The moment my boyfriend placed a perfectly peeled shrimp onto another woman’s plate, I knew our relationship was already dead. What I didn’t know was that the woman smiling sweetly across the dinner table wasn’t the one who would break my heart that night. Kale Sterling would manage that all by himself.
Chapter 2
Kale spent most of the basketball game trying to prove something. He guarded Kai too aggressively, bumped him whenever the referee wasn’t looking, and played with the kind of angry intensity that made everyone in the bleachers notice. Kai, meanwhile, seemed completely unbothered.
With less than a minute left, he stole the ball, raced down the court, and sank the winning shot.
The gym exploded.
After the final buzzer, I walked past Kale and handed Kai a bottle of water.
He leaned toward me, smiling. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Was I amazing?”
He looked so absurdly hopeful that I reached up and ruffled his hair. “You were amazing.”
His ears turned red.
“You’re unbelievably easy to embarrass,” I said.
“You’re unbelievably hard to impress.”
“I just said you were amazing.”
“Then I should probably take advantage of the moment.”
His smile faded into nervousness.
“I like you, Scarlett.”
I froze.
Kai swallowed. “And I know the timing is terrible. I’m not asking you to jump into something tomorrow. But can I take you out? Can I at least have the chance to show you I’m serious?”
Before I could answer, Kale appeared.
“Are you finished?”
Kai straightened.
Kale ignored him and looked directly at me. “Scarlett, you’ve made your point.”
“My point?”
“This.” He gestured between Kai and me. “Whatever performance this is.”
Behind him stood Lila, watching with a faint smile.
Kale crooked one finger toward me.
“Come here. I’ll forget the whole thing.”
I stared at him.
He truly believed I would obey.
“I can make more time for you,” he continued. “If that’s what this is about.”
“Kale, listen carefully. We broke up. I don’t want you anymore.”
His face went still.
I took Kai’s hand.
“Aren’t you happy?” I asked. “Now you’re free to be with the woman you actually love.”
Then I walked away.
Outside the gym, I realized I was still holding Kai’s hand.
He glanced down at our fingers.
His ears were scarlet.
I quickly let go.
“So,” he said after an awkward silence, “does this mean I’m allowed to pursue you?”
I studied him.
He shifted nervously. “Why are you staring at me?”
“Yes.”
He blinked.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
His grin was so huge that I burst out laughing.
After that, Kai approached romance like a man preparing for a championship season.
Breakfast arrived every morning. Granola bars appeared between classes. If I mentioned liking a certain candy, three packages materialized the next day.
His teammates mocked him mercilessly.
“Flowers, Bennett,” one told him. “Women like flowers.”
The following morning, Kai arrived with enough roses to decorate a wedding.
Mia looked around our dorm room in disbelief. “Does his family own a florist?”
Kai texted every evening. He remembered exams I had forgotten telling him about. He knew when I had early classes. When I caught a cold, he brought soup, medicine, and a ridiculous stuffed dog wearing a basketball jersey.
Then one morning, I skipped breakfast.
By noon, I was doubled over with stomach pain.
Kai found me pale and sweating outside the library. I had never seen him angry before.
“Scarlett.”
“I’m fine.”
“You can barely stand.”
He carried me to his car before I could argue.
At the clinic, while we waited, he squeezed my hand and muttered, “You never take care of yourself.”
I turned toward him.
“Never?”
He went strangely quiet.
“What did you mean by that?”
“Nothing.”
But that word stayed with me.
Before.
You were like this before.
That night I found myself remembering Kale.
Once, I had called him with a fever high enough to frighten me.
“I’m busy,” he had said. “Stop bothering me.”
Later, I learned his emergency had been driving Lila home from the airport during one of her earlier visits.
The shrimp had not ended our relationship.
They had merely shown me, in one humiliating little gesture, what had been true all along.
Even the beginning looked different now.
The night Kale finally asked me out, he had been drunk. He had pulled me against him and whispered a woman’s name.
Lila.
I had corrected him.
“It’s Scarlett.”
He had stared at my face for several seconds and said, “Go out with me.”
Back then, I had been too happy to question why.
Now I knew.
I had spent three years becoming a substitute for someone who wasn’t there.
Another unknown number texted me.
I don’t accept this breakup. Lila has nobody. You should understand that.
