Chapter 1

My relationship with Liam had been a slow burn, a story twenty years in the making. We grew up next door to each other, our childhoods a blur of shared secrets and scraped knees. So when we finally started dating, just a month ago, it felt less like a beginning and more like a homecoming. Everyone said it was perfect, that it was meant to be. I believed them.

The illusion shattered on a Tuesday night while I was scrolling through my phone. An anonymous post on a local gossip forum caught my eye. The title was "That charming guy from the business school and his new girl."

My heart gave a weird little jump, not out of suspicion, but curiosity. Liam was in the business school. He was charming. I clicked on it.

The post was a long, gushing narrative from a girl who was clearly smitten. She talked about a guy who pursued her relentlessly, who told her she was the only one he'd ever felt this way about. She described late-night calls, secret meetings, and gifts he' d bought her. She even posted a picture. It was a photo of a pair of limited-edition sneakers, the same ones I' d seen Liam staring at online just last week. He had told me they were sold out.

Beneath the picture, a comment from the original poster read: "He even lied to his clingy childhood friend 'girlfriend' that they were sold out just so he could surprise me. He says he's only with her because his parents like her, but he's going to break up with her soon. I'm so happy."

Clingy childhood friend. The words felt like a punch to the gut. My screen went blurry. I read the sentence again, and then a third time. It didn't make any sense. Liam wouldn't do that. He wouldn't say that.

I looked closer at the username of the person who wrote the post: "LivLovesL."

Liv. Olivia. A girl from his department. I' d seen her around, always lingering a little too close to Liam, her eyes a little too possessive. I' d mentioned it to him once, and he' d laughed it off.

"She's just a friend, Chloe. You're being paranoid."

My hands were shaking as I dialed his number. He picked up on the second ring, his voice warm and familiar.

"Hey, you. Miss me already?"

"Liam, where are you?" My voice came out strained, tight.

"Just studying at the library. Why? What's wrong?"

"Those limited-edition sneakers," I said, my voice flat. "Did you buy them?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. It was just a second, but it felt like an eternity.

"What sneakers? Oh, those. No, I told you, they were sold out everywhere. Why are you asking about that now?"

He was lying. The confirmation was so quick, so easy, it knocked the air out of my lungs. He wasn't even a good liar.

"I saw a post online, Liam. From a girl named Olivia."

The silence that followed was heavy, suffocating. I could hear his breathing, a little too fast.

"Chloe, it's not what you think," he finally said, his charming tone replaced with a nervous edge. "She's just... she's got a crush on me. It's nothing. You know how girls can be."

"She said you told her I was clingy. That you were only with me to please your parents."

"I never said that! She's making it up. You have to believe me."

His denial was weak, pathetic. I thought back to a few weeks ago, when my best friend, Maya, had pulled me aside.

"I don't trust him, Chloe," she'd said, her expression serious. "I saw him with that Olivia girl at the coffee shop. The way he was looking at her... it wasn't friendly."

I had defended him, told Maya she was misreading things, that Liam and I had known each other our whole lives. He would never betray me. How stupid I felt now. How incredibly, painfully stupid.

"Is her username LivLovesL?" I asked, my voice dangerously quiet.

Another beat of silence. "I... I don't know. I don't follow her."

But I knew. I had seen her tag him in photos before. I went to her profile. It was public. And there it was, post after post. Pictures of places I knew he'd been, with captions that were inside jokes I didn't understand. A picture of his hand holding hers. And then, the final blow: a photo of them, faces close together, him smiling that smile he always saved for me. It was posted just an hour ago. The caption read: "My one and only. Soon the whole world will know."

The heartbreak was a physical thing, a cold, heavy weight settling in my chest. But underneath it, something else was stirring. A slow-burning anger. The shock was starting to wear off, replaced by a cold, sharp clarity. This wasn't a misunderstanding. This was a deliberate, cruel deception.

I hung up the phone without another word. I didn't need to hear any more of his lies. I stared at my reflection in the dark screen of my phone. The hurt was still there, etched on my face, but my eyes were clear. I wasn't just a heartbroken girl anymore. I was a girl who had been played for a fool, and I was not going to let him get away with it.