THE MIGHTY AND THE UPTIGHT CHUBBS LADY

Past Situationship

The air conditioning in the main boardroom of Klark & Co. was always set to a temperature best described as "glacial," but the moment Melanie stepped inside, the room felt downright subzero.

"Ah, Melanie, come in, come in," Mr. Mathew Klark boomed, his cheerful voice a stark contrast to the sudden, suffocating tension that had just trapped the oxygen in the room. "Meet our VIP clients for the upcoming regional expansion project."

Melanie kept her professional smile locked firmly in place, but internally, her gears ground to a screeching halt. Sitting across the mahogany table, looking slick in a tailored navy suit, was Josh Kane. Her university "situationship." The senior who had mastered the art of the slow burn, only to execute the ultimate ghosting maneuver. And right beside him, draped in designer tweed with a posture that screamed inherited wealth, was Linda Fernandez. The CEO’s daughter. His wife.

The moment Josh’s eyes met Melanie's, his breath visibly hitched. A wave of recognition, followed swiftly by sheer panic and a flicker of deep regret, flashed across his face.

Melanie felt a sudden, familiar pull in her chest, dragging her back six years.

Flashback

Melanie had been a hopelessly starry-eyed junior when she first developed a massive crush on Josh, the charismatic senior who seemed to notice her only when they shared mutual spaces. After he graduated, Melanie finally gathered the courage to confess her feelings. She did it through Bradd Hans—Josh’s best friend who happened to be dating Melanie’s close friend.

The confession had unlocked a door. Soon, they were hanging out constantly, a tight-knit circle of friends creating a blur of late-night cafe sessions and university events. But where there is a happy circle, there is often someone looking to break it. Melanie’s friend began bringing her younger sister along—Amanda Reyes. Amanda was a freshman, sharp-tongued, and possessed an insatiable appetite for things that belonged to other people.

Initially, Amanda pretended she didn't even know Josh. She was just the quiet junior in the background. But as Melanie's final year rolled around, the atmosphere shifted. Josh’s replies grew shorter. The calls stopped. When Melanie reached out, the silence was deafening. She told herself he was just overwhelmed with his new corporate job; she told herself she was just drowning in her final year thesis. She rationalized the emptiness.

Then came the whispers. The campus rumors. Needing to see the truth for herself, Melanie attended a massive year-end party she usually would have skipped. She found them by the drinks table. Amanda was clinging to Josh's arm, flashing a forced, smug smile the moment she spotted Melanie.

"Oh, hey, Melanie! You know my boyfriend, right?" Amanda had said, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness.

Josh wouldn't look at her. He stared at the floor, completely ignoring Melanie’s existence, treating the girl he had spent months sweet-talking like an absolute stranger.

Melanie remembered the ice that had coated her veins that night. But she hadn't cried. She hadn't made a scene. She had simply looked at them, smiled a calm, devastatingly serene smile, and said, "I know." Then, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving her dignity intact and Josh in her rearview mirror.

Amanda didn't stop there. For months after, she launched a defensive PR campaign, telling anyone who would listen that she hadn't stolen anyone, that Melanie had been desperate, chasing a senior who never wanted her. Melanie chose absolute silence. She knew the truth, and she refused to rolling around in the mud with a child.

Amanda kept provoking her, publicly flaunting her relationship with Josh, bragging to mutual friends that Josh was so madly in love with her that he was simply waiting for her to graduate so they could get married. But karma, Melanie learned, had an immaculate sense of timing.

A few years later, Melanie had accidentally run into Amanda at a shopping mall. Amanda looked exhausted, stripped of her university smugness. With a bitter, resentful tone, Amanda had casually revealed that Josh had married a woman chosen strictly by his family—Linda—and that his new wife was already pregnant before Amanda had even managed to finish her degree.

Sitting across from Amanda that day, Melanie had simply smiled. But inwardly, she had cackled. 'Thought he was waiting for you to graduate, huh?'

Flashback Off

"Miss Hayden? Are you ready to take us through the initial design brief?" Mr. Klark’s voice snapped Melanie right back to the present.

"Of course, Mr. Klark," Melanie replied seamlessly, tapping her tablet to bring up the presentation on the massive wall monitor.

Throughout the meeting, Josh was utterly useless. Every time Melanie spoke, she could feel his eyes lingering on her, heavy with a pathetic, longing regret. He looked trapped. Melanie, however, remained flawlessly professional, poised, and utterly unbothered. She delivered her pitch with the sharp, commanding confidence of a woman who knew her worth.

Linda Fernandez, however, was not blind. She clearly noticed her husband’s drifting attention. Her jaw tightened, and she spent the rest of the meeting trying to subtly intimidate and belittle Melanie’s ideas, making passive-aggressive remarks about the timeline. But Melanie didn't flinch. She shut down every single one of Linda’s critiques with sheer competence, hard data, and a graceful smile that left Linda fuming in silence.