Chapter 72 Extra Chapter 4: Nathan's Scheme
Later, when they finally made the transition to their university campuses, the social dynamics completely shifted. By the middle of their freshman year, all three of the other girls sharing Chloe's cramped dorm room had successfully secured boyfriends.
Every single night, the tiny room echoed with the muffled sounds of all kinds of romantic phone calls—some sickeningly sweet and affectionate, some dramatic and argumentative, and some punctuated by giggles—but each one sounding absolutely, blissfully in love.
Completely surrounded by this suffocating, romantic atmosphere, Chloe felt violently inspired. She wanted a boyfriend, too!
She wanted to be the one making hushed, late-night calls from under her blankets, and she desperately wanted an excuse to aggressively dress up for weekend dates.
So, she immediately turned her predatory thoughts to the neighboring campus where Nathan attended the Pritzker School of Medicine.
His elite university had a massive gender imbalance, crawling with highly intelligent, desperately lonely, handsome guys. Finding a decent boyfriend there shouldn't be too hard, right?
She aggressively cornered Nathan in the library. "What about that guy from your advanced organic chemistry class? The one our age with the incredibly delicate, handsome face?"
Nathan didn't even look up from his textbook. "He has a serious, long-term girlfriend back in his home state."
Chloe sighed. Fine. Conventionally attractive guys having long-distance girlfriends was totally normal.
"Okay, what about the guy on the intramural basketball court? The one who plays amazingly well?" she pressed.
She vividly remembered him. He had solid, defined muscles yet looked incredibly lean and fit in his casual clothes, boasting a healthy, athletic tan. But most importantly, his eyes were absolutely stunning—a piercing blue like the deep sea.
Nathan finally stopped writing. He slowly looked up, his dark eyes entirely flat. "Him? He... he might genuinely not be the best choice for you."
"Why not?"
"I heard from several reliable sources that he is incredibly, unusually close with his male roommate. They are completely inseparable. They even share a single twin bed."
Chloe’s jaw dropped. She stared at Nathan, completely unable to believe her ears.
Nathan simply nodded back at her, his expression radiating absolute, solemn sincerity.
"Alright, fine. That is way too risky. Definitely not happening," Chloe groaned, burying her face in her hands.
"Ugh! Why is finding a decent boyfriend so completely impossible?!" Chloe whined. She suddenly realized that she was never going to find anyone by aimlessly window-shopping like this.
Luckily, Nathan generously offered to help, formally promising to personally introduce her to someone absolutely great.
Chloe trusted Nathan's judgment completely and decided to wait patiently for his curated setup.
A few weeks later, her university organized a massive women's intramural basketball league, aggressively requiring every single academic department to form a team.
Completely bored out of her mind on a Tuesday, Chloe impulsively signed up.
Since it was an official competition, matching numbered uniforms were strictly required. None of the girls on her ragtag team actually owned expensive basketball gear, and absolutely none of them wanted to drain their pathetic living expenses on a jersey they would only wear for three games. So, the student coach efficiently arranged to borrow a stack of spare uniforms directly from the men's basketball team in the same department.
They would just wear the sweaty jerseys for the games and immediately return them afterward.
Chloe was randomly assigned a massive, oversized jersey with the number 14.
She had absolutely no idea whose sweat it had previously absorbed, but it had clearly been washed, so she didn't care. She threw it on over her sports bra on game day.
The absolute second she stepped onto the polished court, she kept hearing an incredibly loud, deep voice aggressively shouting from the sidelines: "Number 14, go! Pass it to Number 14!"
Since Chloe was admittedly not the most athletically gifted girl on the court, she only played the first half of the game. After miraculously managing to sink two lucky baskets, she was immediately substituted out.
As she collapsed heavily onto the wooden bench, completely panting from exhaustion, a tall guy suddenly stepped out of the bleachers and handed her an icy bottle of Gatorade.
Chloe wiped the sweat from her eyes. She looked at the blue liquid, then slowly glanced up at the guy offering it. He was actually pretty devastatingly handsome.
"You played really well," he smiled, flashing perfect teeth.
