I was on the train when I got a text from my ex-boyfriend. "I have a new girlfriend now. I don't want her to get the wrong idea, so let's just delete each other's numbers." Wait, is this guy actually psycho? A second later, my roommate sent me a message. "I'm dating Liam now. You don't mind, right?" Like hell I didn't mind. I handed my phone to the guy sitting next to me. "Hey, handsome. Can you do me a favor?" 1 My phone buzzed. I opened it to see a text from Liam. "I have a new girlfriend now. I don't want her to get the wrong idea, so let's just delete each other's numbers." Wait, is this guy actually psycho? A second later, my roommate sent me a message. "I'm dating Liam now. You don't mind, right?" I stared at the screen for three solid minutes. The silence in my head was deafening. Sarah was my roommate, and the main reason Liam and I broke up in the first place. She always styled herself as the "guardian" of our relationship, doing incredibly boundary-crossing things under the guise of "helping us." When Liam was first pursuing me, Sarah volunteered to be his wingman, which she mostly used as an excuse to make him buy her dinner. Whenever Liam and I fought, she would stay up all night texting him, claiming she was just trying to mediate. She even picked out the birthday gift he got me. She made a point to ask me in front of our whole dorm: "Chloe, do you like the necklace? I went to the mall with Liam yesterday to pick it out." "You picked it?" "Yeah! Liam told me he had no idea what to get you. I have great taste, right? You're so lucky to have a roommate like me. Oh, by the way, we booked a table at Boom tonight for your birthday, you should go get ready." I watched Sarah happily doing her makeup, then tossed the jewelry box onto her desk. "This necklace matches your dress perfectly. You should wear it tonight." Then, I pulled out my phone and texted Liam to break up. Liam: "??? Are you serious? Why?" Me: "Because a relationship is for two people. Three people is a crowd." 2 The train's intercom announcement interrupted my thoughts. Looking at the back-to-back texts from those two, there was no way it was a coincidence. I could vividly picture them sitting together, gossiping about me, and hitting send at the exact same time. I was furious. After thinking for a second, I got an idea. I glanced at the guy sitting in the seat next to me. He had a black baseball cap pulled low over his face and headphones in, seemingly asleep. Would it be too rude to bother him? But faced with the choice between being polite or swallowing this disrespect, I chose to be impolite. I reached out and gently poked his arm. "Hi. Excuse me." His cap slid up, revealing an incredibly handsome face. He was exactly my type. He didn't look annoyed at all, just a little confused. I shamelessly held my phone out to him. "Hey, handsome. Can you do me a favor?" The screen showed Liam's text. The guy frowned when he read it. I thought he was going to say no, but a second later, a knowing smirk crossed his lips. He took my phone, held the voice memo button, and said in a deep, casual voice: "Bro, who the hell are you?" He looked up at me, his eyes curving into a smile. "Is this the kind of favor you needed?" 3 "Yes! Yes!" I nodded frantically. This guy caught on so fast, I didn't even have to explain the plan. "Thank you so much, man. You are as kind as you are gorgeous." Damn my lack of a filter. Did I really just say that out loud? The smile in his eyes deepened. Suddenly, my phone started vibrating violently. We both looked down. A barrage of texts from Liam. "Chloe, who the f*** is that guy?" "Did you break up with me for him?!" Seriously? This guy was so delusional it hurt. "Oh, he's triggered," the handsome guy observed. A mischievous glint flashed in his eyes. He asked, "Do you want to make him even more triggered?" Huh? Before I could process it, he held down the voice memo button again. "Oops. Looks like we got caught." He let go, sending the message. This guy was a professional menace. A second later, Liam called me. I was going to decline it, but I saw the guy next to me looking at my phone with the eagerness of someone wanting to watch the drama unfold. Fine, I'll indulge him. I hit accept. "Chloe, who the hell is with you?!" Liam immediately demanded. A good Samaritan I met on the train. Obviously, I wasn't going to say that. But since the guy was sitting right there, I was too embarrassed to claim he was my boyfriend. "Liam, why are you calling me? Won't your new girlfriend get the wrong idea?" I asked innocently. Liam choked on his words. "I only texted you that because—" Before he could finish, he was cut off. "Baby, I don't care what his new girlfriend thinks. But if you keep talking to him, your new boyfriend is going to get jealous." The guy next to me had suddenly leaned in close, his warm breath ghosting over my hand holding the phone. Even though I knew he was acting, hearing him call me "baby" in that voice made my entire face turn bright red. "F***!" Liam cursed violently on the other end. "You played me, Chloe! No wonder you suddenly dumped me! You better hope I never find out who he is, or I'll beat the shit out of him." He hung up. What a psycho. 