“Jean, open the door. You haven’t e out for days. This isn’t good for your health!”

  At Xavier's School fifted Youngsters, Scott stood outside Jean’s room, knog as he always did.

  Ever since Jean had met that human man, the e between her and Scott had stalled, uress further.

  It wasn’t just stagnation. Scott could feel their retionship growing increasingly distant.

  Whenever Jea her room, she always had that handkerchief tied around her wrist. No one else was allowed to touch it. If aried, Jean’s powers would often spiral out of trol, leading to an attack.

  At first, Scott could still invite Jean out occasionally or eveer her room to talk.

  But over time, Jean began avoiding him, actively keeping her distance.

  If Scott still hadn’t realized what was going on, he might as well admit he’d been blind his whole life.

  Jean had fallen for that human man. Even though the man wasn’t at the school, her feelings for him only seemed to grow stronger day by day.

  Scott sighed. She probably wouldn’t e out today, either.

  Disappoi and frustration welled up inside him, but so did an unmistakable surge of hatred toward that man.

  ……

  Inside her room, Jean sat quietly on her bed, holding the handkerchief tightly in both hands, a blissful smile grag her face.

  “Reid, you’re so funny.”

  Her words sounded like self-talk, but in Jean’s mind, Reid was there, sitting beside her. He was still dressed in that bck suit he’d worn the day they met, calmly telling her witty and humorous stories.

  When Batman tracted the Joker Iion, even though he khe Joker was dead, he could still see halluations of him.

  These illusions behaved just like the real Joker, tempting Batman with words and tricks, but Batman relied on his unshakable will to resist the virus and the Joker’s influence.

  However, Jean didn’t have that kind of strength of will. She didn’t notice the ges in her body, didn’t realize that the virus was slowly alterihoughts, and couldn’t reize that the Reid before her was merely a virtual illusion.

  With her will not as strong, she could even feel warmth in the embrace of the illusion.

  At the same time, the illusion couldn't be harmed by her powers. A humorous, witty, handsome, and elegant person who wasn't afraid of her strength—wasn't he the perfepanion?

  In this f presence, Jean’s feelings for Reid deepened further.

  At that moment, she also heard Scott’s knod his voice.

  “Really… Why does Scott always e to bother me at times like this?”

  Jean’s tone was filled with frustration, clearly unhappy that Scott was interruptiime with Reid.

  “But isn’t he yood friend?”

  Reid’s illusion didn’t stir any tensioween them, instead tinuing to show his uanding aleness.

  This made Jean feel even more touched.

  “But I want to be with you, Reid. I don’t want to be apart from you.”

  The future wielder of the Phoenix Forow so depe aled in Reid's embrace, looked so vulnerable. Unfortunately, this Reid was only a mere illusion, while the real Reid was somewhere in New York, p whipany to join.

  "But you also o maintain your retionships with your friends."

  Reid gently patted Jean's shoulder, signalio open the door.

  "Alright, since you say so, Reid."

  Relutly, Jean stood up and, with Reid’s encing smile, opehe door.

  "Jean? You’re opening the door?"

  Scott didn’t expect Jean to actually open it today.

  "What? Don’t you wao open it?" Jean gnced bad noticed that the moment Scott appeared, Reid had disappeared. A trace of loss flickered in her eyes.

  To Scott, this expression suggested that Jean still hadn’t fotten the human man. But over time, she seemed to be gradually ing to her senses.

  Seizing the opportunity, Scott rushed to get closer, hoping to vince Jean tet that man. He moved aside, squeezing into the room.

  But the momeepped in, a surge of airred within him.

  Because everything had ged.

  Jean's room, in just two months, had undergone an incredible transformation.

  The once-shared photos of the two of them and the charming ndscape shots were now gone, repced by portraits of Reid, each drawn in different styles—sketches, oil paintings, watercolors, and more—that Jean had painstakingly created over the past two months.

  The most excessive one hung above Jean’s bed: a colorful sketch of her in a pure white wedding dress. As the bride, Jean was holding onto that damn human, Reid.

  At this time, the jealousy burning inside Scott was impossible to tain. He grabbed a half-drawn piece of paper from the desk and tore it apart.

  "What’s so great about that man!?" he yelled.

  "Reid!"

  Jean, unbothered by Scott's outburst, immediately crouched down to pick up the torn pieces of paper, desperately trying to salvage every fragment.

  Once she stood up, with suppressed anger in her eyes, she spoke.

  "Scott, you're being too much. That ortrait I made of Reid."

  As Jeaions fred, the room began to tremble. The furniture around them shook violently.

  But blinded by anger and thinking Jean wouldn't dare to do anything, Scott tinued.

  "Too much? Jean! What’s so special about that man? He's just an inpetent human! We're mutants! ants! A filthy human like that shouldn't even be close to you!"

  Scott tio berate Reid, using every derogatory term he could think of, pletely oblivious to the fact that Jean was trembling with anger from his words.

  "You... you bastard!"

  With a roar, Jean unleashed her telekinesis, immediately suppressing Scott's body and lifting him high into the air.

  "Ah... urgh..."

  Scott opened his mouth, trying to beg for mercy or say something, but he found that no sound came out. Jean had plete trol over his body, immobilizing every part of him. The only thing he could do was think.

  "I won’t let you speak badly about Reid!"

  With that, Jean used her telekinesis to hurl Scott out of the sed-floor window. Fortunately, the ground below was covered in thick grass, and Scott didn’t nd headfirst, so he was unharmed.

  However, this a only deepened Scott's hatred for Reid.

  “Damn human, I won’t let you get away with this!”

  Scott didn’t bme Jean. The academy’s teags emphasized seeing their fellow mutants as family, but Reid? There was no doubt he now hated him.

  "Reid, is it?"

  Scott recalled the portraits in Jean’s room, remembering Reid’s appearance.

  "I’ll find you. Alfred’s adopted son, huh? You ’t run far."

  **

  **

  **

  Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you visit my P@treon:

  P@treon/SilverShark769

  Your support means a lot, thank you!