Love on the Map Series: In Every Frame

PROLOGUE

“Andrea! Andrea!”



Someone suddenly called my name. When I turned around from my seat, I saw Julie smiling in my direction. She was a former classmate of mine during our first year. Eventually, though, she shifted to another course here at the same university, so I no longer got to be in the same program as her.

“Julie! It’s you? Why are you here in the other building? Are you shifting courses again? Or are you here for Dennison?” I greeted her jokingly as I approached the doorway.



“Nope! No! I just wanted to tell you that I saw your boyfriend in our building area,” she said, which made me slightly furrow my brows.

“In your building? Why would he be there?” I asked, remembering that he knew someone there. “Ah—I know! He knows someone there, so maybe Luke went there to see them,” I added, which only made her frown.



“I don’t know how to say this, but I suggest you just go and see him at our building,” she said, as if there were a secret she wanted to tell me but didn’t want to admit.

I suddenly became suspicious of what she was saying, so without a second thought, I immediately left our classroom and hurried down the stairs.

Did something bad happen to Luke…? I wondered.

Worried, I took my phone from the pocket of my uniform and quickly called my boyfriend. It rang for a while, but suddenly stopped, as if he had ended the call. What am I supposed to find out?

As I crossed the large grounds of our campus, my attention was caught by a group of students gathered around the building Julie had mentioned earlier. Curious to know what they were making such a commotion about, I soon realized that my feet had carried me to a spot where I froze and stared ahead.

There was Luke.



Standing in front of him was a woman who seemed to be a student from the same department as Julie.

My heart sank slightly when I realized who she was.

It was Elise. Luke’s first love.

“Elise, will you be my girlfriend again?”

The question echoed repeatedly in my mind, making me suddenly feel my legs grow weak. I felt as though I was about to collapse right where I stood.

“Are you really asking me out once again? What about your current girlfriend? Did you two break up?” she asked, seemingly still having a conscience.

I wanted to answer her question, but I couldn’t seem to open my mouth. I remained standing in the same position, waiting for Luke to say that we weren’t broken up yet—or, better yet, that he was only joking.

“They aren’t a thing, Elise! We made a bet to use his current girlfriend to make you jealous, and it worked!” one of Luke’s friends suddenly blurted out.

I was stunned.

I didn’t even realize that tears had already begun falling from my eyes because of what I had just heard.

“We told him to make it last only a month, but yeah, it took him a year and a half before you noticed him again.”

“What? I thought that was official, considering you guys have been going out for almost two years now?” Elise crossed her arms as she asked the question.

The students around them began whispering and murmuring among themselves. I didn’t know what emotion I was showing at that moment because of everything I was hearing.

“I never liked her, nor did I love her. I did it so I could get you back!”

Those were the words I heard from Luke.

I covered my mouth and let out a quiet sob, desperately trying to hold it back so they wouldn’t see or hear me. The students were laughing, while some of them looked at me with pity as they listened to Luke’s friends giggling about what had happened.

My entire body felt weak, along with the tears streaming down my face behind all of them.

“Really? I never knew that~ I’m relieved that you were only making me jealous, and that’s why you got into a relationship with that girl.”

Elise smiled at Luke and slowly pulled him closer to her. It was too late when I saw Luke smile back at her before kissing her on the lips—in front of all the students.

Their audacity! I wanted to shout those words, but I held myself back until I didn’t even realize that I had already started walking toward them.

“Is it true…?” Those were the first words that came out of my mouth as I stood in front of them. I didn’t pay attention to the other students because my eyes were fixed on Luke.

“What they said… Is it true, Luke?”

“Andrea…?” He looked at me with shock on his face.

“You’re still surprised? You shamelessly kissed your EX in front of all these people. The nerve!” I suddenly snapped at him, which made Elise’s friends laugh.



“Excuse me? They’re a thing now, so Elise isn’t his EX. If anyone here is the EX, it’s you!”

I ignored her because my eyes remained fixed on Luke. I lowered my head slightly before looking up at him again.

“Tell me, Luke. That almost two years of our relationship—was it all meaningless to you? Your actions and words… Were all of those fake? Did you bet on me just so you could smile and act romantic with me, when the truth was that you were actually disgusted by me? Tell me, why me? Was it because I was easy to fool? Just like what you did to me now?” I couldn’t stop myself from crying in front of all the students.

“Andrea…”



“My God! Stop your ugly and dramatic! You’re only embarrassing yourself here!” Elise suddenly snapped, irritation evident on her face as she glared at me.

I knew I was only embarrassing myself, but I wanted to hear the answer directly from Luke. I didn’t care what any of them said.

I wanted everything to be explained.

Maybe things could still be fixed.

Maybe there was only something missing, something I could still fill.

Maybe…

“Andrea…”

Luke suddenly approached me, and Elise tried to stop him, but she couldn’t.



“I know it’s wrong for me to suddenly say this…” I looked up at him again, curious and anxious. His eyes weren’t the same anymore.

I was looking at my boyfriend, but all I could see were his cold eyes.

