Chapter 3

When my best friend Andrea called, I was packing my things.

"Michelle, are you okay?"

"What could possibly be wrong with me?" I realized halfway through my response. "Did Colin contact you?"

Andrea didn’t deny it. "He said you were being petty and asked me to talk to you. Is it because of Virginia?"

Tonight, Andrea went to a karaoke party with her colleagues, coincidentally choosing the same KTV as Colin and his group.

She saw Virginia there and mentioned it to me casually. That was when I found out that Colin's so-called overtime was just an excuse.

"It's not being petty."

"What?"

"I said, I’m not being petty with him." I told Andrea earnestly, "I brought up breaking up with him, and I'm serious about it."

I always thought that giving up a relationship of three years would make me heartbroken, but when I finally spoke up, I felt more relief than reluctance.

Maybe deep down, I knew Colin never really loved me, or perhaps since the day I discovered his ambiguity with Virginia, I had been preparing for a breakup.

Now, I was truly ready to let him go.

After initiating the breakup, I had no intention of staying under the same roof as Colin. With no new place to move to in haste, I temporarily stayed at Andrea’s, while working and looking for a new apartment.

Finally, after a week and a half, I rented a small, suitable apartment near my office. I quickly organized my things and prepared to move in.

During this time, Colin didn’t try to contact me once.

I took it as his acceptance of the breakup.

Still, I had to go back to move my belongings and, not wanting him to think a thief had broken in, I temporarily removed him from my blacklist to inform him.

He didn’t reply, and I didn’t bother further, promptly adding him back to the blacklist.

I chose a workday to move, deliberately avoiding any encounter with Colin.

Ironically, while we were together, he seldom stayed home, but post-breakup, I saw him there.

He looked the same, except for darker circles under his eyes.

Now, I had no reason to care, only nodding politely and saying, “Excuse me.”. With that, I went into the room and packed my bags.

"How long will you keep this up?" Colin grabbed my hand as I was about to enter my room.

"Let go." I frowned, reminding him, "We’re already broken up."

"I didn’t agree."

"I wasn’t asking for your permission." I pulled my hand away and added, "A relationship needs mutual consent to start, but ending it only requires one person’s decision."

Colin, still blocking my way, seemed to make a significant concession. "I’ll try to keep my distance from Virginia from now on."

So he knew how much Virginia bothered me.

"Colin, was I too nice to you before?" I laughed, "I don’t love you anymore. What makes you think you can just throw me a bone and expect gratitude?"

With that, I walked past him into the room.

I had always treated this rental as my home.

Looking around, it was filled with various knick-knacks I had purchased, but when it came to moving, I only packed the clothes and makeup I used most often.

"I won’t need the rest for now. If Virginia minds, you can get rid of them," I kindly suggested.

Unfortunately, Colin was ungrateful, coldly responding, "I told you. There’s nothing between us."

"Is that so?" I replied nonchalantly, dragging my suitcase out. Seeing he wanted to say more, I reminded him, "Colin, parting on good terms is the last dignity of adulthood."

His face changed, perhaps due to pride, and he didn’t voice his plea to stay. Instead, he stiffly dropped a final remark. "You’d better not regret this."

Regret?

What a joke. There was nothing to regret about leaving someone who drained me. I was relieved, if anything.