At our engagement party, my boyfriend of seven years, Austin, handed me a piece of chocolate. He forgot that chocolate is the one thing I absolutely despise. So, right then and there, in front of everyone, I called off the wedding. Everyone was stunned. Austin splashed a glass of wine right onto my face. “Just because of a piece of chocolate?” he hissed, his face red with rage. “You’re calling off our wedding over this? Are you out of your mind?!” I wiped the wine from my face and looked him dead in the eye. “Yes, I am. Go find yourself a girl who loves chocolate and marry her instead.” “Chloe Davis!” “Do you even have a conscience?” “Seven years! We’ve been together for seven years, and you’re dumping me just because I forgot one little thing you don’t like?” Austin screamed, his chest heaving as his tall frame trembled with anger. “Oh? You think this is the first time?” I let out a cold laugh. “Let’s end this. The wedding is off.” The rage on Austin’s face suddenly froze, replaced by a flash of panic. He clearly didn’t expect me to be this serious. Our parents and the guests stood there, mouths agape. No one had ever imagined a scene like this at our engagement party. After all, Austin and I were always the “golden couple” in our social circle. “It’s just a mistake. Aren’t you overreacting?” Austin’s best friend, Hailey Vance, couldn’t watch any longer. She stood up and glared at me. “When your business project was stolen by a competitor last year, Austin used all his family’s connections and stayed up for three nights straight to help you get it back.” “If it weren’t for him, your career would have been over.” “And remember when you had that terrible stomach flu? Austin ran out in the middle of a thunderstorm at midnight to get your meds, and he ended up with a high fever for a week.” “Have you forgotten all of that?” Her words were sharp, accusatory. The guests around us began to whisper. “Chloe, Austin has always been so good to you. Why can’t you two just sit down and talk?” Austin’s mother, Mrs. Miller, tried to suppress her annoyance, keeping her voice gentle. “Yes, if there’s an issue, talk it out. Don’t do something you’ll regret,” Austin’s father, Mr. Miller, added in a stern, authoritative voice. My own parents finally squeezed through the crowd, their faces pale with embarrassment. “Chloe! What on earth do you think you’re doing?!” My mother grabbed my arm, her voice trembling. “Everyone is watching! Stop making a scene!” “Calm down, Chloe. Don’t make this any uglier than it already is!” my father whispered urgently beside me. Austin quickly stepped up to me. He took a tissue and gently tried to wipe the wine from my face, his voice softening. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I lost my temper. We can talk about this.” “I promise I will never touch chocolate again.” “If there’s anything else you’re unhappy with, tell me. I’ll change. I promise.” He was practically begging, lowering himself in front of everyone. His mother quickly pulled up a chair for me, expecting me to take the peace offering and sit down. But I pushed Austin away, my eyebrows furrowing. “There is nothing to talk about. I don’t love you anymore.” “Just looking at you makes me sick.” Silence. The temperature in the room instantly dropped to freezing. No one expected me to be this brutal. “Chloe Davis!” This time, Hailey completely lost it. She grabbed my wrist. “Austin treated you like a queen! How can you be so heartless?” “He gave you everything! Now that your life is comfortable, you think you can just discard him? You are disgusting!” Seeing her yell at me like that made me laugh. “I heard your favorite snack is chocolate,” I said softly. “That box of chocolates… you picked it out, didn’t you? He bought it specifically for you.” “What crap are you talking about?!” Hailey raised her hand as if to slap me, but I reacted quickly and pushed her back. Suddenly, a sharp pain bloomed at the back of my head. I spun around and saw Austin holding a heavy glass. He had just thrown it at me. He rushed past me, completely ignoring my pain, to help Hailey up. “Hailey, are you okay?” he asked, his voice filled with panic and care. Hailey shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. Austin let out a sigh of relief, then turned to glare at me. “Have you lost your mind today? Go ahead and fight with me, but how dare you push Hailey?” I touched the back of my head. “Did I start this?” My fingers came away wet and red. Blood. Austin’s face paled for a fraction of a second. “Chloe, I… it was an accident. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll take you to the hospital.” “And Hailey is just my best friend. I was just worried about her. Don’t be so dramatic.” He reached out to grab my hand. “Don’t touch me!” I spat, my voice ice cold.
