Desperate for answers, I opened Instagram. Using my dummy account—the one I used to stalk Naomi and Oliver’s friends—I scrolled through their posts, searching for any sign of him. That’s when I saw it: a live video.
My heart sank as I clicked on it. The screen filled with an image of Oliver, his arm wrapped tightly around Naomi’s waist. She looked smug, her head resting on his shoulder, while his lips brushed against hers.
I stared, frozen, as the live continued. The person filming—one of Oliver’s friends—laughed in the background. "Oops, they’re kissing. Hey, Oliver, what do you think your gullible girlfriend would think if she saw this?"
Oliver smirked, his expression infuriatingly casual. "She wouldn’t know if you stopped filming. But even if she did—who cares? I’ll just tell her I love her, and she’ll believe me. She loves me that much."
My chest tightened as tears blurred my vision. I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces as the live video continued. Naomi giggled, pulling Oliver into another kiss, and I couldn’t watch anymore. I turned it off, my hands shaking as I dropped the phone onto the bed.
I had stayed with Oliver for over a year, clinging to the hope that he would change. I thought that the boy I fell in love with—the one who made me feel special, who once held me close and told me I was his world—was still somewhere inside him. I told myself that if I was patient, if I loved him enough, he would come back to me.
But this… This was the last straw.
I sat in the hospital bed, my tears spilling freely. I thought of everything I had endured—the constant lies, the betrayal, the pain. And now, after everything that had happened to me, he wasn’t here. He didn’t care.
The ache in my chest was replaced by something colder, something final. I wiped my tears and grabbed my phone. My hands steadied as I dialed a familiar number.
“Mom,” I said, my voice hoarse but firm.
“Hannah? Are you okay?” Her concern was evident, and for a moment, I almost broke down again. But I couldn’t let myself.
“I’m going to accept the job in Sydney,” I said, cutting straight to the point. “Please arrange everything for me.”
As I hung up, a sense of clarity washed over me. I wasn’t going to waste another second on Oliver. I wasn’t going to wait for him to change or beg for his attention. It was time to move forward, to reclaim the life I had almost lost.