strangers act like strangers. Get out of my way."