Chapter 3

Logan froze, caught off guard by my blunt, indifferent demeanor.

He hesitated, looking uncomfortable.

"You… saw?"

He blew out a breath, trying to explain. "I only found out today what ‘surprise’ Hailey was talking about. I didn’t mean to—"

There was nothing to explain, and I had zero interest in hearing it.

Ignoring him, I turned to walk up the stairs.

Suddenly, a violent wave of nausea hit the back of my throat.

I clamped a hand over my mouth and darted into the downstairs bathroom.

Logan rushed in right behind me, panic flashing across his face.

He crouched down, rubbing my back as I dry-heaved over the toilet. "Why are you throwing up like this?"

I wiped my mouth, stood up, and flushed.

"Do you need to go to the clinic?" Logan asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

I avoided his eyes. "No."

He hesitated.

"If you’re not feeling well, we can postpone the handover paperwork."

I walked out of the bathroom without stopping.

"There’s no need."

Back in my room, I pulled that clinic visit summary from my bag.

Two months ago, Logan had pulled several all-nighters to finalize a project proposal for a campus competition, and I had stayed up with him every night to debug and polish the slides.

He won the award.

I ended up in the emergency clinic.

I never imagined my stomach would deteriorate this badly.

I paused, balled up the medical paper, and tossed it into the trash can.

The next morning at nine, Logan and I stood in front of the project room.

Under the hesitant, awkward stares of our teammates, I announced my formal resignation from the student council and stepped down from managing the campus platform.

"I’ll drive you back," Logan offered after the meeting wrapped up.

I had taken an Uber that morning.

A minor car crash years ago had left me terrified of driving, and I hadn’t gotten behind the wheel since.

Just as he offered, his phone rang.

The caller ID showed Hailey’s name.

I looked down at my phone and ordered a ride.

"Hailey, what is it?" Logan’s voice dropped low.

Her sweet voice leaked through the earpiece anyway.

"Logan, how did things go with Harper?"

Logan replied that there was still a standard transition review period.

Hailey giggled. "Awesome! Are you coming over soon? I’m running through our cheer routine and I really want you there to watch."

Logan glanced at me.

He hesitated for barely three seconds.

Then he said, "Okay."

Logan never could say no to Hailey.

If Hailey wanted to see him, he would drop everything and go.

Hanging up, Logan looked at me with an apologetic expression.

"About Hailey…"

I cut him off without looking up from my screen.

"Don’t worry about it. Go."

Right on cue, my Uber pulled up to the curb.

Without another glance at Logan, I opened the door and slid into the back seat.

Halfway home, Chloe texted me a link.

I tapped it, realizing it was a post Hailey had made on Twitter.

Chloe’s follow-up voice note was practically shaking with fury.

"Harper, she is completely shameless! What does she mean, ‘feelings can’t be forced,’ and ‘the one who isn’t loved is the real third wheel’?! Does she have any dignity left?"

"I tried dragging her in the replies, and she instantly blocked me!"

"And Logan is absolute trash for this—"

Chloe was genuinely devastated for me. By the end of the voice note, her voice cracked.

After typing out a message to calm her down, I opened the link.

The comments were already well past a thousand.

I spotted the thread where Chloe had called Hailey out.

Dozens of classmates had chimed in beneath it, tearing Hailey apart.

Scrolling further down, I saw Logan’s verified handle.

[We already broke up. My girlfriend is not a home-wrecker.]

I stared at that sentence for a very long time.

A quiet laugh slipped past my lips.

What a beautifully crafted excuse.

My mind drifted back to the launch party we threw when our platform first went live.

Logan had held up a plastic cup of champagne, looking up at me under the dim party lights.

In front of all our friends, he had sworn, "If Logan ever does anything to hurt Harper, let lightning strike me down on the spot."

Back then, I genuinely believed we would spend the rest of our lives together.

The night we made things official, his eyes had rimmed with red as he pressed a gentle kiss to the back of my hand.

"Going from teammates to finally being your boyfriend… I’ve never felt so certain about anything."

Too bad his promises were worthless.

Teammate, girlfriend, the implied future of an engagement ring—none of those titles meant anything in the end.

He still broke my heart.

I tapped the like button on Logan’s comment, then closed the app.

Back at the apartment, I began packing.

Logan was the one on the lease, but I had personally picked out nearly every piece of furniture in the place.

There was so much to pack that it filled three massive suitcases.

I didn't even notice when Logan returned.

Walking past the master bedroom, he stopped in the doorway.

His brow furrowed. "You’re moving out right now?"

I hoisted a suitcase upright, not meeting his eyes.

"The lease is in your name. If I don’t leave, how is she supposed to move in?"

"I never planned on having Hailey move in here," Logan said. "She’s fine in the dorms. You don’t need to pack up and leave like this."

"Harper, you don’t have to pick a fight over everything. You agreed to the breakup."

My hands froze.

I almost laughed.

A bet he had rigged from the start—was there even a point in continuing the charade?

Logan had wanted out of this relationship for a long time; I was the one stubbornly holding on.

Seeing how he doted on Hailey made me realize just how exhausted I was.

Exhausted enough that letting go felt like an absolute blessing.

I looked at him.

"I’m not picking a fight."

"I’m just clearing the space for her."

Logan stayed silent, his expression unreadable.

Out of nowhere, he asked, "Harper, don’t you feel tired of all this?"