Chapter 1 The breaking point

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

Olivia barely reached the final note when the world cracked open.

"Let's break up," Casper said. His voice was terrifyingly casual, like he was deciding what to order for dessert. "To be exact, I'm breaking up with you. I've already proposed to the woman I love. We're getting married in June."

Olivia's lips went numb. The song died in her throat, replaced by a sharp, cold ache. "What... what are you talking about, Casper?"

He wouldn't meet her eyes. He just reached across the table and snatched the Rolex box, the one she had emptied her savings to buy him.

"The bill is on you," he muttered, standing up and smoothing his jacket. "Consider it a parting gift."

He walked out. No backward glance. No apology. Just the sound of his expensive shoes clicking against the restaurant floor.

Olivia sat frozen. The candlelight flickered, mocking her. The cake she'd spent hours baking sat between them like a ridiculous, frosted joke. She could feel the stares of the other patrons, their pity settling on her skin like a film of oil.

Her throat burned, but she refused to let the effort go to waste. With shaking hands, she grabbed a fork and dug into the cake.

She shoved the sweetness into her mouth, swallow after painful swallow, using the sugar to choke down the sobs that wanted to tear out of her. She ate until her stomach hurt, until frosting smeared her cheeks, trying to fill the hollow, echoing space Casper had left behind.

You weren't enough, the voice in her head hissed. You were never enough.

Olivia didn't remember the walk home. She just remembered the rhythm of her heels hitting the pavement and the cold realization that her bank account was as empty as her heart. She didn't even have up to twenty dollars for a taxi ride.

The last time she had cried this hard, she was ten years old, clutching a faded polaroid of her mother and waiting for a door to open that never did.

Tonight, the grief was different. It was sharper. It felt like a physical wound that refused to stop bleeding.

"That absolute bastard," Mia hissed, pulling Olivia closer on the sofa. Olivia had barely made it through the door before the story came pouring out. "I knew he was a snake, Liv. I knew it. But a summer wedding? While he was still eating your dinner and wearing the clothes you bought him?"

Mia's words were meant to be a shield, but they felt like pebbles thrown against a collapsing wall. Olivia just buried her face in the sleeve of Mia's oversized hoodie, the scent of laundry detergent and home doing nothing to settle her stomach.

The sharp, insistent trill of Mia's phone cut through the quiet. Mia tried to ignore it, but the caller-Cynthia-wasn't the type to take a hint.

"Hello, Cynthia, look, now isn't a good-"

"Did you see them?" Cynthia's voice leaked out of the speaker, high-pitched and vibrating with the sick joy of someone delivering bad news. "Casper and Ivonne! He proposed at the Pier. I sent you the link. I always told you Olivia was just a placeholder. Honestly, Ivonne is much more his speed. She actually has a career..."

Mia slammed the phone shut, her face flushed with rage. But the damage was done. Olivia was already sitting upright, her eyes wide and bloodshot.

"Is it true? Mia, give me the phone.

"Liv, don't. You don't need to see-"

Olivia snatched it. Her thumb swiped through the images, each one a fresh serrated edge against her skin. There was Casper, looking more handsome than he ever had with her, kneeling before Ivonne. Ivonne. The woman who had been her "sister" since freshman year. The woman who had comforted her when she was worried Casper was pulling away.

The betrayal hit her like a physical blow to the stomach. Her knees buckled, and she slumped back onto the cushions, a raw, choked sound escaping her throat.

"Enough," Mia said, her voice dropping into that firm, protective tone that brooked no argument. "We are not doing this. We are not sitting here while you vanish into his shadow."

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked hoarsely as Mia grabbed Olivia's own phone and began tapping with a terrifying focus.

"I'm giving you an exit ramp," Mia replied. "I'm setting up a profile. It's time to remind you that there are men in this city who don't have the personality of a wet sidewalk."

"Mia, stop. This is crazy. I'm not-I can't even breathe, let alone date.

"I'm not asking you to marry them, Liv. I'm asking you to look at something other than Casper's engagement photos." Mia's fingers flew across the screen. "Ugh, no. Too much gym-mirror energy. Next, No, he looks like he's lived in his mom's basement since 2012. Wait..."

Mia stopped. Her eyes widened, and she slowly turned the phone around.

"Him. Definitely him."

Olivia stared at the screen. The man in the photo wasn't just "handsome." He was striking in a way that felt dangerous. Sharp jawline, eyes the color of a winter sea, and a quiet, chilling authority in the way he stood. He wasn't smiling. He looked like he owned the air around him.

A strange twist of anxiety curled in Olivia's gut. "He looks... intense. I don't know, Mia. I'm a mess. I'm planning a future with a man who was already living in someone else's world. How am I supposed to date a stranger?"

Mia took her hand, her expression softening. "Who said anything about dating ? Just swipe. Loosen the knot in your chest. If he's a jerk, we block him. If he's not... well, he's a hell of a lot better to look at than your ex."

Olivia looked back at the screen. The man's gaze seemed to pierce right through the glass, landing somewhere deep in her chest. With a trembling thumb, she let Mia guide her hand.

Swipe right.

The screen flashed. It's a Match.

Olivia let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, her heart skipping a beat for the first time in hours. Deep down, the unraveling hadn't stopped, but for one second, the pain of Casper felt a little further away.