I came back to campus early to pick up shifts at the tea shop.

That's when I heard it—strange, breathy laughter drifting out from the bathroom.

"Stop it, you're so bad."

A man's voice, rough and low, half-laughing between heavy breaths.

"Oh, you haven't seen bad yet. Want me to open this door and show you?"

I shook my head, face burning. College kids. I was about to walk away when the woman's voice floated out again, teasing and smug.

"I heard your little girlfriend works here. Aren't you worried about getting caught?"

The man sounded almost proud. "You know she does whatever I tell her. I'll just text her to come back a day late. Wouldn't want her ruining the mood."

"Drew, you're such a scumbag. I love it."

I froze. Drew?

That was my boyfriend's name.

The same boyfriend who'd begged me just last night to marry him after graduation.

A second later, my phone buzzed.

"Babe, I picked up some extra shifts. Come back a day later and I'll pick you up. Miss you."

——

I don't remember walking back to the counter.

Everything went numb. There was a knife lodged somewhere behind my ribs, and every breath twisted it deeper. Three years. Three years of us, crumbling to dust in the space of a bathroom laugh.

I stood there for what felt like forever.

Then footsteps approached.

Our eyes met. Drew Harding's smile died on his face, and he dropped the arm he'd had looped around the girl beside him.

She noticed the shift immediately. Her gaze snapped to me, sharp and hostile.

"What are you staring at? Never seen a good-looking man before?"

Karen Pruitt looked me up and down, a slow, satisfied once-over.

"A waitress like you couldn't land a guy like Drew in a million years."

She lifted her wrist and shoved it in my face, practically glowing.

"See this? My man bought me this gold bracelet. Our names are engraved right here."

She traced the chain with one manicured finger.

"It means we'll never be apart."

Something cracked inside my chest.

That bracelet. I knew that bracelet.

Every time we walked past the jewelry store, Drew would pull me over to look at it. He'd press his forehead to mine and whisper, "I swear, babe. I'm picking up extra shifts. You'll be wearing this before we graduate."

Three years together.

Drew had never bought me a single gift. Not one. On my birthday, the most he'd ever done was cook me a bowl of noodles.

He always said the same thing: "Ina Fox, a girl shouldn't be so materialistic."

"We're young. A little hardship builds character. We need to save every penny for the wedding."

So I scrimped. I skipped meals. I went without medicine when I was sick because I couldn't justify the cost.

And the bracelet dangling from Karen's wrist was worth more than two years of my paychecks.

The color must have drained from my face, because panic flickered behind Drew's eyes.

"Ina—"

He opened his mouth, but Karen's laugh cut him off.

"Unlike some people, born to slave away like a pack mule."

She nestled into Drew's side, pouting prettily.

"I have my man to take care of me."

Drew glanced at me. Something complicated passed through his expression. Then he wrapped his arm around Karen and murmured, soft and indulgent:

"As long as I'm around, you won't suffer."

Acid burned up my throat.

So I'm the one who deserves to suffer?

I forced myself steady. Forced a smile onto my face.

"Can I take your order?"

Drew stepped forward before Karen could speak, pointing at the promotional board outside.

"Everything on the new menu. One of each."

I stared at him.

The seasonal lineup had over twenty items.

Last semester, I'd wanted a five-dollar cupcake. Just one. Drew had shaken his head and said, "Babe, I don't like girls who spend money. We need to save for the wedding, remember?"

And now—

"Hurry up and go make them! We have a movie to catch!" Karen snapped.

I couldn't speak. I just stood there, gripping a cup of iced tea so cold it burned my fingers.

Drew paused for a beat, then his voice turned flat and hard.

"Is this how your shop treats its customers?"

"Do you want me to file a complaint?"

I drew a deep breath, forcing down the bitterness rising in my throat.

My hands trembled as I made the drinks.

Karen's saccharine voice carried over from the other side of the counter.

"Drew, after graduation, let's travel the world together."

Drew's reply was soft, indulgent. "Sure. Whatever you want."

Karen shot me a guarded glance, then burrowed deeper into his arms.

"Promise me. Promise I'm the only one in your eyes and in your heart."

Drew stiffened. His gaze flicked to me, guilt flickering across his face.

"I promise. I belong to you. Only you. For the rest of my life."

He'd lowered his voice on purpose, but every syllable drilled straight into my ears.

A sharp pain lanced through my chest. I could barely breathe.

I didn't know how long it took. I finished all twenty new drinks on autopilot, moving like a machine. By the end, my hands were shaking from exhaustion.

Karen glared at me with a triumphant little smile.

"All these? I can't possibly drink them all."

"Drew, you're so mean! You're trying to fatten me up like a little piglet."

Then she swept her arm out and "accidentally" knocked an entire row of cups off the counter.

The floor became a mess of ice, milk, and shattered cups.

Karen giggled, looped her arm through Drew's, and sauntered toward the door.

I stood behind the sticky counter, staring down at the wreckage.

That was when I noticed the writing on a napkin.

"I'll explain tonight when I get home. —Love, Drew"

Disgusting.

Three years of devotion. Three years of waiting.

Shattered into nothing by a few scribbled words.

I swept the napkin into the trash. The second it hit the bottom, a familiar, weathered voice drifted in from the doorway.

"Ina! Ina, sweetheart!"

My nose stung. Tears nearly spilled over.

Grandma Pauline Fox shuffled in, a lunch container clutched in her gnarled hands.

I blinked hard, swallowing the tears, and started toward her.

Then she slipped.

