Chapter 3
1122 Words
Hope's POV
As the cab pulled away, I broke completely. I pressed my hands against my face trying to stop myself from crying, but the sobs tore out anyway.
Riley wrapped an arm around me and Sophia took my hand.
Neither said a word and I cried the whole way home.
When we reached the house, I could barely push the door open. Riley and Sophia followed me inside, rushing to close the door behind us as one of our nosy neighbors started coming close to know what was wrong.
I dropped my bag on the floor and sank onto the nearest couch, covering my face again. And the moment my hands touched my cheeks, the dam broke all over again.
“Hope.” Sophia said softly, sitting beside me. “Just breathe."
“It’s okay.” Riley said, rubbing my back slowly. “Let it out.”
“I told you.” Sophia whispered. “I told you he was trash.”
I looked up at her through my blurry eyes.
“You were right. I am… I am naive.” My voice trembled so badly the words sounded foreign to me.
And saying it out loud made something inside me rip open again.
I sobbed harder, curling into myself.
Riley reached for my hands and squeezed them tightly.
“No.” She said firmly. “No, Hope, you are not naive. He’s just a scumbag. A loser and a waste of oxygen. He doesn’t deserve someone like you.”
“He said he never loved me.” My voice broke mid-sentence, and I clasped my hand over my mouth as if that would steady me. “Why would he say that? Why would he say that to me?”
“He’s lying." Riley said as she shook her head. "Men like that always say nonsense when they get caught.”
But I couldn’t stop replaying his words.
Every single one of them echoed in my thoughts.
Especially the one that hit the deepest.
“He said no man would ever love me for who I was,” I whispered with my cracking voice. “That I’m ‘too much.’ Too much. Can you believe what he said?”
My chest heaved as I burst into tears again.
Sophia shut her eyes tightly like she was physically restraining herself from marching back to Westview again to strangle Alex with her bare hands. Riley looked one second away from crying too.
“Hope.” Sophia said, scooting closer and cupping my cheeks. “Listen to me. You are not too much. That i***t just couldn’t handle someone good and loving. He wanted easy attention, and that’s exactly what he went for—a cheap distraction.”
I sniffled hard as I felt my throat aching.
Just then, I pushed myself off the couch, wiping my face aggressively.
“I’m fine.” I lied. “I’m okay.”
“Hope…” Riley muttered skeptically.
“I said I’m fine.” I forced a weak smile and headed for the kitchen.
Riley and Sophia exchanged glances and suddenly scrambled after me.
“What are you doing?” Sophia asked, stepping into the kitchen right behind me.
I turned on the tap, watching the water flow into the sink, having no idea what I turned it on for.
And then, I broke into tears again.
“Is there something wrong with me?” I cried as I started weeping uncontrollably. “Is there? Because why would he say something like that? What did I ever do wrong?”
“Hope…” Riley’s voice softened, already thick with emotion. “If you don’t stop, you're going to make us cry too.”
“I loved him.” I said, turning to face them with the most heartbreaking realization spreading across my chest. “All I ever did was love him.”
I threw my arms around Riley, clinging to her like she was the only thing keeping me standing. She instantly wrapped her arms around me, and Sophia hugged me from the side.
Within seconds, all three of us were crying like an overdramatic scene from a sad movie.
We eventually moved from the kitchen back into the living room, still crying and holding onto each other.
Somehow, Sophia managed to calm me down enough that my sobs softened into quiet sniffles.
And then Riley’s phone dinged.
She frowned and pulled it out.
Someone had forwarded her a post from i********:.
Riley immediately lowered her phone like she’d just seen a ghost.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Nothing." She said too fast, turning the phone face-down.
“Riley." I said sharply. “Show me.”
“Hope, please—”
“Show. Me.”
Riley hesitated, took a deep breath, and finally held out the phone toward me.
“Don’t get mad, okay?”
I took the phone and pressed play only to watch myself being dumped from another person's perspective.
It wasn't just a breakup, it was a full public humiliation. And someone had posted it online.
Riley reached for me and said: “Hope, don’t look at the comments—”
But I was already scrolling.
Some people sent laughing emojis while some were saying I deserved it for being “clingy.”
Some called me dramatic and said I shouldn't even have been there in the first place.
Someone even slowed down the moment Sarah spilled the drink on me and added dramatic edits.
“Why is this happening to me?” I whispered, tears spilling again. “Why? Why me?”
“It’ll die down. I swear." Riley said as she pulled me into another hug. "The internet forgets fast. Just breathe.”
I wiped my face roughly as my crying slowly turned into anger.
“He’s trash." I snapped. “Absolute trash. I hope he chokes on whatever meal he ordered.”
“There she is.” Sophia smirked.
“I swear I’m never falling in love again.” I muttered, sniffling as I wiped my face aggressively. “Ever.”
“Good.” Riley said, even though uncertainty was written all over her face. “Men are a scam anyway.”
Just then I stood up and went straight to the kitchen.
I opened the cabinet, grabbed a bottle of wine, twisted it open and took a huge gulp straight from the bottle.
“You’re drinking??!” Riley gasped as she rushed in and snatched the bottle from my hand.
I opened my mouth to speak but before I could utter a word, the heaviness in my chest returned, and I broke again.
I covered my face and sank, sobbing for what felt like the hundredth time.
- Writer
