Chapter 20 Heartbroken in Silence
358 Words
The day after Ethan announced he was moving away felt unreal.
Lily woke up hoping it had all been a misunderstanding.
It wasn’t.
The moment she arrived at school, students were still talking about it.
“Can you believe Ethan is leaving?”
“Manchester is so far.”
“I’d hate to start over somewhere else.”
Every conversation felt like a reminder.
Ethan was leaving.
Soon.
Very soon.
The worst part was that nobody seemed to notice how much it affected her.
Or maybe they did.
Maybe she was just good at pretending.
Whenever Ethan looked at her, she smiled.
Whenever he talked to her, she acted normal.
Whenever someone mentioned Manchester, she nodded like it wasn’t breaking her heart.
Inside, however, she was falling apart.
One afternoon Sophie found her sitting alone behind the school hall.
“You’ve been crying.”
Lily quickly wiped her face.
“No, I haven’t.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
Lily looked away.
For a few seconds neither of them spoke.
Then Sophie sat beside her.
“You love him.”
It wasn’t a question.
Lily’s eyes filled with tears immediately.
This time she couldn’t deny it.
She couldn’t pretend anymore.
“He’s leaving,” she whispered.
Sophie sighed softly.
“I know.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
For the first time, Sophie didn’t have an answer.
Because there wasn’t one.
No advice could fix this.
No joke could make it better.
Ethan was leaving.
And Lily was running out of time.
That night she stared at their chat for almost an hour.
She wanted to tell him.
She wanted to tell him everything.
But fear still sat in her chest.
The same fear that had stopped her before.
So instead she sent a simple message.
Lily: How are you feeling
Ethan: Honestly
Lily: Yeah
Ethan: Terrible
Her heart tightened.
For the first time, she realized she wasn’t the only one struggling.
Maybe leaving wasn’t easy for him either.
Maybe goodbye hurt both of them.
But she still couldn’t say the words she wanted to say.
Not yet.
And that became her biggest mistake.
- Writer
