Chapter 1

I’d been Caleb’s placeholder girlfriend for five years.

At a party, while I was taking shots for him, he ditched me.

His one that got away was back in town.

I smiled.

Because mine was, too.

But then Caleb grabbed my sleeve, his eyes red, asking me if I could please not leave.

……

My phone rang in the middle of the night.

It was Caleb, his voice as cold and distant as ever.

“Mia, get over here now.”

I propped myself up, a sharp pain twisting in my stomach.

“But right now I’m…”

Caleb cut me off, his voice laced with impatience.

“If you don’t come now, don’t bother coming ever again.”

A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I watched the clock on my desk tick slowly toward midnight.

I picked up my pen and drew a circle around the 30th on the calendar.

The last day.

When I got to the VIP room, Caleb was sitting in the center of it all, long legs crossed, the bridge of his nose sharp and perfect as he swirled a glass of red wine.

Someone next to him shouted, “Hey, look who it is!”

But no one in the circle of plush couches moved to make a space for me.

I just stood there, the draft from the hallway seeping into my clothes, making me shiver.

Caleb’s face hardened, clearly annoyed.

“Let her through.”

They scrambled to make room, and after a moment’s hesitation, I dragged my heavy legs forward.

The second I sat down, a huge bottle of tequila was shoved into my hands.

Across from me, one of Caleb’s buddies, Leo, was grinning.

“Mia, Caleb’s not drinking, so you can take this for him, right?”

I looked at Caleb.

He was still sitting there, eyes downcast, glancing at his phone as if lost in thought.

I managed a weak smile, took the bottle, and ignored the looks from everyone else who was just waiting for the show.

I tilted it back and drank.

The liquor burned like fire down my throat, but the pain in my stomach felt like a lead weight.

I was halfway through the third bottle when a hand snatched it away from me.

Caleb scoffed.

“That’s enough.”

Just like that, no one dared to push another drink on me.

Caleb stared at me, his expression complicated.

“You…”

Suddenly, his phone buzzed.

He answered it instantly, and a sweet, delicate voice came through the speaker.

“Caleb, honey, I’m back.”

My whole body went rigid, but my ears couldn't help but tune in to that voice.

Caleb’s eyes immediately went soft, his whole demeanor shifting with excitement.

“Evelyn, where are you?”

I almost wanted to laugh.

I’d never seen Caleb let his emotions show like this before.

Her voice got quieter, and I couldn’t make out what she said next, probably her location.

Caleb grabbed his phone and rushed out of the room without a single glance back at me.

The people left behind turned to stare at me.

One of them sneered, “The stand-in is always just a stand-in.”

“You can’t turn a pigeon into a swan.”

Caleb’s friend, Leo, looked at me, his expression turning cold and losing all its earlier humor.

“Evelyn’s back, you know.”

“She’s the love of his life.”

“No matter what you’ve done for the past five years, it all means nothing now that she’s here.”

I just held the empty bottle in my hand, counting down in my head.

Three.

Two.

One.

Ping.

A special notification alert, one I hadn't heard in five years, sounded from my phone.

Ignoring the mocking faces around me, I stood up and walked out of the room.