Hating You Softly

Ophelia and Landon were never in the same world. She was poor, he was rich. She was quiet and outcasted, he was popular and extroverted. In eighth grade, he liked her from a distance but never had the guts to be the boy who said it out loud. By sophomore year, everything changed. After Ophelia reported Landon's older brother for assault, the story twisted fast, and suddenly she was the liar, the attention-seeker, the girl everyone talked about and no one believed. Landon chose his brother's side, and whatever quiet pull once existed between them turned into something bitter.

She spent the last two years at college doing exactly what she came there to do: keeping quiet, keeping invisible. Writing papers and doing online exams for rich students is not something she is proud of, but it pays, and no one is supposed to know. Then Landon hears her name come out of one of his friend's mouths and realizes the girl behind the secret side hustle is the same girl from grade school.

Instead of exposing her, Landon offers Ophelia a deal. Be his girlfriend in public, play nice for the cameras and the campus politics, and he keeps her secret. She knows he is doing it for more than appearances. He wants control. Revenge. He wants her close enough to punish, test, and unravel. He thinks if he keeps her near, he'll finally prove she's as manipulative as his brother always claimed. But the longer they fake it, the harder it becomes to ignore what is changing underneath it, because hate is one thing. Wanting the girl you were never supposed to touch is worse.

TROPES: POPULAR BOY X QUIET GIRL HATE TO LOVE, FORCED PROXIMITY, EMOTIONAL SCARS, TRAUMA, GRUMPY X GUARDED, REVENGE, HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY, FORBIDDEN TENSION, HE FALLS FIRST, RICH BOY X POOR GIRL, COLLEGE ROMANCE