Chapter 3

Ethan was the first to notice something was off with me.

He was typing away on his keyboard, but kept glancing over at me.

After glancing at me for the fifth time, he walked over and reached out to touch my forehead. "Emily, you're burning up."

I knew it. My nose was all stuffed up this morning, and my head felt like it was being stabbed with needles. I was definitely coming down with something.

I was being stubborn and pushing myself way too hard, so I forced myself to show up at the training room anyway.

The other seniors had all gone to eat, so it was Ethan there.

He had a stern look on his face and tried to drag me to the infirmary.

I was really annoyed. "No, I'm fine."

"You're burning up like this. How can you be fine?" he insisted.

"I said I'm fine, so I'm fine. Maybe if I let this fever cook my brain a bit, I'll finally clear out all the useless stuff in there," I shot back, half-joking.

Maybe then I'd finally get over Alex a little faster.

Ethan didn't say anything else. He went out to buy some fever medicine, watched me take it, and then came back with a bowl of porridge.

His voice was cold. "I don't know what's so great about that guy that you'd torture yourself like this. But, Emily, if you don't love yourself, it doesn't matter how much anyone else loves you."

With that, he turned and walked away.

I hugged the steaming bowl of porridge; my feelings were all over the place.

I picked up my phone and, for once, texted Alex: [Alex, I'm running a fever.]

Before I could hit send, a notification popped up on TikTok. I tapped it and saw Sophie's dance video. It was blowing up locally.

She was wearing a spaghetti strap mini dress, like she was straight out of a fairy tale, spinning around some guy as she danced.

The guy was sitting on a stool, chin held high with an air of arrogance, looking like he was sizing up his prey.

His gaze was intense, full of playful interest, desire, and heat.

If he wasn't my boyfriend, I'd have to admit that they'd be the perfect eye-candy couple.

I deleted the message I'd typed and walked out with my phone in hand.

At the barbershop near campus, I looked at the stylist and said, "Hi, I need a haircut."

Since Alex liked long hair, I forced myself to grow out my brown hair, and I'd often daydream about walking down the aisle with my hair flowing past my waist, wearing a veil.

With a couple snips, my head felt so much lighter.

I gestured at the back of my head. "Could you dye it smoky gray for me?"

When I walked out of the barbershop, I felt totally refreshed, even my cold seemed to have cleared up.

I texted Ethan, inviting him out for fondue.

While we were waiting for a table, my luck, I ran right into Alex and his crew.

Sophie wasn't around this time; it was a group of guys, all out for some drinks.

Alex saw me, and with no way to dodge, he had no choice but to walk over, rubbing his nose awkwardly.

He was wearing a hoodie and jeans, with an earring in his left ear, not at all the look I used to go for.

When he saw me, he forced a smile. "What are you doing here?"

I smiled back at him. "Grabbing dinner with a friend."

"What are you eating?"

"Fondue."

"Oh."

We stared at each other in silence. I didn't bother to make small talk, and the air between us went quiet.

Funny thing is, when we first got together, Alex was a total chatterbox. He'd talk my ear off about everything under the sun.

But after a while, I turned into the chatty one, always wanting to tell Alex about every little thing, such as family stuff, classmates, teachers, even the most random details.

Some people say the key to love is keeping some mystery alive.

Maybe I was too clingy, too invested, and maybe Alex felt there was nothing left to chase, so he lost interest.

Anyway, over the past year, he gradually lost interest in anything about me.

At first, I had no clue he wanted to break up. I thought I must've messed up somewhere, so I bent over backwards to please him, kept begging him to go out with me.

Now that I've finally seen things clearly, I realize, when a guy doesn't like you anymore, even breathing feels wrong.

I kept restlessly tapping my foot on the floor, and after a couple of minutes, Alex was still staring at me.

Then the waiter started calling out numbers, so I turned to Alex and said, "My turn. Gotta go. Bye."

Then I turned and walked away.

I didn't notice Alex staring after me for so long that Ryan had to nudge him and remind him Sophie was still at the bar.

Alex felt something strange twisting in his chest, and as he left, he kept looking back over his shoulder at me.

He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling inside.