4 Having completed his mission, the handsome guy leaned back in his seat. He said sagely, "You won. Your ex is definitely more miserable than you are right now. No guy can handle thinking he got cheated on. Especially finding out after a breakup." "You speak with such authority. Is it from personal experience?" The guy: "..." He turned to look at me, his face deadpan. "Do I look like someone who gets cheated on?" Deep eyes, a perfectly straight nose, and a flawless jawline. No. He looked like the kind of guy who handed out the heartbreak, not the one receiving it. "Thank you." I genuinely thanked him from the bottom of my heart. If it weren't for this Train Vigilante, I wouldn't have been able to get the upper hand on Liam. Thinking about Liam and Sarah together still disgusted me. But remembering how triggered Liam just got made me feel a thousand times better. "Don't mention it. Putting trashy exes in their place is every citizen's civic duty." ...Such high moral standards. He had to be a college student. I asked tentatively, "Are you in college?" He nodded. "Yeah." "Which one?" "A University." What were the odds?! I gasped excitedly, "We must have shoveled manure together in a past life to have this much fate in this one!" The guy fell into a visible silence. "Miss, I don't know about you, but I definitely did not shovel manure in any life." He better realize I was just using internet slang. 5 Sarah and I got back to the dorm around the same time. The moment she walked in, she bee-lined for me, leaning heavily against my desk. "Chloe, why didn't you text me back?" I did. I replied with silence. Sarah probed, "Are you ignoring me because you're upset about Liam and me?" If she hadn't brought it up, I would have genuinely forgotten. But since she was so obsessed with it... I picked up my phone, opened my chat with Sarah, and sent a "?". Me: "There, I replied." "Chloe, what is that supposed to mean?" I looked up at her. "You asked me to reply. I replied, and now you're mad?" Sitting nearby, our other roommate Mia snorted with laughter. "What are you laughing at?" Sarah snapped, turning her hostility toward Mia. "You," Mia replied simply. Sarah ignored her and turned back to me. "Chloe, when you didn't reply, I was so worried! I was terrified you were mad at me. I mean, you have every right to be mad, but I really don't want to lose you as a friend." Her voice got smaller and smaller, dripping with manufactured guilt. She always did this. Just like when we fought over her texting Liam all night. She had stood in the dorm, crying and apologizing. "Chloe, I just saw how unhappy you were fighting with Liam, so I tried to help! I was doing it for both of you. If you don't like it, I'll never do it again." She had cried until her eyes were swollen and red. Even though she was the one completely violating my boundaries, she somehow made it look like I was being a crazy, unreasonable bully. "Chloe, I swear it's true! I'll show you the chat logs, we only talked about your relationship!" It was about our relationship. Liam: "Sarah, if Chloe was as sweet and understanding as you, we wouldn't fight at all. She's such a spoiled princess, she gets mad over nothing. I'm so sick of her sometimes." Sarah: "Don't say that about Chloe! I'm sure she has a reason for being mad. You probably did something to upset her. And anyway, I'm not as great as you say I am." ... Out of hundreds of pages of texts, she specifically made sure I saw those messages. It only made me angrier. I knew she did it on purpose back then. And I knew she was doing it on purpose now. 6 "Did you know? When Liam first confessed to me, I was so shocked, I rejected him immediately. But you really can't control your feelings. I figured since you guys have been broken up for months, and he swore he had zero feelings for you anymore, I finally said yes. Liam said we should all grab dinner sometime as an apology. When are you free, Chloe?" I'm free never, because I'm afraid I won't be able to resist smashing a plate into both of your faces. I started to reconsider my life choices. Had I been too nice? Was that why she thought I was a total pushover? I slammed my phone face-down on the desk. "Sarah, I'm not a target dummy. Stop shooting your arrows at me." Sarah: "?" "Are you done putting on a show? When Liam and I were together, I didn't want to call you out on your pathetic little schemes. I gave you too much grace, and now you actually think you're untouchable. "Does picking up my trash make you feel special? Does dating my ex make you feel proud? "You came over here spewing all this garbage just so you could see me look sad and defeated. It feeds your ego. