Chapter 44 Chapter 44
Emily's POV
The first thing I noticed was how quiet it felt around me, there were still voices, footsteps, and the campus life moving like it always did, but everything sounded… distant, almost muted, like I was standing underwater while the rest of the world carried on above me.
My phone vibrated in my hand. I didn’t remember unlocking it, but suddenly the screen was open and I was staring at it.
Headlines.
My name.
His name.
Words that didn’t belong to me but were suddenly defining me.
Manipulative.
Calculated.
Strategic.
My throat tightened. I scrolled, I shouldn't have done that. I knew better but I couldn't stop. Comments flooded the screen faster than I could process them.
She planned this.
She used him.
This is so obvious.
Clout-chaser.
Fake.
My stomach dropped. No, this cannot be happening. The truth is it wasn't fake now. And I didn't do any of those that they think I did. Well, it didn't matter now, because they believe it and it looked believable.
I swallowed hard, because there was truth buried inside the lie. And people didn’t care about the difference.
“That’s her.” The voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through everything.
I didn’t look up. I could feel the shift in the atmosphere. All the attention that I was suddenly getting. “She’s the intern, right?”
“The one dating him.”
“Not anymore apparently.”
There was laughter, “She really thought no one would figure it out?”
My fingers tightened around my phone. My nails pressed into my palm hard enough to hurt.
Good.
I needed something real. Something physical, something that wasn’t slipping out of my control.
Breathe, just breathe.
I straightened my posture, and lifted my chin slightly. My expression remained neutral and controlled, like I had trained myself to be. This was just temporary, this was only noise. This didn’t define me.
My screen refreshed.
Another notification with another headline.
Intern’s Career Scheme Exposed
Something inside me cracked. Enough to let doubt in, enough to let fear take shape. This isn’t just gossip. This is your career.
My chest tightened, because suddenly it wasn’t just about what people were saying. It was about what people would believe. What institutions would believe. What my department head would believe. What recommendation boards would believe. I had spent years building something. Every grade, every internship, every decision. All of it leading to one thing... and now it could all be reduced to this. To a headline, a rumor. To something I couldn’t control.
My hands started shaking. I locked the screen. I couldn’t look at it anymore. I couldn't even move.
I needed to move. I stepped forward. The courtyard stretched too wide around me, it was too exposed, and full of eyes I could feel even when they weren’t directly on me. I kept my head up and kept walking. I didn’t look at anyone, I didn't even acknowledge anything. If I did, I didn’t know if I could recover.
I reached the entrance of the academic building and pushed the door open harder than necessary. The cool air hit my skin. The hallway was quieter and safe. I walked quickly, my heels echoing against the polished floor, each step grounding me just enough to keep going.
I pulled my phone out again. I opened my internship dashboard.
My schedule.
Patient notes.
Rehab logs.
Words filled the screen. I stared at them. I tried to focus on them. But I just couldn't. They blurred. It lost meaning. I blinked hard, trying to focus. I read one sentence and then moving onto the next sentence. But nothing remained in my mind. My mind kept pulling me back, back to the courtyard, to the headlines, to the whispers, to everything. Back to the way everything I had worked for suddenly felt fragile, like it could disappear with one narrative I didn’t even create.
My grip tightened around my phone. This isn’t happening. It couldn’t be. I did everything right. The thought came fast. I followed the rules. I remained professional. I maintained boundaries. I didn’t... My breath caught. Didn’t what? Didn’t feel? Didn’t react? Didn’t cross lines? The memory hit anyway. The kiss. His voice. The way everything had stopped being simple. My stomach twisted. That wasn't the part that people were reacting to because they didn't know that part because it wasn't in public. I shook my head slightly. I needed to stay focused.
I opened my messages and scrolled throught my unread emails, there were too many of them. One subject line caught my eye.
My department.
My chest tightened instantly. I didn’t open it, because once I did, this would become real in a way I couldn’t ignore. I lowered my phone slowly. My reflection stared back at me from the glass panel beside the classroom door. I didn’t recognize the girl looking back, because she looked like someone who had everything under control, but I didn’t.
My breathing started to shift more faster and shallower. I turned around and walked down the hall, until I found the nearest restroom. I pushed the door open, thank goodness it was empty. I walked straight to the sink and gripped the edge of it. I stared at myself again. And this time, the control slipped just a little.
My eyes looked different. My chest rose too quickly. My breath didn’t settle. I inhaled deeply and held it before I exhaled. My throat tightened. My hands trembled. I couldn’t hold it anymore. The breath left me in a sharp, uneven exhale. My shoulders dropped. My grip tightened on the sink. And the tears came, they were unstoppable.
I shook my head slightly. “No,” I whispered as if I could stop them, or reverse it. “I did everything right.” The words came out broken. “I did everything right.” I took another breath this time, but it was shakier. “So why-” My voice caught and I swallowed hard. “So why am I the one paying for it?” It was just my reflection in the mirror and me. And the reality I couldn’t control.
My chest tightened again. It felt like everything I had worked for was slipping out of my hands because of something I couldn’t rewrite. And I couldn’t take it back.
I pressed my lips together. I wiped my face quickly and forced myself to breathe again, slowly this time. Falling apart wouldn't fix this. I needed to think and act.
My phone buzzed again. I stared at it. I picked it up slowly and looked at the screen. There was one message from my department head. “We need to talk. Immediately.”
My stomach dropped. I stared at the message. My reflection staring back at me. Everything suddenly aligning into something I couldn’t ignore anymore.