I stared at the message.
Then I typed, Not anymore.
I blocked that number too.
The next morning, Kai was waiting outside my dorm with breakfast. He didn’t call or text. He simply stood beneath a gray sky holding a paper bag.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were here?”
He shrugged. “You might have been sleeping.”
My phone buzzed.
Mia: He is trying to ask you on a DATE. Please develop common sense immediately.
I looked up at our third-floor window.
Four faces disappeared at once.
Across the lawn, two of Kai’s teammates suddenly became fascinated with a tree.
I laughed.
“Kai?”
“Yes?”
“Take me on a date.”
His smile nearly split his face.
We went to an amusement park, where I discovered two things. First, Kai was fearless on roller coasters. Second, I was not.
After the third ride, he had to hold me upright while trying not to laugh.
“You said you wanted something intense.”
“I was young and foolish twenty minutes ago.”
We stayed until lunch, wandering from ride to ride, eating fried food we would both regret, and laughing until my cheeks hurt.
I couldn’t remember the last time being with someone had felt so easy.
We chose a restaurant near the park.
Kai ordered first.
To my surprise, nearly everything he chose was something I liked.
“You remembered all that?”
He looked confused. “Of course.”
A familiar voice floated from the next table.
“Kay?”
My shoulders tensed.
Lila.
She walked over with Kale behind her.
“Oh, Scarlett,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“Eating.”
“But this is a couples’ restaurant.”
I looked around.
Heart-shaped decorations. Couples everywhere.
I slipped my arm through Kai’s.
“I’m here with my boyfriend.”
Kai stopped breathing.
Kale looked murderous.
Lila recovered first. “That was fast. You and Kay just broke up.”
Then I noticed the bracelet on her wrist.
I knew it immediately.
I had bought it for Kale’s birthday.
For three months I had worked evening shifts at a café, tutored freshmen on weekends, and skipped meals more often than I admitted so I could afford it.
When I gave it to Kale, he barely smiled.
“You shouldn’t spend this much on me.”
Now it glittered on Lila’s wrist.
She saw me looking.
Her smile deepened.
Something hurt, but it was not love.
It was grief for the girl I had been.
The waiter arrived at exactly the right moment. “We have a promotion today. Couples who hug receive a gift.”
Lila immediately looked at Kale.
“I want one.”
He hesitated.
Then he saw me watching.
Kale pulled her into his arms and stared straight at me.
It was so childish that I laughed.
Kai leaned toward me. “Should we leave?”
“Absolutely.”
We walked out together.
Behind us came the crash of breaking dishes.
Later, in the parking garage, Lila blocked my path.
“Scarlett, isn’t this cute?”
She held up an ugly souvenir key chain and smiled as though she had won something.
I looked at it.
“No.”
Her smile vanished. “Excuse me?”
“It’s ugly.”
Kai coughed to hide a laugh.
Lila’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
Kale stepped forward. “Why do you always have to attack her?”
“I answered a question.”
I turned away.
Kale grabbed my wrist.
Pain shot up my arm.
“Let go.”
Before I could pull free, Kai shoved himself between us. Kale swung first after that, and within seconds the two men were trading punches until security came running.
When they were separated, I stepped in front of Kai.
Kale stared at me, stunned.
“You’re taking his side?”
“You grabbed me.”
“For him, Scarlett?”
I shook my head.
“No, Kale. For me.”
His expression shifted.
“You protect Lila every time she cries,” I said. “Why are you surprised I’d protect someone who actually cares about me? I stepped aside. You got what you wanted. So leave me alone.”
I took Kai’s hand and walked away.
That evening, under the streetlights, I finally told Kai everything.
The canceled dates. The insults disguised as criticism. The nights I waited for messages that never came. The way Kale made me feel needy for wanting ordinary affection.
When I finished, Kai stopped walking.
Then his arms closed around me from behind.
His shoulders shook.
I turned.
He was crying.
“How could he treat you like that?”
“Kai—”
“You deserved better.”
The anger in his voice cracked into grief.
I touched his hair.
Something deep inside me softened.
After he calmed down, we walked slowly toward campus.
I finally asked, “Why do you care so much about me?”
Kai stared ahead.
“Because I’ve cared longer than you think.”
“What does that mean?”
He smiled faintly.
“I’ll show you someday.”
