Chapter 5

Alayna POV:

The distant murmur of the television caught my attention as I walked through the quiet living room. It was Jarrett' s voice, unmistakable, amplified by the speakers. My heart, against my will, gave a familiar lurch. I knew that voice. I knew every nuance, every inflection. I tried to ignore it, to keep walking, but a strange compulsion pulled me towards the screen.

It was a live stream. Kisha Prince was at the podium, her face a carefully constructed tableau of vulnerability. She was obviously responding to a recent wave of negative press, likely fueled by some of her own manipulative social media antics. Her lower lip trembled, her eyes welling up with tears. I rolled my eyes. Another performance.

Then the camera panned. Jarrett stood beside her, his arm a protective barrier around her shoulders. His gaze, usually so sharp and analytical, was soft, filled with concern. He looked at Kisha the way he used to look at me, in the rare moments when he thought no one else was watching. A deep, agonizing ache spread through my chest.

"Kisha is a talented and compassionate artist," Jarrett's voice boomed, cutting through the silence. "These attacks, these baseless accusations, are vile. They are a symptom of a larger problem of online bullying and misogyny." He went on, a passionate, articulate defense of Kisha, his voice filled with a righteous anger that I had never, not once, heard him use in defense of me.

I stood there, staring at the screen, a mirthless laugh bubbling up in my throat. It was so ironic, so utterly, devastatingly cruel. He was speaking out against online harassment, against the very thing I had been subjected to for months, fueled by his own ambiguous behavior and Kisha's calculated moves. But he was doing it for her. Not for me. Never for me.

A tear escaped my eye, tracing a hot path down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away, embarrassed even in my own empty living room. I hated crying. I hated feeling weak. But the sheer injustice of it, the stark contrast between his public outrage for her and his private indifference to my pain, was suffocating.

I sank onto the sofa, the remote dropping from my numb fingers. My phone buzzed with a message. It was a friend, forwarding a screenshot of Jarrett's speech, with a caption: "Your man is such a hero for standing up for Kisha! So inspiring!" I stared at the words, the irony of it almost physically painful.

I remembered the barrage of hateful comments after he "officially" announced our relationship. "She's probably forcing him to stay," one said. "Look at her, trying to cling to his fame." "She's ugly, Kisha is prettier." The words had assaulted me, day and night, seeping into my dreams, stealing my sleep. I developed dark circles, a constant tremor in my hands. My world, once vibrant, had narrowed to the four walls of our house, the internet a constant, malicious presence.

I' d called him, desperate, crying, begging him to just say something, anything, to shut it down. He was on set, of course. "Just ignore it, Alayna," he' d said, his voice flat. "It's just the internet. They'll move on. Don't give them the satisfaction." He told me it was "part of the job," a "necessary evil." He told me I was "too sensitive," that I needed to "develop a thicker skin."

Then, he'd hung up, probably to go back to comforting Kisha, to defending her from her trolls, to being her hero.

And now, here he was, on national television, being the champion Kisha deserved. He was her knight in shining armor, while I, his actual girlfriend for seven years, was left to bleed in the dark, my wounds meticulously ignored.

The camera zoomed in on Jarrett again. He had wrapped both arms around Kisha, pulling her close, burying her face in his chest. His eyes, fixed on the audience, were filled with a profound sadness, a sympathy that looked disturbingly intimate. He was playing the role of the devoted protector to perfection. And I? I was the forgotten extra, the inconvenient truth he wished would just disappear.

A wave of nausea washed over me. I felt like a fool. A pathetic, ridiculous fool. The pain was so sharp, so clear now. It wasn't just neglect. It was a complete, utter disregard for my existence, for my feelings, for our shared history. He could be there for her, but never for me. He could defend her, but leave me to rot.

I reached for my phone, my fingers flying across the screen. I didn't care about his schedule, his press tour, his "method acting." I didn't care about anything anymore. I just needed out.

My thumb hovered over his contact. Then, with a deep, shaky breath, I tapped it. The message was short. Sweet, almost.

"It's over, Jarrett. Don't come home."