Seven Years of Love, Gone Overnight

Nina's POV:Almost without thinking, I pulled out my phone and texted Lucien Grant.Me: [Lucien, how's the debate going? I'm watching the livestream.]He didn't reply.That was normal. Lucien never checked his phone during a tournament.I tried to reassure myself. They just happened to have the same name. It was only a coincidence.Then the girl beside me, Vivian Lane, spoke again."Look, his tie's crooked. It's driving me crazy."She pulled out her phone, zoomed in on Lucien, snapped a close-up, and sent it."I'd better warn him before he ruins that heartthrob image."Her friend gave her a knowing smile. "And you still say he's not yours?"I stared at Lucien Grant's tie.The next second, in full view of the audience, he casually reached up and straightened it.It looked like nothing more than an absentminded adjustment.But I knew Lucien wasn't a perfectionist.If anything, he used to be careless about his appearance. When we first met, he'd even button his shirt wrong.I was the one

Lucien hung up first.He scoffed. "This again? You do this every time. What's the point?"The call ended. In the silence that followed, the steady beep of the heart monitor somehow made the room feel even more desolate.I set my phone down and gave the nurse an apologetic smile."Sorry you had to see that."My voice was hoarse. "My family doesn't live around here. I'll sign the forms myself."When I opened my eyes again, I was alone in the hospital room.There was no visible wound, yet a dull ache lingered deep in my heart.Several unread messages had piled up on my phone.Some were from my parents, others from a few close friends.I replied to each of them, letting them know I was okay. I only said I'd been working too hard and needed a few days to rest.But lying to my parents made me feel guilty.Mom sounded worried when I called her back. "Weren't you supposed to be celebrating your anniversary with Lucien today?"How did you end up in the hospital? Did he do something to you?"Fal

I cut him off. "Don't explain."Lucien, I don't want to hear the details of your emotional affair. I don't want to hear any of it. It makes me sick."All that talk about "intellectual chemistry" and some "soul connection" with Vivian...It was disgusting.Every detail twisted through my mind, poisoning the love and trust I'd once had for him.Worse, it kept reminding me what kind of man I'd given my heart to."I was a jerk," Lucien said."Nina, I really never meant for things to go any further between Vivian and me."His voice was painfully hoarse."I crossed a line. I know that. I was wrong."But we've been together for so long."Nina, think about us. Seven years. Can you really just walk away from me after all that?"I closed my eyes and swallowed against the metallic taste rising in my throat."Lucien, don't apologize. Don't make me feel like the victim here."An apology couldn't give me back what I'd lost.If anything, it only made me feel more like some loser who'd been replaced.

Third-person POV:Lucien went home.The moment he stepped through the door, a mug came flying at him.His father, Dylan Grant, stood in the living room, his face livid."You ungrateful fool! Nina's family called and said you two broke up. What exactly happened?"Lucien didn't dodge.Hot tea splashed over him, leaving an ugly stain on his white shirt.His mother, Grace Grant, pulled him down onto the couch."Did you two have a fight? Whatever happened, how did it get all the way to a breakup? Weren't you planning to get married?"Lucien lowered his eyes. "It was my fault.""Your fault how?" Dylan demanded. "If you screwed up, why aren't you begging her to forgive you?"When you were trying to make the university debate team, you said Nina supported you every step of the way. Now you've won the national championship, and you're going to dump her? What kind of man does that make you?""I did something I shouldn't have."The room went dead silent.Dylan shot to his feet and pointed at him.

It didn't take long for people to start digging through the evidence I'd posted.They soon noticed striking overlaps between my original drafts, the designs on some of the custom gifts I'd made for Lucien, and the supposedly "original" arguments he'd used in past tournaments.[So the Golden Three Minutes was his ex's idea, the Human Emotion Thesis came from her, and his whole "debate prodigy" image was built on stolen ideas?][She knew he had a girlfriend and got involved with him anyway, then played the victim and wrote a whole post shading the woman he'd been with for seven years? Vivian Lane is a pro at playing innocent.][What about all the people who attacked Nina before? Aren't you going to apologize?]Vivian deleted everything from her account, but screenshots had already spread across the internet.Her university announced that it would investigate her senior thesis for possible academic misconduct.Lucien's grad-school admission was put on hold, and his spot in the Internation