The Boy Before Me

Inhale the agony: Accident survivor Jennifer "JB" Bachor clings to life with portable oxygen after a drunk driver destroyed her lungs, leaving her with borrowed time and a transplant her body is rejecting. Back at school, she’s paired with infuriating new student Oscar—spoiled, handsome, skipping classes to spite his controlling father. Hate flips to heart-racing love: stolen amusement park dates, oxygen-tank-free thrills, Oscar defending her from bullies and confessing "I love you to infinity." Then the blade twists Oscar uncovers blocked memories and his father’s cover-up: HE was the blackout-drunk driver who smashed into Jennifer and Tochi that night. Daddy’s money erased the records, paid anonymously for her transplant, and silenced everything. Devastated, Oscar confesses; Jennifer screams that he’s a monster, that she hates him forever. They still win the science scholarship together in suffocating silence. Realizing his presence only poisons her remaining days, Oscar accepts exile to the UK. His final voice note finds her alone: another apology, another "I love you to infinity," while she sobs staring at their drawn symbol, lungs burning, heart broken beyond repair. A soul-crushing portrait of love built on the wreckage its maker caused.