Chapter 1: New World
My life was... average. And when I say average, I mean boringly average. The kind of life where nothing exciting happens, but nothing bad happens either—until it does.
Take Crystal, for example. The love of my life, or at least, she was until she wasn’t. We’d been together for almost two years, and honestly? I thought I was on the up-and-up. I had a crappy job as a customer support agent for a tech company, sure. I spent most of my time answering emails and dealing with angry customers who couldn’t figure out how to reset their Wi-Fi. But at least I wasn’t one of those guys who had to work three minimum wage jobs just to stay afloat. And I had Crystal.
But, of course, my grand plan to get my life together got derailed the moment Derek showed up.
Derek was one of those guys who had it all—looks, charm, confidence. The type of guy who never had to try too hard and still got the attention of everyone in the room. He had this annoying habit of wearing his collar popped, like he was too cool for everyone else, and don’t even get me started on his laugh. It was the kind of laugh that made you wanna throw a brick at his face, but you couldn’t because you knew he’d probably turn it into a joke and make you look dumb.
Yeah, Derek was that guy.
And I hated him. Not because he did anything wrong. Just because he was better than me in every possible way. Crystal was a nice girl. I knew that. She didn’t deserve to be stuck with a guy like me—someone who worked a dead-end job, wore clothes that were only a little too big, and spent most of his time watching Netflix or playing video games.
But when Derek started hanging out with Crystal more, I started getting this feeling. Like something wasn’t right. Maybe I was just paranoid. Maybe I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. But my gut told me something was off. And sure enough, I found out.
It was a Tuesday night. I was sitting in our favorite diner, waiting for Crystal to meet me for dinner. It was the usual—nothing special. She was running late, but I didn’t think much of it. That was until she walked in with Derek.
Not just with him. Holding his hand.
And then they sat down at the table across from me, talking like it was no big deal. Like they hadn’t just ripped my heart out and stomped on it with a pair of designer shoes.
"Hey, babe," she said with that fake, strained smile. "I’m sorry, I meant to text you."