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not as fake as you are, and I won't give you the satisfaction." She clearly hadn't expected me to rip off her mask and expose her true intentions so bluntly. Sarah's face turned the color of raw liver. Her voice shook. "Chloe... you're being really mean today." Me: "Well let me tell you, it's not just going to be today. If you don't like how mean I am, you can stop talking to me." 7 Sarah stormed out in a huff, and my ears finally found peace. Mia gave me a massive thumbs up. "Girl, your combat power is off the charts today! You always used to just turn a blind eye to her." I gave Mia a full rundown of what happened on the train. Mia slapped her thigh. "No way! Why don't I ever meet gorgeous, helpful vigilantes on the train?!" ...Was that really the main takeaway here? Mia was instantly invested. "He goes to our school? What's his name? I'm searching the university confessions page right now." She unlocked her phone. "Ethan Cole. Computer Science." "People are literally begging for his info and posting pictures of him. Holy crap, he's top-tier." Mia shoved her phone in my face. It was a photo of Ethan, zoomed in to fill the screen. He was mid-shot on a basketball court, the muscles in his arms flexing perfectly. Under the red and white jersey, you could see a glimpse of a lean waist, defined abs, and... Mia sighed in awe. "You are eating good." Me: "I haven't eaten anything yet." I pulled up Ethan's WeChat profile. Wow. His feed was even cleaner than his face. Zero posts. I had no idea how to even start a conversation with him. Unlike me. My life was a mess, but my social media was highly curated. Mia asked, "By the way, are you still going to the Class President's birthday dinner tomorrow?" Me: "Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Mia: "I figured you wouldn't want to watch Liam and Sarah aggressively making out in front of you." Me: "They can eat each other's faces. I'll be eating the steak." Mia: "I thought it would make you lose your appetite." I looked at her, confused. "They're just being annoying, they aren't taking a dump on the table. Why wouldn't I eat?" Mia: "..." 8 The next day, in the private dining room. "Liam, I gotta hand it to you. You managed to bag the two prettiest girls in our major. Got the old flame on the left and the new spark on the right." "Yeah, Liam, tell us the truth. Who do you like more? The ex or the current?" A few drinks in, and people were already talking too much. I frowned. That was an incredibly disrespectful question. Liam didn't answer immediately. He just looked over at me. When I met his gaze, he awkwardly looked away. A moment later, he threw his arm around Sarah's shoulders, pulling her into his chest, and smirked at the table. "What do you guys think?" Sarah's face turned bright red. She leaned into Liam's chest, acting all shy and delicate. "Stop it, everyone is watching." Then, she looked at me with fake magnanimity. "Chloe, don't be mad. I'll scold him for you." Wait, why would I be mad? Can I just eat my food in peace? Stop dragging me into this! But there's always someone who just wants to watch the world burn. "Chloe, you look really unhappy. Are you still not over Liam?" Me: "Not even a little bit." "Don't deny it, Chloe! We totally understand. Our guy Liam is a total catch, right?" Do these people not speak English? I looked at the guys making the jokes, and then at Liam, who was sitting there silently enjoying it. Four words popped into my head: Birds of a feather. I felt profound regret that I was ever blind enough to date Liam. It felt like stepping in dog crap. "Sorry I'm late." Suddenly, the private room door swung open, and a familiar voice rang out. I looked over. It was Ethan Cole. Oh thank god! It's Ethan! I shot up from my chair instantly. "You're here!" "You're here!" Two voices spoke at the exact same time. Me and the Class President. The President looked at me in shock. "You guys know each other?" So he was friends with the President. I was even more certain now that we definitely shoveled manure together in a past life. I nodded vigorously. "Yeah! He's my boyfriend." My eyes locked with Ethan's across the room. I frantically sent him SOS signals with my eyes. He raised an eyebrow, a flash of surprise crossing his face. Then, the corners of his lips curled up into a slow, knowing smile. "Yeah. That's right. I'm her boyfriend." 9 After Ethan said that, the entire room went dead silent for a few seconds. The President was the first to break it. He looked thrilled. "Since when?! Why didn't you guys tell me?!" Me: "Because keeping it a secret is more exciting." The President was speechless. I looked at the guys who were just making fun of me, flashing them a sarcastic smile. "Do you really think that with a boyfriend looking like this, I'd be hung up on Liam?" At that moment, the expressions on everyone's faces were absolutely priceless. Especially Liam's. His face went completely dark. Mia was sitting next to me. When Ethan started walking toward us, she immediately jumped up and offered him her seat without a word. Ethan sat down, leaned in close to my ear, and whispered, "Which one is the ex?" Human nature is truly universal. Even he wanted the tea. I muttered, "Third one on your left." I instinctively looked over, only to find Liam glaring daggers at us, looking absolutely furious. Ethan gave his assessment: "You have terrible taste." ...I literally could not argue with that. Sarah suddenly spoke up. "Chloe, you got a new boyfriend so fast! How come you never mentioned him in the dorm?" Still with the passive-aggressive tone, acting like she was the victim. I let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. "Because I was scared of you, obviously!" I grabbed Ethan's hand and waved it in the air for everyone to see. "He's very precious to me. I couldn't risk you stealing him too."
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