Chapter 5: Happy Breakup, Viral Heartache

That night, I forced myself to block Sebastian.

I stared at his contact photo for a long time before hitting Block. My thumb hovered over the screen, heart pounding, but I did it. For the first time in years, I chose myself.

I even posted a "Happy Breakup" status on my Instagram story. A little petty, maybe. But it felt good. I added a dancing GIF and a Taylor Swift lyric for good measure. Let the world know I was done being a doormat.

Barely three minutes after posting, my phone nearly exploded with calls.

Notifications blew up. I hadn’t realized how many people had been waiting for this day. The group chats were on fire.

“Vivi, you’re really breaking up with that jerk?”

She sounded half-concerned, half-incredulous. I could picture her pacing her kitchen, phone pressed to her ear, coffee going cold on the counter.

“I remember you had a crush on him for five years, chased him for three, and finally got him. Now you’re letting him go?”

She wasn’t wrong. I’d spent most of my twenties orbiting Sebastian like a lovesick moon. Letting go felt like free-falling.

It’s almost funny. If it wasn’t so sad, I might’ve laughed. I’d built my whole college fantasy around him. Now it was just another embarrassing chapter.

Back in college, I had a crush on Sebastian in my department.

He was the golden boy—top of the class. Captain of the debate team. The kind of guy who made professors smile and girls swoon. I was just another face in the crowd.

But he was too dazzling—family, looks, talent, he had it all. And there was another girl just as dazzling by his side.

Charlotte Sinclair. She was everything I wasn’t—effortlessly charming, beautiful, magnetic. They were the couple everyone rooted for.

Next to them, I was a total nobody, so self-conscious I could only admire him from afar.

I’d watch them from across the quad, pretending not to care. But every time he laughed at one of her jokes, it stung.

It wasn’t until Sebastian fell from grace that I seized my chance.

When the world turned its back on him, I was there. I told myself it was fate, that I was meant to save him. In hindsight, maybe I was just desperate for a fairytale.

But what was never mine could never truly belong to me.

You can’t steal someone’s heart just because you’re the only one left. Trust me, I tried.

I gave a bitter laugh and told Riley exactly what the livestream comments said.

I didn’t sugarcoat it. I laid it all out—every humiliating detail. Riley went quiet, then let out a long, slow whistle.

She suddenly got it: “No wonder Sebastian just called me, he sounded so panicked he was shaking… So he hasn’t gotten all the intel from you yet!”

She was full-on sarcastic. I could almost hear her rolling her eyes. “Typical. He’s only loyal to his next paycheck.”

Riley cursed Sebastian out as a total scumbag and blocked him on the spot.

She didn’t hold back. “You deserve better, Vivi. Way better.” I felt a little lighter hearing her say it.

Not long after, other friends started sending congratulations, happy I’d finally stopped simping for him.

My phone buzzed nonstop. Even my cousin sent a thumbs-up emoji. It was weird, but oddly comforting. I wasn’t alone.

Only the bullet comments seemed confused:

[Huh? Two hours away and the side character suddenly broke up with the villain?]

[Wait, the company secrets were supposed to be the villain’s ticket to see the heroine—what’s he going to do now?]

[Don’t worry, this side character is dramatic. She’s probably just playing hard to get with the villain again!]

I got fed up and looked away.

I swiped the comments away, turned off my phone, and let the silence settle in. For the first time in ages, I didn’t want to know what anyone thought.