4
After that day, I deleted my entire chat history with Leo.
I also changed my profile picture from the one of us at the beach to a simple photo of a cloud.
That was it.
I didn’t block him. I didn’t unfriend him. I didn’t vent publicly.
I just went completely silent.
Three days later was the campus arts festival.
I was in charge of the literary society’s booth and had been busy since morning. I went back to my dorm for a quick wash, and when I came out, a new message had popped up on my screen.
It was from Leo.
[You changed your profile picture]
Five words. No punctuation.
The comments sprang to life.
[AHHHHHH LEO FINALLY NOTICED!]
[Sweetie, don’t ignore him! He’s starting to fall apart!]
[He stared at your old profile picture all last night! He thought you deleted him!]
I exited the app without replying.
That evening, as the festival kicked off, I was backstage with the literary society, helping to manage the event.
As I was sorting through some papers, I saw Stella walk over in a flowing blue dress. She smiled at me.
“Why so plain tonight, Mja? Won’t Leo get jealous?”
Lignored her.
But she stepped closer, her voice sickly sweet. “Then again, you two are giving each other the cold shoulder, aren’t you? I heard you haven’t spoken to him in days.”
She lifted her wrist, showing off a Bluetooth watch that matched his perfectly, her smile full of meaning.
“He gave it to me. Pretty expensive.”
I looked down, my voice flat. “I hope you don’t regret it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I didn’t answer. I just turned and walked away.
Her frustrated voice followed me. “Mia, do you really think he still cares about you? You’re just a toy he got tired of.”
I paid her words no mind, but halfway through the evening, a hand grabbed my wrist.
It was Leo.
He pulled me out from behind the stage, stopping under the dark canopy of trees by the athletic field.
12.19
Chapter 2
I yanked my arm free, my tone clipped. “What do you want?”
He didn’t speak, just stared down at me.
I glanced at the identical watch on his wrist. “You two look good together.”
His eyes flickered, and his voice turned cold. “Are you jealous?”
I didn’t say anything.
“So that’s why you’re not answering my messages? Not seeing me?”
“You’re used to not answering my messages, aren’t you? I figured you were used to my silence.”
His face froze.
The comments went wild:
Oh, it’s over! Leo’s speechless! Mia is on fire tonight!]
[He really can’t take it anymore! He’s going to lose control!]
[Sweetie, don’t be so harsh! He just doesn’t know how to express himself…]
1 lowered my eyes and spoke softly. “Leo, have you ever realized that we haven’t had a real conversation in a very, very long time?”
“Ever.”
“So you’re blaming me?”
“No. I’m just done waiting for someone whose only replies are ‘k‘ and ‘mhm.“”
He was speechless.
In that moment, I saw it clearly. The panic in his eyes was real.
It wasn’t an act. It wasn’t a performance.
It was real fear.
Back in my dorm that night, someone in the society’s group chat posted a photo of me and the handsome senior from our depart-
ment moving a display board together.
The comments section was full of teasing.
[Aww, he’s such a gentleman!]
[Mia’s finally done being a doormat!]
[Not gonna lie, they look pretty good together.]
I scrolled through, smiled, and casually liked the post.
A few minutes later, I saw Leo’s feed update.
He had posted a picture of a glass of whiskey, with the caption:
“Some people move on fast.”
The comments instantly exploded:
[LEO’S LOST IT! HE’S JEALOUS! AHHHHHH!]
Chapter 2
[He must be kicking himself for not explaining things sooner!]
[Mia, call him! Quick, before it’s too late!]
But I didn’t call him.
I just clicked on the photo of the whiskey glass and glanced at the location tag.fign.to
It was that quiet bar we had once promised we’d go back to for our anniversary.
I closed the app and whispered to myself,
“You never once took me there.”
“So who are you posting this for now?”
He called me seven times that night.
I didn’t answer.
He stood outside my dorm building all night, until the security guard made him leave.
The next day, someone posted a video to the campus confessions page. The title was: “Senior heartthrob holds vigil all night to win back the girl who changed her profile pic.” The comments were split between shipping them and calling me a cold, heartless bitch.
I scanned them for a second, then said nothing.
A comment popped into my vision:
[Leo has lost his mind! He’s literally losing his hair!]
[Stop punishing him! He knows he was wrong!]
I sat on my dorm room balcony, watching the sky slowly brighten in the distance.
The comments kept scrolling, but my heart felt like it had a hole in it.
He was starting to hurt.
But I wasn’t anymore.
Monday morning, as I walked into the classroom, Leo was there, blocking the doorway.
He was dressed all in black, with dark circles under his eyes from a sleepless night.
I thought he was here to confront me, but his first words were,
“Mia. We need to talk.”
