Goodbye, My Sweetheart

On my Instagram feed, Joanna posted a photo. A pair of long, slender fingers rested over her pale ones, both hands holding the same cup of coffee.“Thanks to a certain someone for the lucky bracelet.”The color combination was painfully familiar. That was the bracelet I had stood in the freezing wind for three hours to get as a gift for Dean.The photo had no likes from mutual friends, and beneath the photo was a “visible to close friends” tag. I knew then that the post was meant for me.I stared at it for a while, then let out a self-mocking laugh and tapped “like.”There. She got what she wanted. I saw it.After that, I got up, did my makeup, and got ready for the high school graduation party that night. From my closet, I picked out a tight, body-hugging dress, the kind Dean never allowed me to wear out. He always said I looked best in boho-styled white dresses that made me look sweet and innocent. Yet, whenever I wore those cotton white dresses, I felt restrained, like I could

“Okay!”His eyes reddened, but within seconds, he agreed.Then, he turned and walked into the room next door. Through the half-closed door, the laughter of our friends drifted out, and I heard them clearly.“Dean, is Rue really mad? Did you not get her back?”“You can’t blame Dean for being upset. Rue didn’t give Joanna any time of the day.”“You know, I never noticed it before, but she actually has a pretty good figure. Dean, you’ve hit the jackpot this time.”“Is she coming back?”“Forget her. She’s just throwing a tantrum at me. Let her cool off for a while,” Dean’s voice came through, low and cold. “Joanna was just trying to give her some friendly advice a moment ago, and she didn’t even appreciate it. She ought to take a look at herself. She’s dressed like a whore!”“You’re so mean!” Joanna’s laughter followed. “How can you talk about a girl like that?”In the height of summer, my body felt cold. The person who had once lit up my entire girlhood had somehow, without me no

“Rue?”Joanna was the first to react.She quickly slid off Dean’s lap and hurried over to me, grabbing my hand as she explained, “Don’t get the wrong idea! Nothing is going on between Dean and me. At the gathering tonight, I think I drank too much and felt unwell, so I told him to take me to the hospital–”“And did they find out what was wrong?” I asked coolly.“An allergy.”She lifted her arm in front of me, showing the red marks that hadn’t faded yet and the bracelet swaying on her wrist.I looked up, and when I met her provocative gaze, Joanna mouthed, “He gave it to me.”I shook her hand off.Not far away, Dean frowned. “Rue! Stop overthinking. Joanna wasn’t feeling well. I just brought a friend to the hospital. Is there something wrong with helping each other out?”“Nothing wrong. Excuse me.”I brushed past him.Holding the registration slip in my hand, I walked into the emergency room. “Doctor, I’m the patient’s family.”Dean followed right after me. When he saw my gr

Dean thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but I really did follow the crowd to the platform on the other side, with the destination displayed for Capitol City. Only then did he realize that when I said we weren’t heading the same way, I meant it. I hadn’t been sulking or throwing a tantrum. Almost instinctively, he pulled out his phone and tried to call me.“The number you have dialed is not in service. Please try again.” The cold, mechanical female voice echoed in his ear.He quickly opened his WhatsApp. He scrolled down three to four times, and only then did he find that familiar profile photo. As it turned out, he hadn’t contacted me in a long time.A strange sense of panic rose in his chest. He tried calling me, but the one-tick mark stating that his messages couldn’t go through felt like a slap in the face. The uneasiness in his heart suddenly turned real. Had I been speaking honestly when I said we had broken up? Had I really given up on him? On the train heading t

I froze for a moment.His lips curved into a bright smile as he waved at me. “Hello?”His suitcase scraped across the concrete floor, making a grating sound. It sounded like an old exhaust bellows in a rundown house that refused to retire, still stubbornly clinging to its last breath.He followed behind me, casually asking as he walked, “The weather in Capitol City is pretty dry. I didn’t realize it gets this hot in the north in summer. What’s the male-to-female ratio here? It feels like there might be some all-boys lectures… The traffic outside the campus gate is crazy. Capitol City’s traffic is really bad! How’s the cafeteria food? Oh, right. Which club are you in? Can you introduce me to it?”I took a deep breath and turned around. “Dean, is this kind of nonsense fun to you?”He touched the bridge of his nose. He didn’t dare meet my eyes.A long silence passed. When he finally looked up again, his eyes were red.He said, “It’s no fun at all, but you refused to talk to me, and