Chapter 3: The Breakup That Wasn’t Clean

Second year of college was supposed to be different.

Belle Jane entered it with a quiet hope that maybe—just maybe—this was the year she and Jhong would finally settle into something steady. They had made it past freshman year, survived the culture shock of university life, clashing class schedules, and the slow death of high school promises. But lately… everything felt off.

The weekly study dates turned into biweekly apologies.

Phone calls became voice messages that said, “Sorry, I fell asleep.”

And “I miss you” became rare enough to sound foreign.

Belle tried to justify it.

“We’re just busy.”

“We’re growing.”

“This is what college does.”

But deep down, she knew something wasn’t right.

She just never expected it to be this wrong.

The night she confirmed it was the same night Leo kissed her on the library steps. But Belle didn’t cry because of the betrayal—not at first. She cried because of the realization:

She had been the other woman.

The one on the side. The backup plan.

While she was writing love poems about Jhong, he was building memories with Carla in secret.

The next day, she confronted him—straightforward, no drama.

“Jhong,” she said, her voice calm but steady. “How long have you and Carla been seeing each other?”

Jhong froze mid-bite of his food at the cafeteria.

“What?!” he choked. “Belle, where’s this coming from?”

Belle sat down, laid her phone on the table, and showed him the screenshots. The conversations. The photos. The timestamps. Everything.

Jhong didn’t even deny it.

He just… closed his eyes and sighed.

“I was going to end it,” he muttered.

“With me or with her?” she asked, bitterly amused.

Silence.

“Wow,” Belle whispered, leaning back. “So it’s true. I was just a delay.”

“No, Belle. You were always... different—”

“Don’t. Don’t even start romanticizing this.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She looked at him, truly looked—and realized she didn’t recognize the person in front of her anymore. This wasn’t the boy who gave her the last pork bun. This wasn’t the boy who promised to love her in college.

This was a stranger. And it broke her.

“Jhong…” she said softly, “I hope you figure yourself out. But I’m done trying to be your reminder of who you used to be.”

And with that, she stood up and walked away.

No shouting. No scene. Just a quiet goodbye that hurt more than screaming ever could.

As she left, she passed by Leo in the hallway. He was leaning on the wall, pretending to scroll through his phone, but Belle knew better.

He was waiting for her.

She stopped and looked at him.

“You kissed me last night,” she said.

Leo looked up. “Yeah... sorry about that. I wasn’t planning to, it just—”

“It wasn’t bad,” Belle interrupted.

Leo blinked. “It wasn’t?”

She gave a small, sad smile. “But it was badly timed.”