“Suddenly? What’s the problem, Luke? What I heard was just a joke, right?” I said, immediately giving him a smile. But I couldn’t hide the anxiety and fear inside me—the fear that I already knew this would really happen.

“Let’s break up, Andrea. We were never really official anyway. The one I love is still Elise. I only went out with you because of their bet, and the reason I agreed to it was to make Elise jealous of us. I never expected it to take this long before you found out.”

I couldn’t answer him immediately. When I heard his words, it felt as though everything around me had stopped.

All I could feel was pain, tears, and the numbness spreading through my legs. I couldn’t react immediately because of what I had just learned.

“You mean… you were only using me for your own gain…?” I whispered.

“Yes.” His short answer made me lower my head.

“And I am sorry about th—” I didn’t let him finish his sentence. My hand suddenly struck his face.

He looked completely shocked by what I had done, and even the students around us began whispering after witnessing it. He didn’t even give me another reason. He didn’t even try to lie to me.

“How dare you slap me, you bit—” I cut Elise’s words off and angrily stared at Luke.

“Andrea!”

“How dare you! The nerve of you to come near me just to use me for your stupid little game! All my years here, Luke! I loved you with all my heart. I never asked for anything in return because all I wanted was for you to stay with me. But after what you did? You might as well have thrown away all the effort I put into you. I know there were things lacking in me. Was it because I wasn’t on your level? Yes! I wasn’t. But even though so many people objected to our relationship, I was never ashamed of it because I loved you!" I paused for a second before I stared at him with a yearning look, “Now I know why you didn’t want everyone to know that we were together. I was hiding behind the shadow of the one person you truly loved. You should have told me from the beginning that this was only a game—that you only wanted to make Elise jealous. Maybe I would have even helped you back then, when I didn’t love you yet. And then what? I’m supposed to find out the truth now, after I had already fallen so hard for you?" I scoffed and even laughed at myself.

“If only you had told me… Then maybe… Maybe I wouldn’t be feeling like this…” I cried as I said those words in front of all of them. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I wanted the ground to swallow me whole and make me disappear in front of everyone.

I wanted to forget that I had only embarrassed myself in front of them.

I wanted to forget that I had ever met him…

After everything that had happened, heavy rain suddenly poured from the sky.

It seemed that even the weather wasn’t on my side that day.



“Oh my gosh! It’s raining! Come on, let’s go!”

I waited for Luke to approach me again, but he had already walked away with his friends and his new girlfriend. I didn’t say anything. I simply watched them leave, knowing that he could see the longing in my eyes. Everyone else began running back to their respective buildings and classrooms.

I remained standing in the same spot, letting the rain soak my entire body until no one could tell that I was still crying. Slowly, I sank to the ground.

That was when I finally let out all the pain and grief I had been holding inside. I tried to process everything that had happened moments ago and wished that all of this was nothing more than a nightmare.

Then suddenly, my phone rang inside my pocket. I quickly answered it.

And I froze even more when I heard the terrible news from the other end of the line.

.

.

.

.

.

“Mama, w-what happened?”

I was greeted by my exhausted and tearful mother as she quickly stood from where she had been sitting.

“Big sister…” My siblings were already crying, which made me stare at the doctor who had just come out of the operating room.

“A-Andrea…your...your Nana is gone.” My mother’s voice echoed through my mind as I arrived at the hospital, my uniform completely soaked from the rain.

I couldn’t speak immediately. Too many emotions were overwhelming me all at once, all on the same day.

My tears spilled freely from my eyes, slowly turning into quiet sobs that echoed through the hospital hallway. I could no longer hold back my pain, so I quickly ran outside.

Breathless and nearly collapsing, I sat beneath one of the trees on the hospital grounds. I was about to take my phone from my pocket when I suddenly stopped myself.

“And who are you going to call, Andrea?” I whispered the question to myself, which only made me cry even harder.

Just when I wanted to tell someone about all my pain and grief, I had lost everything. I lost someone important in my life on the very same day I lost the person I had loved for almost two years of college. I thought I had someone I could lean on no matter what happened. I thought I had found someone who would become my place of comfort, someone who would be my refuge.

But they were suddenly gone, as if none of it had ever happened.

I never thought that losing everything could hurt this much.

The dream I had of being with him…

If I begged him, could I fix our relationship?

Would he pity me if I did?

Would he love me if I begged him to choose me?

Probably not.

It was clear enough that he had only been playing with me, and that was something I still couldn’t accept even now. This would be the first and last time I would ever be foolish enough to believe in something I already knew wasn’t meant for me.

I was tired of getting hurt.

Tired of losing people.

And most of all, tired of loving someone who would only end up treating me like a game.

It was my mistake for trusting him so easily and falling for everything he did because I thought he was the one. But he wasn’t.

“I shouldn’t have given all my trust to the person I had my first relationship and heartbreak with…” I whispered before immediately looking up at the sky. I could clearly see the lightning flashing across the sky, followed by the heavy rain pouring down. “N-nana… Can I still keep going after everything that happened today?”

I just wished that all of this was nothing more than a dream.