He Chose Her Over Me… Now He Wants Me Back💔

📖 Chapter 2 — The Aftermath

By the next morning, everyone knew.

Maya didn’t need to check her phone to confirm it, but she did anyway. The moment she turned on her data, notifications flooded in—messages, mentions, screenshots. Her chest tightened as she opened one of the campus gossip pages.

A blurry video.

Her voice.

“I like you.”

She exited immediately.

Her fingers hovered over her phone for a second before she locked it and dropped it face down on her bed. For a moment, she just sat there, staring at nothing.

So this is what it feels like, she thought.

Not heartbreak. Not exactly.

Exposure.

Her door creaked open slightly. “Maya?” Ada’s voice came in carefully.

“I’m awake,” Maya replied, her tone calm.

Ada stepped in, holding her phone like it might explode. “Have you seen—”

“Yes.”

Ada closed the door behind her and sat beside her. “People are talking, but it’ll pass. You know how these things go.”

Maya nodded slowly. “Yeah. It always passes.”

But some things didn’t pass.

Some things stayed, just quieter.

There was a pause before Ada spoke again. “You don’t have to go to class today.”

Maya picked up her bag. “I do.”

Ada frowned. “Maya—”

“I do,” she repeated, a little firmer. “If I hide now, it becomes bigger than it already is.”

Ada watched her for a moment, then sighed. “Okay. Then I’m coming with you.”

Maya gave a small nod.

They walked to campus together, but the closer they got, the heavier the air felt. Maya could already feel it—the shift. The way people looked a second longer than usual. The whispers that stopped when she passed.

She kept her gaze forward.

Step by step.

Inside the lecture hall, it was worse.

Seats that used to be normal suddenly felt like stages. Conversations dipped into murmurs as she entered. Someone nudged another person and glanced her way.

“She’s here…”

Maya ignored it and walked to her usual seat. Ada stayed close, like a silent shield.

For the entire lecture, Maya didn’t look around. She focused on the board, on her notes, on anything that wasn’t the weight of eyes around her.

It was working.

Barely.

Until it wasn’t.

“Hey.”

The voice came from behind her.

Maya’s pen paused mid-sentence.

She knew that voice.

Ada stiffened beside her.

Maya turned slowly.

Ethan stood there, hands in his pockets, like this was just another casual moment.

Like yesterday hadn’t happened.

Like she hadn’t stood in front of everyone and handed him her heart.

“What do you want?” Ada asked before Maya could speak.

Ethan’s eyes flicked to her briefly. “I’m talking to Maya.”

Maya’s expression didn’t change. “It’s fine, Ada.”

Ada looked at her, hesitant, then stood up reluctantly. “I’ll be outside.”

As Ada left, a few nearby students leaned in subtly, pretending not to listen.

Maya closed her notebook and faced him fully. “What is it?”

Ethan shifted slightly, like he wasn’t used to feeling… unsure.

“About yesterday,” he started.

Maya waited.

He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t think you’d do that in front of everyone.”

There it was.

Not I’m sorry.

Not are you okay.

Just inconvenience.

Maya nodded once. “Okay.”

Ethan frowned slightly. “That’s it?”

“What else do you want me to say?”

He hesitated. “I just… I didn’t mean for it to turn into a whole thing.”

“It didn’t,” Maya replied calmly. “People turned it into one.”

“But still—”

“You answered me,” she cut in softly. “That’s all that matters.”

Ethan studied her face, like he was trying to find something—maybe the girl from yesterday, the one who looked at him like he was everything.

But she wasn’t there.

Something about that unsettled him.

“You’re not… mad?” he asked.

Maya almost smiled.

“No.”

That answer seemed to bother him more than anger would have.

He shifted again. “Look, I just don’t want things to be weird between us.”

Maya tilted her head slightly. “Between us?”

“Yeah.”

“There was never an ‘us,’ Ethan.”

The words were quiet.

But they landed.

For a second, he didn’t respond.

Then he exhaled. “You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

A small silence stretched between them.

Around them, people were definitely listening now.

Ethan lowered his voice slightly. “I’m just saying… we can still be cool.”

Maya looked at him for a moment.

Then she nodded.

“Sure.”

Simple.

Easy.

Too easy.

Ethan seemed relieved. “Good.”

He gave a small nod, like the situation was resolved, then turned to leave.

Maya watched him go.

Not with longing.

Not with sadness.

Just… observation.

And that was new.

Ada came back immediately, sliding into her seat. “What did he say?”

“Nothing important,” Maya replied, reopening her notebook.

Ada narrowed her eyes. “Maya…”

“I’m serious.”

She picked up her pen again.

And this time, her hand didn’t shake.

—

By lunchtime, the whispers had evolved into full conversations.

Some people were sympathetic.

Most were entertained.

A few were cruel.

“She really thought he’d pick her?”

“In front of Zara too? That’s bold.”

“Or embarrassing.”

Maya heard enough to understand the narrative.

But she didn’t react.

Instead, she sat with Ada under their usual tree, eating quietly.

“You’re too calm,” Ada said finally.

Maya shrugged. “What do you want me to do?”

“Feel something.”

Maya paused.

Then she looked up.

“I do,” she said softly. “I just don’t want to show it to them.”

Ada’s expression softened slightly. “And to me?”

Maya looked away.

“Maybe later.”

—

Across campus, Ethan sat with his friends, but he wasn’t really listening.

“Guy, you wicked o,” one of them laughed. “The way you just shut her down like that—”

Ethan didn’t respond.

“Wait, she hasn’t even cried yet?” another added. “That’s scary.”

That made Ethan look up slightly.

“She’ll be fine,” he said, more to himself than anyone else.

Zara, sitting beside him, crossed her legs elegantly. “Of course she will. Girls like her always bounce back.”

Ethan glanced at her. “Girls like her?”

Zara smiled faintly. “You know what I mean.”

He didn’t.

Or maybe he just hadn’t thought about it before.

“She’s not your problem,” Zara added lightly, placing a hand on his arm.

Ethan nodded.

“Yeah,” he said.

But for some reason, his eyes drifted across the courtyard.

Searching.

And when he found her—sitting under a tree, laughing softly at something Ada said—something felt… off.

She didn’t look broken.

She didn’t look like someone who had just been humiliated in front of everyone.

She looked… normal.

And that didn’t sit right with him.

—

Later that evening, Maya stood in front of her mirror.

Her room was quiet.

Ada had gone out to get food, insisting Maya should rest.

For the first time all day, Maya was alone.

She stared at her reflection.

Same face.

Same eyes.

Same girl.

But something felt different.

She thought about yesterday.

About the crowd.

About his voice.

“I don’t see you that way.”

Her chest tightened slightly.

So it did hurt.

She closed her eyes briefly, letting the feeling pass through her instead of pushing it away.

Then she opened them again.

And this time, her gaze was steadier.

“Okay,” she whispered to herself.

Not as acceptance.

But as a starting point.

She picked up her phone and opened the camera.

For a second, she hesitated.

Then she took a picture.

No filters.

No angles.

Just her.

She stared at it.

Then nodded slightly.

“Okay,” she repeated.

This time, there was something else in her voice.

Not pain.

Not sadness.

Something quieter.

Something stronger.

Decision.

—

Back on campus, her name was still trending in conversations.

But Maya had already started doing something dangerous.

She was letting go.

Not of the memory.

Not of the lesson.

But of the version of herself who needed him to choose her.

And without realizing it…

That was the moment everything began to shift.