‘... That’s him?’ My mind was trying to process what my eyes were seeing. 

A dozen images appeared on my laptop screen, all of which featured the novel's male lead, Maddox Grayson.

Male leads in romance stories are typically described as handsome and athletic; unfortunately, Maddox was no exception. The guy had black hair, blue eyes, and the looks of an angel. Or a devil, as cliché as that sounds. He had a sharp jaw, thin lips, and a lightly tanned complexion. He could be considered one of the most attractive people on the planet.

What the heck was I expecting? That he would look like a freaking frog?

“Of course he’s good-looking,” I sighed in disappointment.

‘It’s no wonder Emma let him walk all over her.’

It did not help that I had the same thought when I saw Jaxon: he, too, appeared older than a teenager.

I continued looking at the images and wondered, how could such a person turn out to be an asshole? If I didn’t know any better, I would have developed feelings from the picture alone. But knowing what he did to Emma in the novel deterred that from happening.

I shifted in my seat to look at more pictures of Maddox. In the minutes that followed, and in the numerous pictures that appeared on my screen, I noticed that he was frequently accompanied by two other boys. 

Fortunately, there were links to the images that revealed the names of the guys.

I did not feel wrong in assuming those two were Maddox's friends or underlyings.

From what I saw, I could tell they were also good-looking, but not as good-looking as Maddox. Did I also mention they were hot? And attractive? Almost like the male models found in fashion magazines? 

Another thing I realized was that they all didn’t look like teenagers–

‘What is this world’s definition of a teenager?’ I wondered, thinking my mind was playing tricks on me.

‘It appears things run differently here.’ 

Most romance novels with a high school setting describe the appearance of young adults in place of teenagers.  Maybe the author had that in mind when they were writing the novel, and it was why the characters looked the way they did. …

There was not much I could do about that. 

But anyway, I now knew the appearance of Maddox and his friends. 

I continued to look for other people who appeared with them in the same photos, conducting additional research and taking notes on them. It was extremely helpful in filling in some of the gaps in the novel about who was most likely to do what.

And among those gaps was the designated bitch of the story that also bullied Emma. But enough about her, given that she did not pose as much of a problem as the male lead.

The only thing that remained was to decide what to do with all of this information. Now that I knew who to look out for, I was confident I could avoid encounters with the story's other main characters.

Mostly because I was not planning to go to Saint Lucas where a significant part of the story occurred.

“Emma?” A knock stopped my train of thought. Jaxon's muffled voice came from the door.

“Yeah?” I called out.

I started getting up from my desk and putting my books away. 

I opened the door after I finished, expecting to see Jaxon. But he was gone.

Perhaps he noticed I was preoccupied and decided to leave me alone.

“What is it, Jaxon?” I yelled out.

“Lunch’s almost ready!” he replied from somewhere in the house.

‘Lunch? Was I in my room for that long?’ I thought. I must have lost track of time when I started looking into the people around Maddox.

“Coming!” I proceeded down the stairs to the dining area. I then immediately stopped when I noticed the presence of another person in the room.

The person had their back to me; it was a boy. From what I could see, black curls decorated his head. He was dressed in a sleeveless shirt that highlighted his lightly tanned skin and muscular build, as well as jeans that tightly hugged his lower half.

‘Who the heck is he?’

I was tense for a moment, wondering if he was one of Maddox’s friends that I had just seen on the computer. Or if he were Maddox himself.

‘Don’t tell me Jaxon somehow knows the male lead–’

The person turned to face me, and I instantly relaxed.

‘Thank God,’ I thought. 

The boy had grey eyes. He also had a sharp jaw and a handsome face, which was somewhat expected given the morning I had.

And if I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn he didn’t look happy to see me.

‘A brooding, hot 25 year old teenager…’

I was not sure why, but that jingle came to mind.

“Well fuck me. Out of all the people in this world, I didn’t expect to see you here,” he spoke, breaking me out of my trance.

I was right. He didn’t look happy to see me.

“Do I know you?” I asked him.

The person furrowed his brow and stared at me in disbelief.

