ACCIDENTAL ROOMMATE

Realization

I didn’t realize how long I had been lying there until my phone buzzed again.

The music was still playing softly in my ears, but the vibration in my hand pulled me out of the calm I had finally started feeling.

I looked at the screen.

Ryan sent a reel.

My stomach tightened a little.

For a moment I thought about ignoring it.

But curiosity got the better of me.

I tapped the notification.

The video opened.

This one was just a normal reel—some random guy talking about relationships and “how people should respect each other.” It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t even that interesting.

I watched the whole thing anyway.

Then another notification appeared.

Ryan sent a reel.

I sighed quietly and opened the second one.

This one was a couple doing a “relationship test” trend where they asked each other questions and laughed when they got them wrong.

Again… not really funny.

Just… normal.

I frowned slightly.

Ryan used to send me reels all the time when we were together.

But they were different.

They were usually stupid, funny videos that made both of us laugh. Sometimes he would send ones about couples teasing each other or those cheesy “this reminded me of you” posts.

These new ones didn’t feel like that.

They felt random.

Like he was just sending things without thinking.

Or maybe just sending them because he didn’t know what else to say.

I stared at the chat for a moment.

Still no actual message.

Just reels.

My chest felt a little heavy again.

I closed the chat and opened the reels page instead, hoping to distract myself for a bit.

The first few videos were normal.

Funny clips.

Cooking videos.

People dancing.

I scrolled lazily, letting the short videos play one after another.

Then something caught my attention.

Under one of the reels, I noticed a small line of text.

“Liked by Ryan.”

I paused.

The video was of a girl posing in a mirror, showing off a new outfit. She was really pretty—perfect makeup, perfect hair, the kind of person who looked like she belonged in a magazine.

I swallowed slightly and kept scrolling.

Another video appeared.

This one was another girl dancing.

Again, under the video:

“Liked by Ryan.”

My fingers slowed.

I scrolled again.

Another girl.

Another “Liked by Ryan.”

My chest tightened quietly.

The videos kept coming.

Pretty girls posing.

Girls doing makeup tutorials.

Girls doing trends.

And over and over again, the same small words appeared.

Liked by Ryan.

I stared at the screen, suddenly feeling a strange mix of emotions I couldn’t fully explain.

It wasn’t that he liked videos.

Everyone liked videos.

But seeing so many of them… and realizing he had never sent these to me…

That part hurt more than I expected.

Especially when I kept scrolling and suddenly saw something else.

A funny video.

The kind Ryan used to send me all the time.

It was a couple joking about who steals the blanket at night.

Under the video again:

Liked by Ryan.

But he hadn’t sent it to me.

I felt a small sting in my chest.

He used to send videos like this all the time when we were together.

Sometimes we would spend hours just sending reels back and forth, laughing about them.

Now he was still liking them.

Still watching them.

Just… not sharing them with me.

Instead he was sending random relationship advice videos.

Or those weird ones about gold diggers and male friends.

My thumb stopped scrolling.

For a moment I just stared at the screen.

The music in my ears had changed to another song, but I barely noticed.

Across the room, the door opened again.

Ethan stepped back inside holding a couple of snacks and a soda.

I quickly locked my phone and placed it beside me.

He glanced over briefly.

“You sure you didn’t want anything?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“I’m good.”

He shrugged and set the snacks on his desk before sitting down again.

I turned onto my side, facing the wall once more.

But this time my mind wasn’t quiet.

Because for the first time since the breakup, a new thought slipped quietly into my head.

Maybe Ryan hadn’t stopped using social media the way I thought.

Maybe he hadn’t stopped laughing at those videos either.

Maybe he had just… stopped sharing them with me.

And somehow, that realization hurt more than the breakup itself.