Chapter 63 Jealousy
Liam’s POV
The cafeteria tables were packed. Trays clattered. Laughter echoed against the tiled walls. It looked like any other lunch break, except the crowd circling one table in particular.
I sat there quietly while everyone stared at our table. I felt stiff and uncomfortable because I did not want people watching me like this. But Stacy looked happy and confident, like she belonged in the spotlight. She loved the attention, the whispers, and the jealous looks from other students.
But for me? It felt like hell.
I barely touched my food. My fingers tapped against the tray, jaw clenched, every laugh around me sounding like a hammer to my skull.
Because somewhere out there, just a hallway away, Mia was eating alone. Or maybe not eating at all.
And I could not even look at her. Could not talk to her.
Could not explain. Because I had no answers that would make any of this right. She would only get hurt more if I tried.
Especially with Stacy sitting right there, ready to report every word, every glance, every breath straight to my father. And my father made it clear what would happen if I stepped out of line again.
So I sat there while Mia disappeared from my world and someone else took her place.
Her ex best friends, the same girls who once promised Mia forever, were now huddled around Stacy like she was their new sun. Chloe leaned over and slipped her charmed bracelet onto Stacy’s wrist.
Belle followed, unfastening her delicate silver necklace and draping it around Stacy’s neck.
Stacy laughed softly. “Thank you, girls. You are the best. Do not worry, I will have my assistant buy whatever you want after lunch. Clothes, bags, maybe even phones.”
They squealed with excitement, eating up every inch of privilege she dangled in front of them.
My stomach turned. I looked around the table, at the shallow smiles, the false loyalty, the greedy eyes trained on wealth instead of worth. Nothing about this was real.
They did not like Stacy, they liked what she had.
And Mia? She had what they did not. She had real laughter, real strength, and a heart that never needed money or gifts just to be loved.
I stood abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor.
Stacy blinked. “Liam? Where are you going?”
I did not reply. I turned and left. I needed air. I needed to think. I had to look for her, even if she was mad at me. Even if she did not want me around anymore.
I never meant to stop walking. I had only been cutting across the quad to the parking lot, phone in hand, Stacy already texting me to hurry. But the moment my eyes caught a familiar silhouette beneath the old tree near the edge of campus, my whole body locked up.
Mia sat on the grass, her back against the trunk, her hair catching the light like it always used to when she tilted her head to laugh.
And she was laughing. Like she was not carrying the weight of the world anymore.
Daniel sat beside her, leaning close, saying something that made her eyes crinkle at the corners. Her hand rested in his, lightly, delicately, but still, it was there.
My chest tightened. It was not only because she looked happy again. It was because she looked happy with someone else. Someone who stayed beside her and did not hide her, someone who gave her what I failed to give.
She looked happy. And I hated it. Not because I did not want her to be happy, but because I was not the reason anymore. For the first time, jealousy did not just sting, it burned.
Later, I was behind the wheel. One hand clenched too tightly around the steering wheel, the other gripping the gearshift like it might keep me from falling apart.
Stacy sat beside me in the passenger seat, scrolling through her phone until my tires screeched too fast around a corner.
“Liam!” she shrieked, grabbing the door handle. “What the hell? Slow down!”
I did not say anything.
She stared at me, wide eyed. “What is wrong with you?”
I could not look at her. Because if I opened my mouth, I might admit it. That for the first time in my life, I was not angry or confused or guilty. I was jealous.
And it was killing me.
“Dad, I need to get to the academy early for practice,” I said as soon as I stepped into the study, my voice clipped with impatience.
“Stacy has her own driver. I do not understand why I still have to bring her to school.”
My father did not even look up from his tablet. “Because it is expected,” he replied calmly. “You are engaged, Liam. The two of you need to start appearing more united. Stacy mentioned that the two of you barely spoke while you were studying abroad. This is your chance to change that.”
My jaw tightened. “Maybe that is because we were never meant to be together.”
My father glanced at me then, sharp and warning. “That is not your decision to make.”
I did not argue. What would have been the point?
I nodded stiffly and turned to leave, by the time I reached my room, my shoulders felt heavy with everything I did not say. I walked in, shut the door, and leaned against it for a second, just breathing.
Then my eyes drifted to my phone on the desk. I knew I should not. But God, I missed her.
I walked over, picked up the phone like it might burn me, and stared at the screen. My fingers hovered above the keyboard.
Just one message. One second of pretending everything was not broken. And before I could stop myself, I started typing.
“Are you okay?”
It was all I could manage.
My thumb hovered, wanting to send something more. Something real. Something like I miss you. Something like I was wrong. Something like please say something.
But I did not, I just stared at my phone, waiting for her reply.
A minute passed, then another. The typing bubble never appeared. And then it came.
Seen.
My stomach dropped. I sat back on my bed, the glow of my phone dimming as the weight of her silence hit me like a punch.
Mia had read it, but she did not reply. And somehow, that hurt more than if she had screamed at me. Because it meant she did not want to fight anymore.
I used to be the reason she smiled. Now, I was not even worth a reply. And it was all my fault. No matter how badly I wanted to make it right, I could not. I already hurt her, and maybe breaking up with her would finally let her move on.
I closed my eyes, pressing the back of my head against the headboard like I could will the pain away. My chest felt tight, like every breath carried the weight of the words I did not want to say, but knew I had to.
I opened my eyes slowly. I stared at the message thread one last time, then began to type.
My fingers hesitated over every letter. My thumb hovered, trembling slightly, as I forced myself to keep it simple, distant and clean.
I typed the message fast before I could change my mind, then I hit send. And immediately, I hated myself for it. It did not sound like me. Not the boy who kissed her like she was his first and last choice.
But that was the point. It had to sound like a lie.
Because if it sounded real, she might still hope. And if she still hoped, she would only get hurt worse in the end.
I tossed the phone onto the bed beside me and sat up, burying my face in my hands. I had never felt so helpless.
My father’s words still rang in my ears, sharp and cold.
“You are throwing away everything for a girl with no place in this family.”
I tried to explain, again and again, that Mia and Josh were just friends. That there was never anything real between them. But it did not matter. Not to my father.
“You belong to Stacy now,” he told me.
It did not matter that Josh’s family had embraced Mia. My family played by a different set of rules.
I was not free to choose who to love. Not when the price of loving Mia meant destroying the carefully crafted future my father planned.