I Gave Up on Us. Why Are You the One Regretting It?

The night before the study abroad application deadline, the class group chat blew up.[Oh my God, Ryan, why did you switch your application to the UK? Weren’t you supposed to go to France with Emma Bennett?]Ryan Hawthorne replied like it was nothing.[Yeah, I changed it. She has my login anyway.][Once she sees it, she’ll switch too. She always follows me around. She can’t function without me.]I stood there with my phone in my hand, my mind going completely blank.Scattered across the floor, half tucked between my open suitcases, was the gift I had prepared especially for Ryan.I left the group chat, threw the gift away, and never opened the application portal again.What he did not know was this.He could give up the future we were supposed to share for Sophie Quinn.And I could give him up too.I could choose my own future without ever looking back.All those late nights, all those years of work, had never been only for him.Ryan’s words cut straight through me.The school in Franc

That fight between Ryan and me had been so bad that it felt like my whole world had cracked open. Afterward, we went three months without speaking.I told him, “If you like Sophie, I’ll step aside.”But Ryan cried.He said, “You’re the person I care about most.”“Sophie has depression, and she was raised by a single parent. I just feel bad for her, so I’m trying to help.”I believed him.But Ryan had been treating me like an idiot.Their interactions only became more frequent, and “just friends” became the perfect excuse.Now, he had even changed his application because of Sophie.It made me look like a complete fool.By the time I came back to myself, it was already dark. I had no idea when my mom had come home. She looked at me and smiled.“Did you and Ryan fight again? You even blocked him.“He wants you to add him back.”I gave her a vague answer, then left the house.Our counselor had just asked us to return to school and confirm our applications one last time.When I arrived, the

“If Ryan doesn’t want to, I’ll drink as my penalty.”With that, Sophie picked up the glass and squeezed her eyes shut.A hand suddenly reached out from behind her and pressed the glass back down.“You’re allergic to alcohol, and you’re still trying to drink? Are you out of your mind?”“Then what am I supposed to do?” Sophie said. “If I don’t finish the dare, I have to take the penalty.”Ryan looked at her, then lifted her chin.“You really couldn’t choose anyone but me?”“No.”Blushing, Sophie grabbed Ryan by the collar, rose onto her toes, and kissed him tentatively.This time, Ryan did not pull away.Instead, he slid a hand around Sophie’s waist and deepened the kiss.“Ryan, you absolute legend!”The cheering and laughter around them grew louder and louder, while my heart felt as if it had been dropped into boiling oil, burning so badly I could barely breathe.Even though I had already told myself I no longer cared about him, seeing that scene still hurt.A relationship of more than

As it happened, Caleb invited me to hang out.I asked my best friend, and she said she wanted to go too, so I agreed right away. The three of us quickly decided to take a trip to Santa Fe.Blue skies, sunlit streets, mountain views, and art everywhere.That afternoon, I was already eating green chile enchiladas, grilled street corn, barbecue ribs, spicy noodle soup, and more.Eating my way through the city while sightseeing made me so happy that I barely had any time to think about Ryan.That night, just as I was starting to feel a little emotional, Caleb said there was a bonfire party outside.My best friend and I danced around the bonfire again and again, so happy we felt like we were floating.It was almost three in the morning when the two of us finally returned to our room.My best friend pulled out her phone and took one look.“Whoa. Over a hundred missed calls. My mom is going to kill me.”But very quickly, she shoved the phone into my hand.“It’s Ryan.”All one hundred plus mis

So I called the police and reported that someone had been watching me.Studying alone in a foreign country was definitely challenging, but it was also exciting.Once I had handled practical things like finding a place to live and getting settled, I could finally carry my backpack to class and focus on studying.Caleb was like a walking survival guide. No matter what problem came up, he made it look easy.The two of us quickly became close. He helped me deal with little problems in daily life, and I helped him with group projects.I was happier than I had been in a long time.Until one day, I got a call from Sophie.“Emma, do you even have a heart? Is it fun messing with Ryan from thousands of miles away? He got sick because he’s been so worried about you.”I was completely confused, so I asked sincerely, “Do you think France is some secret corner of the UK?”Surely, after all this time, the two of them were not still dreaming that I had given up everything and followed them to the UK.