Her foot hit the puddle of spilled milk tea and went out from under her. She crashed to the floor. The lunch container shattered, and a few drops of soup splashed onto Karen's coat.

"What the hell!" Karen shrieked. "You disgusting old hag! Are you blind?!"

She grabbed Grandma by the collar and shoved her, hard.

Grandma was already shaking from the fall, pain written across every line of her face. The shove sent her crumpling to her knees.

"I'm sorry, miss, I'm so sorry." Grandma's voice quavered, her eyes wide with fear. "I didn't mean to. The floor was slippery..."

"'Didn't mean to' doesn't cut it!" Karen screamed. "This coat was a gift from Drew! It's designer! Thousands of dollars! Can you even afford to pay for it?"

Then she lifted her foot and kicked my grandmother.

"Grandma!"

I lunged forward and shoved Karen away.

Something clicked behind her eyes. A vicious smile curled across her lips.

"Oh. So she's your grandmother."

"Like grandmother, like granddaughter. The old one has no shame, and the young one is a homewrecker."

She spun around toward Drew, who hadn't yet left, and threw herself into a tearful performance.

"Drew, they're ganging up on me!"

Drew walked over with a frown. He didn't spare a single glance at the old woman on the floor.

His eyes were cold when they found me.

"Ina, I never thought you'd be the type to cause a scene like this."

"Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? Pay for the coat. Apologize."

"Be reasonable. Don't make this harder than it has to be."

Grandma heard the word homewrecker. Tears pooled instantly in her clouded eyes.

She had lived her whole life by one principle: dignity above all else.

"Ina... did you really... Are you really the other woman? Stealing someone else's man?"

"Grandma, I didn't! I'm not!"

I held back my tears and stared at Drew, stubborn, desperate, waiting for him to set the record straight. Three years. Three years together.

All he gave me was silence and a flicker of guilt in his eyes.

A long silence.

"Karen is my only girlfriend."

Slap!

A sharp crack rang through the air. It was Grandma, her palm striking my face.

She was trembling with rage, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What did I teach you growing up? To live with dignity and honor!"

"How could you try to break up someone else's relationship? Apologize to this young lady right now! And pay for her clothes!"

"Grandma, it's really not what you think..."

I pressed my hand to my burning cheek, my heart shattering into pieces.

"Shut your mouth! If you won't apologize, you're no granddaughter of mine!"

Grandma's voice thundered through the room, but mid-sentence she clutched her chest, her face draining of all color.

"Grandma!"

I screamed, lunging forward to catch her.

Her body went limp, sliding toward the floor. She'd lost consciousness.

Karen let out a cold, contemptuous scoff.

"Oh, please. She doesn't want to pay up, so now she's faking a faint? I've seen this little sympathy act a thousand times."

She grabbed Drew's arm and started pulling him toward the door.

"Drew! Drew, please!"

I spun around and seized his sleeve, tears pouring down my face.

I abandoned every last shred of pride, my voice cracking with desperation.

"She needs to get to a hospital. Please. It'll only take a few minutes."

Drew frowned, and for a split second it looked like he might agree.

Then he glanced at Karen's sour expression, and the coldness slid back into his voice.

"Karen's movie is about to start. I don't have time."

He wrapped his arm around Karen's waist and walked out without looking back.

Sunlight blazed through the open door, but I felt nothing. Only ice, filling me from the inside out.

A few kind strangers helped me carry Grandma to the hospital.

The doctor said it was a sudden cardiac arrest. She needed surgery immediately.

I leaned against the cold hospital wall, panic and fear clawing at my chest.

That was when my phone buzzed.

Drew's name lit up the screen.

I hesitated for a few seconds before pressing accept.

I didn't even know what I was hoping for.

That he felt guilty? That he regretted it?

That he'd say he hadn't been thinking straight back there?

The call connected. No explanation. No apology. Just irritation.

"I heard about your grandma. Look, don't blow this out of proportion."

"Karen's young. Her family spoiled her. She's a little blunt, but she didn't mean anything by it."

"Stop making something out of nothing. Cut the kid some slack. If you've got a problem, take it up with me."

"Karen's clothes got ruined, and you scared her. She's in a terrible mood right now."

"Just apologize to her. If you two can get along like sisters going forward, she won't hold any of this against you."

I listened to him rattle off his accusations as if he were the righteous one, and it was like a bolt of lightning had struck me where I stood. Every muscle in my body locked.

Cut the kid some slack? Won't hold it against me?

Grandma was lying in the emergency room, her life hanging by a thread, and he wanted me to apologize to the person who'd put her there?

Memories flooded back like a rising tide.

Sophomore year. I'd spiked a fever of 103. Drew had carried me on his back, running nearly two miles to the hospital. He'd sat by my bed all night, wiping the sweat from my forehead, holding water to my lips.

His eyes had been red-rimmed when he whispered, "Ina, if anything ever happened to you, I wouldn't want to live either."

Junior year. My internship supervisor had made my life hell, and I'd broken down sobbing. Drew had shown up outside my office building, pulled me into his arms, and said, "Anyone who messes with my girl answers to me."

Back then, he'd been tender. Devoted. He'd held me in his palms like I was something precious that might dissolve at his touch.

He'd told me I was his whole world. The only person he'd ever love.

And now, for another woman, he could trample over my dignity and my grandmother's, tossing out a casual cut her some slack like it cost him nothing.

"Drew."

I drew a long, slow breath. When I spoke, my voice was cold enough to freeze.

"You want me to apologize to the person who hurt her?"