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The moment Lydia Dawson slid onto my boyfriend’s lap and looped one arm around his neck, the whole table cheered as if I were supposed to laugh with them. Ethan Cole leaned back in the booth, flushed from bourbon and attention, while Lydia held a gift box above his head and grinned at me like she had just won something. I had spent a year telling myself I was imagining the look in her eyes, but that night I finally stopped lying to myself.

Chapter 1 / 3

Chapter 2

At first Ethan laughed because he thought I was bluffing. When he realized I meant it, anger hardened his face. “You’re breaking up with me over Lydia?”

“I’m breaking up with you because you keep asking me to deny what I can see.”

Lydia jumped up. “What are you saying about me?”

I had spent a year being polite. “You’re in love with him, and you hide behind this ‘bro’ routine because it lets you touch him, monopolize him, and insult any woman who objects.”

Her face went pale. Ethan muttered that they were only friends, but I finally understood he was not confused. Lydia’s devotion flattered him, and my jealousy reassured him, while calling her one of the guys let him enjoy both without taking responsibility.

“If it bothers you that much,” he snapped, “go get yourself a guy best friend.”

“Maybe I will.”

A chair scraped behind us. Liam Grant, our university’s student body president, had spent most of the party quietly in a corner. Now he walked toward me.

“You said you need a guy best friend,” he said. “Would I do?”

The room went silent. I glanced at Ethan’s furious face and then back at Liam. “Sure. Why not?”

Liam smiled, and I took his arm. Behind us a glass shattered against the wall. Ethan shouted my name and warned me not to come crawling back if I left with Liam, but I never turned around.

Outside, I apologized for dragging Liam into my mess, but he surprised me by saying he had meant it. Then his expression softened. “Did you mean the breakup?”

“Yes.”

He exhaled with unmistakable relief.

The dorms were locked by the time we returned to campus. Liam offered me the spare room in his apartment a few blocks away, where he lived while running the small software company he had started in college. He gave me clean clothes, a towel, and electrolyte water, without teasing or pressure.

Then my phone rang.

Ethan appeared on Leo’s video call. “You’ve had time to cool off. Come back.”

“We broke up.”

“You’re really going to keep this up?”

“I’m not keeping anything up. You’re free now. Hug Lydia. Kiss her. Wear matching watches.”

His expression twisted. “Fine. Whoever apologizes first is a coward.”

He tossed the phone aside without ending the call. I heard Leo ask if he was worried I was with Liam. Ethan laughed and said, “Anna? She’ll come back when she learns her lesson.”

I hung up and realized tears were running down my face.

Liam handed me tissues and sat nearby. I told him how Ethan had pursued me for a year, yet Lydia had crowded nearly every date and important moment. Every time I asked for boundaries, he made me feel unreasonable for needing them.

“Do all men have a woman they call a bro?” I asked.

“No.” Liam’s answer came quickly. “Friendship doesn’t erase boundaries. If a nickname is being used to excuse disrespect, it’s just camouflage.”

I smiled faintly. “Very presidential.”

He looked at me for a long moment. “There’s something else I should say. I’ve liked you for a long time.”

He told me he had noticed me during student government meetings, first because I worked hard, then because he found himself looking for me whenever I entered a room. By the time he understood why, Ethan was already pursuing me.

.

“I waited once,” Liam said. “I won’t pressure you tonight. But when you’re ready, would you consider me first?”

The answer felt strangely simple. “Yes.”

Later, unable to sleep, I found him in the kitchen. He asked if I wanted him to forget his confession. I shook my head.

“No. I want to go slowly, but I want to see where this goes.”

He took my hands as if they were fragile. “We have time.”

When he kissed me, he waited until I leaned toward him first.

The next morning Ethan called. Half asleep, I told Liam he could answer. Ethan demanded that I meet him for tennis and apologize before he changed his mind.

Liam looked down at me beneath the blanket. “Keep your voice down,” he said calmly. “My girlfriend is sleeping.”

For three full seconds, Ethan said nothing.

Then he exploded.

.
Disclaimer: This story is fictional and created for entertainment purposes only. Any names, characters, places, or events are fictitious or used fictitiously. No real person or organization is intended to be portrayed.

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