He clearly recognized me. I did not feel at ease around him, so I could not shake the suspicion that he was one of the guys who sided with Maddox and his friends. Perhaps someone I had not seen in the Internet photos earlier.

At the corner of my eye, I spotted Jaxon moving towards us. He came to a halt with widened eyes when he noticed what was going on between me and the guest in his house.

“Jaxon, who’s this?” I asked.

“I was hoping you two wouldn’t run into each other,” Jaxon said, warily eyeing us.

I furrowed my eyebrows at that.

“He’s my friend. Colton.”

“Colton Miles,” the guy I had met provided. He looked at me expectantly, but I had no idea what he was looking for from me.

“Wow. So you really do have amnesia.”

“Colt!” Jaxon chided.

I cast a glare at Jaxon.

“What the hell, Jaxon?” I explained, having not expected the guy to tell anyone about my situation.

“No, leave him out of this. This is between you and me,” Colton said, returning my attention to him. He continued to look at me in disbelief.

Then he chuckled.

“You really don’t remember me?” he said. “Well, fuck me then.”

He seemed irritated by that. 

"I was angry at first, but now I feel bad for you."

“How do we know each other?” I asked him.

He looked at me in surprise.

“What, you don’t know?” he joked. I didn’t laugh.

“We go to the same school,” he revealed. “And, I asked you to go out with me before summer break started. Ring any bells?” he replied.

It was my turn to stare at him in disbelief. 

‘Emma got asked out by someone?’

“But you rejected me,” he continued. “You don’t remember it, but it’s okay.”

His expression indicated that it was definitely not okay. But, in any case, I was having difficulty placing him in the novel.

Then I was reminded of another trope.

Typically, there are multiple love interests in romance novels. The same was true for bullied romance novels (work with me here), which featured another guy interested in the bullied girl. He would usually be a good guy, sometimes a green flag, but he won’t end up with the female protagonist. 

Because the female lead would always choose the abusive male lead.

Also, remember that point about the male lead being ‘possessive’ towards the female protagonist? That would sometimes manifest in inappropriate ways, such as the male lead threatening any other guy who expressed interest in the protagonist and showing them what might happen if they pursued that interest.

I’m talking about beating their asses to the point of death.

In turn, the secondary male lead would occasionally turn evil and pose a threat to their 'love'.

I hoped that wasn’t the case with Colton. 

In either case, I needed to deal with the situation quickly.

“I’m not sure if I’ve said this before, but I’m sorry,” I decided to apologize.

Colton didn’t know how to react to that. In fact, he looked momentarily surprised. 

“Why are you apologizing? Do you even remember what you’re apologizing for?” he said.

That made me shut up. 

“But I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d be getting an apology at all. Still, don’t you think it’s a little too late for it?” 

‘This isn’t a recent thing?’

“Considering what I went through because of you… Well, it doesn’t really matter now, since you don’t remember. Thanks. This just makes you less of a bitch than I originally thought.”

Colton then turned away from me, effectively ending our bizarre conversation. 

'Oh, whatever,' I decided, seeing that it was not worth continuing to talk to him.

I was not the original Emma who hurt him, and I did not see myself getting involved with him again in the future. 

“Is he a rich boy too?” I whispered to Jaxon, watching as Colton moved towards the fridge.

“What, you’re gonna let that go?” He questioned me in disbelief.

I sort of understood his reaction. While I was at the hospital, Jaxon had jokingly let out more than an insult or two. 

And I let out a slap or two.

“Well, he is. Most of my friends are," Jaxon diverted in response to my question.

‘That explains his attitude.’

“You have friends? As in plural?” I asked.

Jaxon frowned at me.

“More than you. And they’re rich, which you aren’t,” he fired back.

I moved to smack him.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” he yelled, holding his arms in front of him in a protective stance.

I then heard a chuckle behind me. I turned to look at Colton, but he was looking the other way.

“Excuse me. Lunch is ready,” the chef, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, informed us.

I went to sort my plate before turning to head back to my room.

“I’ll be in my room,” I told no one in particular. 

Because things were not well between Colton and me, I decided to stay away, leaving him with Jaxon to do whatever boys did when they were alone.