“Is it merely a cold, or do you have other symptoms like a fever or headache?”

“Have you had anything to eat? Make sure you eat something light.”

After a rapid succession of messages, Neal eventually responded with a question mark. Bonita was confused.

Soon after, another text arrived, saying, “Hold on, how did you know about my cold?” Bonita’s heart sank.

Oh no, she realized she had slipped up.

When Neal didn’t receive a response for some time, he sent another question mark Bonita’s way.

Her heart pounded in her chest, threatening to break free.

Amid her anxiety, Bonita lost track of a vital detail.

She had overlooked the fact that Neal had casually mentioned his cold to a few friends at the studio during a phone call; it was supposed to be a secret.

As someone who was supposed to be his girlfriend online, she certainly wasn’t supposed to be aware of it.

What could she possibly say to cover this up? How would she justify knowing such details?

At times, dodging the issue seemed like the only solution.

Bonita quickly signed out from her alternate WhatsApp account and switched back to her primary one, which she used regularly.

She reasoned that if she didn’t see his messages, she wouldn’t need to reply.

Bonita gripped her phone tightly, her thoughts in disarray. She knew she could only dodge the issue for so long. What would she say if Neal brought it up later?

Would he discover the truth? Considering only a few people were present at the studio during his call, Neal might easily determine who knew.

If her cover was blown, the resulting embarrassment would be daunting.

Even worse, their online relationship could come to an abrupt end, undoing all the effort she had put into building it.

Bonita was deeply invested in this connection and dreaded seeing it dissolve.

The mere thought left her upset.

Tears welled up as Bonita bit her lip, scolding herself for such a foolish mistake.

Throughout the day, she found herself distracted, unable to devise a strategy to conceal her mistake.

Back in her dorm room, as she lay in bed, Bonita turned the problem over in her mind repeatedly, yet no clear solution emerged. Nevertheless, the temptation to check her secondary WhatsApp account was too strong to resist.

As she logged into the account, she saw that Neal had sent several messages.

“Why did you suddenly stop responding?”

“I’ve got a cold, but it’s really nothing serious.”

“Ah, you must’ve seen my status update, huh?”

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