"Thanks," Chloe replied, gratefully taking the bottle.
"That jersey you're wearing... it's actually mine," he added, his smile widening into a flirtatious smirk.
"Oh! Thanks for letting me borrow it," Chloe said after a confused moment. "I'll make sure to wash it and give it back to the coach."
"I actually need it for my own practice tomorrow afternoon. Can I just grab your phone number? I'll come find your dorm to get it back personally," he continued, his voice suddenly sounding incredibly eager and slightly nervous.
Chloe, completely exhausted and biologically dumb in the moment, simply nodded and rattled off her ten-digit number.
After frantically saving it in his phone, the guy ran off toward the locker rooms looking incredibly, victoriously happy.
Chloe rested by the sidelines for another five minutes before her brain finally processed the interaction. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Holy crap! I literally just got hit on!"
She immediately scrambled for her phone and called Nathan to report the breaking news with absolute excitement.
Nathan sounded completely, terrifyingly calm on the other end of the line. "So?"
"Don't you think that's incredibly romantic?!" Chloe gushed.
"Nope," Nathan said flatly, his voice devoid of any warmth. "He was just superficially drawn to your physical looks in tiny gym shorts."
"Well, that explicitly means I'm actually pretty cute!" Chloe declared smugly.
"So why are you in such a desperate rush to settle for the first idiot who hands you a Gatorade?" Nathan countered sharply. "You'll have plenty of high-quality guys aggressively chasing you later. Dating isn't like picking out discounted merchandise at a clearance rack—just anyone will not do."
"What are you even talking about? Do you honestly think I'm that kind of desperate person?" Chloe argued, genuinely offended.
"Who knows," Nathan snorted a dark, mocking sound. "But since you obviously already have this sweaty jersey guy firmly in mind, I guess I'll just cancel the introduction I had set up with the upperclassman I know."
"Wait—upperclassman?" Chloe responded immediately, completely taking the bait.
"Yeah. He's incredibly impressive," Nathan said, his tone turning casual. "He was actually the state valedictorian back in the day. He's about six-foot-one, ridiculously good-looking, and has a fiercely loyal personality."
"Introduce him to me right now!" Chloe exclaimed, completely abandoning the basketball player in her mind.
"But you already have that guy who desperately needs his jersey back," Nathan noted, a hint of fake reluctance in his voice.
"Oh, please! That was just a fleeting interaction I completely imagined! I don't even know his name!"
"But what if I go through the massive trouble of introducing you to this brilliant senior, and you end up secretly texting the jersey guy behind his back?"
"Absolutely no way! We literally only spoke for ten seconds! I'm completely deleting his number right now!" Chloe swore violently.
"Fine," Nathan sighed, completely satisfied. "That senior is currently doing his grueling residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I'll officially set you two up for a date the absolute second he gets leave."
"Awesome! I'll be desperately waiting for your call!"
Chloe immediately became aggressively obsessed with the fantasy of this perfect, brilliant senior.
What? You mean the jersey guy?
She completely ignored his texts, aggressively washed the massive shirt, and shoved it in the coach's locker. Her pathetic team violently lost their second game anyway, so she didn't need it anymore.
Exactly one month later, Nathan called her dorm room again.
"Hey, Chloe. Bad news. That brilliant senior got aggressively snapped up by the chief of surgery right after starting his residency at the hospital. The chief specifically introduced him to his wealthy friend's gorgeous daughter. I heard through the grapevine they're already exclusively dating and will probably get engaged soon."
Chloe froze, her jaw dropping. "They completely decided to lock it down that fast?!"
"Guys with elite, bulletproof prospects get aggressively hunted by a lot of predatory women these days. It's just the reality of the market. It's okay. Don't get too discouraged. I'll just have to personally set you up with someone else,"Nathan soothed her smoothly on the other end of the line.
"Alright," Chloe sighed, deeply disappointed but completely trusting him. "I'll be waiting for your good news, then."
"Got it. I'll make absolutely sure it happens."
Nathan hung up the phone. Sitting alone in his pristine university lab, a dark, completely lethal, entirely triumphant grin spread across his face.