Austin froze in his tracks. “I’m sorry, Austin. This is all my fault.” Hailey turned to me, her voice cracking with tears. “Chloe, please don’t blame Austin. It’s all on me.” Her acts of playing the martyr instantly won the sympathetic looks of both our families and the guests. Austin looked at her with pure heartbreak. “How is this your fault? Don’t apologize to her!” But my expression remained deadpan. “Get out of my face. Both of you.” Instantly, Mr. Miller’s face turned thunderous. He was clearly at his limit. My parents looked ready to faint from embarrassment. My mother hissed, “Chloe Davis! If you don’t stop this right now, I am done with you!” My father whispered, “Stop this madness! How are we supposed to show our faces in public after this?!” Austin finally snapped. “Chloe, we’ve been together for seven years. We barely even argued.” “And today, you’re ruining everything over a stupid chocolate? What the hell do you want from me?” His eyes were bloodshot, his voice cracking. To anyone else, he looked like a heartbroken victim. But I remained completely indifferent. “No matter what you do, we are over.” Mr. Miller slammed his hand on the table, standing up. “Chloe! Do you have to be this stubborn?” “Apologize now, and we can still salvage this!” Mrs. Miller added, “We invited several local influencers to livestream this party today. If this gets out, it will ruin your reputation and your family’s!” They thought the threat of social media ruin would make me back down. But I gritted my teeth and stared back. “We are breaking up. And Austin is going to pay me back for every single penny and year I wasted on him. I want compensation for emotional distress!” Bang! Mr. Miller’s face turned purple with rage. He threw his wine glass at my feet. “Get out! Get the hell out of my sight!” Mrs. Miller raised her voice, pointing at a camera. “Fine! Since you want to play dirty, we’ll let the internet judge you! The TikTok live stream is running right now!” They wanted to turn this private disaster into a public execution. The large screen in the banquet hall was broadcasting the live stream. The comments were already flying by at lightning speed: [Calling off a seven-year relationship over chocolate? Is she insane?] [I feel so bad for Austin. What a psycho.] [Seven years ended like this? There must be more to the story.] [A live-streamed breakup? Grab the popcorn!] Outside, the sky was a gloomy gray, and a light drizzle was falling. Ignoring the glares of the crowd and the hateful comments flashing on the screen, I looked at Austin’s family. “Fine. Three days. We’ll settle this on a public live stream.” With that, I walked out of the hall alone and drove myself to the hospital. While the doctor was wrapping my head in bandages, my phone finally rang. It was my childhood friend, Logan Carter. “I just took a little trip to the chocolate boutique where Austin bought that box,” Logan said, his voice dripping with amusement. “And boy, did I find some interesting things.” My spirit lifted. “They’re trying to ruin me on a live stream in three days. I need everything you can find. I’ll pay you triple your usual rate.” “I don’t care about the money, Chloe,” Logan laughed softly. “Just promise me one thing when this is over.” “Deal,” I agreed immediately. I trusted Logan. He was the best private investigator in the city. Three days was more than enough time for me to prepare my counterattack.
The news of my breakup with Austin spread like wildfire after the engagement party. The internet completely turned against me. [Unbelievable! Austin’s family is so wealthy, and she’s just a nobody. How dare she act so entitled?] [Throwing away a seven-year relationship over chocolate? What a selfish, cold-hearted gold digger!] [I’m so disappointed in her.] [She’s so toxic!] The comments got nastier by the hour. I ignored them all. I spent the night in the small staff room behind my diner. The next morning, I got up early to prep for the lunch rush. But before noon, Austin showed up. And of course, he brought Hailey and a couple of cameramen holding phones to live-stream. “Chloe.” “How is your head? Does it still hurt? Hailey and I came to apologize. I brought your favorite chicken soup.” He offered me a thermos, his voice gentle and caring. “Chloe, please stop being angry. The viewers on the live stream are watching. Just give us a chance to make it right.” Smash! I slapped the thermos out of his hand. The hot soup spilled all over the floor. Austin froze, his face twisting from shock to pure rage. Behind him, Hailey whimpered and shrank back, playing the terrified victim. The camera zoomed in on my face. The chat was exploding: [Oh my god, what a bitch! He literally brought her soup and she threw it?] [Austin is trying so hard, but she’s just toxic. I bet she’s already cheating on him.] [Hailey is such a good friend, still trying to help them make up.] Despite the cameras, I kept my face blank. “Get out of my diner.” Suddenly, Hailey dropped to her knees right in front of me. The camera immediately got a close-up of her tear-streaked face. “Chloe.” “Please don’t hate Austin. Yesterday was my fault. If you want to take your anger out on someone, do it to me!” The comment section went wild, praising her: [She is so sweet and selfless!] [Austin should marry Hailey instead of this psycho!] Austin looked at me, his eyes telling me to stop. Instead, I walked behind the counter, grabbed a bucket of dirty mop water, and dumped it right over Hailey’s head. Everyone gasped. The live stream chat went into overdrive: [WHAT THE HELL?! IS SHE INSANE?] [Dumping dirty water on someone who is kneeling and apologizing?!] [Call the police! Arrest her!]
