Chapter 4
Sebastian had to leave town for a five–day business trip, catching a crazy early flight. He literally dragged me out of bed at dawn to help him with his tic: “You’ve seemed kind of down lately, babe. Once I wrap up this project, let’s take a vacation somewhere nice, yeah?”
That was so typically him–always tuned into my moods, always trying to give me the best of everything within his power. It’s exactly how he’d slowly broken down all my walls over the years, making me fall deeper and deeper until I couldn’t imagine life without him.
I didn’t want to drop a bomb on him right before he left for a week, so I just shook my head and blamed work stress to shut down any more questions.
For a split second, I actually wondered if maybe I really was just overthinking everything…
But that afternoon, some anonymous account dropped a post with zero caption–just two photos showing Sebastian and Charlotte entering the same upscale apartment complex within minutes of each other. The comments section absolutely exploded:
[OMG I KNEW they’d get back together!]
[Wait, didn’t Charlotte dump him back in the day? And he still waited all these years for her?
That’s some serious dedication!]
“Y’all don’t get it–true love always wins!]
Of course, there were skeptics too:
[These photos don’t really prove anything though…]
But that was also the only comment the original poster bothered to respond to: [Oh, I’ve got more. Just wait and see!]
I found this post while doom–scrolling at midnight, and within an hour, it had completely vanished.
I couldn’t even find words for what I was feeling–like a dying fish, shivering in freezing water despite the summer heat.
Then the next days, this anonymous account kept posting photos at the exact same time every night. Different outfits each time, but always the same pattern: Sebastian and Charlotte arriving at that building minutes apart.
And to make matters worse, another account claiming to be Charlotte’s friend leaked a screenshot of her story:
[After all these years apart, fate brought us back together. Some things are just meant to be~]
I’d recognize that profile picture anywhere–it had been sitting in my blocked contacts for years.
Charlotte and I had gotten into countless fights over the years, but I’d never been petty enough to actually delete and block her. The final straw that destroyed our friendship completely was when she sent me a photo of Sebastian kissing her cheek, followed by this string of vicious texts:
[Honestly? Pretty underwhelming. Guy’s way too easy–is this really what you’ve been pining over for years?]
23:00
Signed Divorce at 3PM… By 5PM He Was Bleeding Out Saving “Don’t Go”
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Chapter 4
[If you put half the energy you waste fighting with me into actually getting a man, maybe you wouldn’t still be single.]
[Actually, scratch that… when it comes to Sebastian, you could try your hardest and he’d still pick me every time lol.]
“Face it, Sophia–you’re my eternal runner–up. Always have been, always will be.”
For the first time ever, I didn’t fire back with some snarky reply. Instead, I just stared at that photo over and over with my chest felt like it was being ripped apart.
The person I’d treasured for over a decade was nothing more than a casual conquest to someone else–just a matter of crooking her finger and he’d come running.
What crushed me even more was how she weaponized every sweet moment she shared with Sebastian, turning their romance into a tool to humiliate me. So I did exactly what she said I’d do–I ran away like the pathetic loser she claimed I was.
I deleted all their contact info, stopped going to any parties or events where I might run into them, basically erased myself from their orbit completely.
But I never could have imagined that years later, this same nightmare would come back to destroy me in a whole new way–one devastating blow that would shatter me completely.
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