Chapter 3

Logan was my best friend from college and the only one who supported my decision to break up.

Back in college, Victoria once asked me to study with her at the library.

Waking up at 7 AM on a Saturday was brutal. Even though I practically sprinted there, I was two minutes late.

Victoria stood there with her arms crossed, her face dark. "Ethan, why do you have zero sense of time?"

"When you get a real job, are you going to keep clients waiting like this? What if it's a multi-million dollar deal?"

My instinct was to apologize immediately, but Logan, who was returning from an early run, pulled me behind him.

"Waking up early on a Saturday just to study is against human nature. Ethan doing it at all is amazing," Logan said.

"And he's literally two minutes late. Do you really need to turn this into a lecture?"

From that day on, the relationship between Victoria and Logan was toxic.

Logan, on the other hand, loved to encourage me. When I got a decent GPA, he praised me. When I passed my exams, he cheered. Even when I just woke up on time for an 8 AM class, he'd high-five me.

He'd say, "Don't listen to Victoria, Ethan. You're doing great!"

That kind of validation was something I had never received in my twenty-plus years of life.

Naturally, I loved hanging out with Logan.

But Victoria despised it. "He only praises you to make you complacent, so you can't see your own flaws," she sneered.

"Humility leads to self-improvement. Pointing out your weaknesses directly, like I do, is the only way to show I actually care about you."

Whenever Logan's name came up, Victoria would furrow her brow and purse her lips.

I knew that expression meant she was angry, and whenever she looked like that, I was in for a lecture.

I wanted to defend Logan, to say he wasn't like that. But a nameless fear would paralyze me, keeping me rooted to the spot.

I was terrified.

I was terrified of Victoria’s anger and her endless criticism.

When Logan heard about this later, he just sighed. "Ethan, when you've been beaten down for so long, it's hard to break free."

"Take it one step at a time."

So today, when he heard that I had finally broken up with Victoria, Logan was ecstatic.

He gave me a rare, tight hug and whispered, "Congratulations, Ethan. You're finally free."