Chapter 33
Samaira
“We were together for less than a year. Talking stage was maybe a month, cute texts, late-night calls, playlists, the usual.” I gave a soft scoff.
“Everything seemed disgustingly perfect, like I was living inside one of those Pinterest-core relationships. But even in the beginning, I had this weird gut feeling. You know? Like…this can’t be it.
This is too easy . Too smooth. Like I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. ”
I glanced at Kartik, his eyes fixed on me, saying nothing.
“And oh boy, it dropped like a chandelier in a soap opera.” I rolled my eyes, then continued, quieter this time.
“He changed. Just…morphed. Like someone swapped him out for his evil twin. We’d fight all the time, and not the cute kind where you bicker and then make out after.
The kind where I couldn’t even recognize the person standing in front of me anymore. ”
I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“But I was so in deep, so infatuated, I just convinced myself it was a phase. That he’d come back to the version of him I fell for.
Spoiler alert: he didn’t. And that was my biggest mistake, ignoring my intuition because I wanted him to be someone he just… wasn’t.”
I exhaled slowly. “He started pulling away. Making excuses. Bailing on plans. Hanging out with his friends more than me, which would’ve been fine, except he stopped wanting to be around me.
He started flirting with other girls too.
Not even subtle. And here’s the joke, I wouldn’t have cared that much, really.
If he hadn’t completely stopped flirting with me .
I brought it up, and he gaslit me so well I almost applauded.
Then gave me just enough attention to make me stay.
I think there’s a word for it—love bombing?
Breadcrumbing? Manipulation with a side of charm? ”
I laughed bitterly, dabbing at my cheeks with my sleeve. “But wait, it gets better. He started flirting with Aria . My best friend . I didn’t think much of it at first because, duh, Aria is Aria . And we were a trio. It all felt normal…until it didn’t.”
I sipped the lukewarm coffee, then set the cup down. Kartik gently took it from me without saying a word.
“One day, I just wanted to be by myself. That was my crime, apparently. Because to punish me for taking a mental health day, he went and dropped some girl from his work home. And fine, I didn’t mind that either, trust, right?
But the kicker? I’d given him a hickey for the first time a few days before that, and I kept asking if anyone had noticed.
” I shook my head, the corner of my mouth lifting in something too sad to be a smile.
“It was so small. Basically invisible. But I was excited. Stupid, right?”
I looked up at the ceiling like it held answers. “When I asked if he just dropped her home and left, he said no. That he did it to get back at me . Like I had done something unforgivable by not inviting him to sit beside me while I mentally recharged.”
I sniffed, finally letting the tears fall freely. “And that was it. The moment I realized love wasn’t supposed to feel like begging someone to choose you every day."
Kartik
She chokes a sob, and all I want to do is hit that guy because I anticipate what’s next.
It’s not hard to guess. I set the coffee cup down on the coffee table, gathering her in my arms. She instantly melts at the contact.
The woman who is my fiancé, who wouldn’t even let me hug her is melting in my arms, that man fucked her up real good, bastard.
Fake or not, she is mine…till she will let me be hers.
She takes a deep breath before she continues,
“He said she told him her parents were home and asked if he could help carry her stuff in. Turns out, no parents—just a conveniently empty house. She goes, ‘Oops, sorry,’ and then asks him to stay for coffee. And the idiot says yes. Because apparently, he was ‘too tired to drive.’ Like Starbucks doesn’t exist. Or tapris just stopped selling chai.
I asked him why he couldn’t just grab something on the way.
He went silent. Dead silent. Then muttered something about how he might’ve fallen asleep at the wheel otherwise.
And I remember thinking… that’s not love, that’s not even effort. ”
Her voice was breaking but her words were sharp, like each one had been held in for too long. I watched her hold back tears that were already halfway down her cheeks.
“And then,” she said bitterly, “he continues, like this was a fun story, saying the girl saw the hickey I gave him and had the audacity to say, ‘Should’ve been a bigger one.’ With a wink.
A fucking wink, Kartik.” She let out a shaky breath and shut her eyes, like reliving it was physically painful.
“And this man had the nerve to tell me that . Word for word. As if that wouldn’t gut me. ”
She was unraveling and trying so hard not to fall apart, but her eyes, they were screaming.
“I told him she was flirting with him. And he…he looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘But nothing happened. We didn’t kiss or anything.’” Her tone shifted from broken to furious.
“I hadn’t even thought about kissing until he said that.
Who says something like that unless they’re guilty or unless that exact thought was playing on a loop in their head? ”
She pulled out of my arms then, just enough to look me in the eye.
“I’m not crazy, am I?”
No. No. No. She was anything but.
I shook my head, reached out, and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Absolutely not,” I said, steady and firm. “You are not crazy. You’re the only sane one in that whole mess. Are we clear?”
She gave me a hesitant nod, the kind you give when you're still learning how to trust your own instincts again.
“What happened after that?” I asked, my voice low. “Did he kiss her?”
She let out this laugh, sharp, bitter, not amused.
“I never found out. That night we fought like hell. I think if I wasn’t so painfully in love with him, I would’ve left.
But I didn’t. I stayed. And that was the day I started mentally checking out of the relationship.
He didn’t care how I felt. Because if he did…
he wouldn’t have done that. You don’t hurt the people you love. Not like that.”
She gulped. There was this haunted look in her eyes, like she was still bleeding from a wound no one else could see.
I didn’t realize my fist had clenched until she looked down at it.
Her hand reached over, slowly, and wrapped her fingers around mine.
Gentle. Sure. Like she was reminding me she was still here.
Her hand fit perfectly in mine. Like maybe this, whatever this was, we were always supposed to find our way here.
She smiled at me, small but real.
“I know it sounds silly, but I’ve never been able to shake this feeling that he did cheat on me with her.
Even after we broke up. There was something in the way she looked at me at their office party the very next day…
Like she was wearing a secret I didn’t know.
Like she was proud of it. I know I sound insane but—”
“You don’t,” I said, cutting her off gently, cupping her face again. “You’re not insane. If you feel it happened, I believe you. I believe you without a doubt. You don’t need to explain it to me.”
She nodded into my hands, just the tiniest bit, then leaned into my chest like she was finally letting herself rest.
A second passed. Then another.
And then, almost like an afterthought, she whispered, “If that wasn’t enough… he once told Aria, my best friend , that her eyes were as deep as the ocean and one could get lost in them.”
I blinked. “He said what ?”
“Exactly.” She laughed, for real this time, shaking her head. “Like who says that? To their girlfriend’s best friend?!”
I didn’t laugh. I couldn’t. I just stared at her, horrified.
That made her laugh harder. “That’s the face I needed. Thank you.”
But even with the laughter, her pain clung to the edges of her voice.
I wanted to hold her and never let her go. I also wanted to find that guy and rearrange his jaw.
Instead, I stayed rational, barely.
“Wait… if you didn’t break up because of that, then what did end it?” I asked softly.
She bit her lip, unsure. And suddenly, I felt cold.
Because if all this wasn’t the worst part… then what the hell was?