Austin’s eyes bulged in shock. “Chloe Davis! Have you lost your mind?! Hailey literally knelt down to apologize to you, and you treat her like this? Thousands of people are watching!” “She asked for it,” I said, a cold smirk playing on my lips. Austin was trembling so hard his knuckles turned white. He turned to the camera, looking utterly heartbroken. “Chloe! I am officially done with you! I must have been blind to love you for seven years! You want to break up? Fine! We are over!” “I’ll see you at the live-streamed confrontation in three days!” “I will make sure the whole world sees what a monster you really are!” He spat out his final warning, helped Hailey up, and stormed out. For the next two days, my diner was completely empty. Instead of customers, people came by to throw trash and red paint at my door. I became the most hated woman in the city, my name trending on Twitter. My parents even showed up at my diner, crying and demanding I go apologize to Austin. Austin’s family had pulled strings to set up a massive, televised live-stream event. They wanted to publicly expose me and clear Austin’s name. Reporters kept trying to interview me, but I kept my mouth shut. I only told them one thing: I would be there.
On the day of the live stream, millions of viewers tuned in. My parents didn’t show up. They only sent me a text, begging me to confess and apologize before the show started to save their faces. “Chloe.” “It’s been three days. Have you finally cleared your head? If you apologize to Hailey and me right now, I can pretend none of this happened. The viewers are waiting for your response.” Austin sat across from me, his eyebrows knit together in mock concern. I met his gaze, my face completely expressionless. “Chloe,” Hailey chimed in, her voice sweet and dripping with fake sympathy. “This is your last chance. Don’t ruin your life over pride.” Austin’s parents sat beside them, silent but smug. I didn’t say a word. I just sat down directly opposite Austin. The Miller family sneered. The live chat was filled with comments praising the Millers for being so generous and calling me an ungrateful bitch. The host, a popular local drama influencer hired by Mr. Miller, stepped up to the microphone. “Alright, Chloe,” the host said, her tone hostile. “Besides Austin forgetting you hate chocolate, do you have any actual, logical reasons for calling off this engagement?” “Because right now, all we see is a man who loved you dearly, and a woman who threw it all away over a minor mistake.” The entire setup was designed to publicly humiliate me. Everyone in the room looked at me like I was a joke. Hailey even had a small, triumphant smirk on her lips. But I remained calm. I kept my eyes on the entrance of the studio. Right on cue, the double doors opened. Logan Carter walked in. I finally let out a breath. “Proof?” I looked at the host. “Oh, I have plenty.” The host blinked, then let out a condescending chuckle. “Well, please, show us. We’re all waiting.” She thought I was bluffing. The live chat was flooded with: [Let’s see what lies she has prepared lol.] “On the day of our engagement, Austin bought two boxes of chocolate. One dark chocolate, one milk chocolate.” “But he told me he only bought one.” I spoke clearly. Austin’s face stiffened, a flicker of panic crossing his eyes. “And you,” Logan spoke up, stepping to the center of the stage. “Knowing Chloe is deathly allergic to dark chocolate, you purposely handed her the dark chocolate box. Why?” Logan plugged a USB drive into the console, and Austin’s receipt from the chocolate shop flashed onto the giant screen behind us. The camera zoomed in on the date, time, and the two items purchased. The chat went quiet for a second before comments started popping up: [Wait, he did buy two boxes? Why did he lie?] [Is there something else going on?] Seeing the shift in the room, the host frantically looked at Austin, signaling him to explain. Austin licked his dry lips, struggling to find words. Hailey quickly jumped in. “The other box was for me! Austin didn’t tell Chloe because she’s incredibly insecure and always gets jealous when we hang out!” Mrs. Miller immediately shook her head at the camera, sighing dramatically. “Hailey grew up with us. She’s like a sister to Austin. He was just being a good brother.” “Exactly,” Mr. Miller added. “They are just best friends. Chloe’s jealousy is toxic.” Their explanation immediately swayed the chat back to their side. The comments started calling me “insecure” and “crazy.” The host smirked at me. “Is that all you have? Give up, Chloe.” “Don’t worry about them, worry about yourself,” I replied with a smile. “Austin and Hailey’s relationship is far from innocent.” “Take a look at the screen.” Logan nodded to the tech booth, and the first video started playing.
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