The Ruined Bride of Velvet Nights by Brick Moving Ant

Chapter 18

Taplyer and Kartini bergke up the following week

sew tad appeared on the school Discord almost immediately.

didrs same dames, but the implications were crystal clear:

I was getuned as the obsessive ex who couldn’t let go, who deliberately sabotaged his relationship with Katherine, who used my body to manipulate fum back into my life.

Through everyone was ordered to by initials, it was painfully obvious who was being discussed.

The post cluded eerily specific details about past interactions with Zephyr.

Katherine’s digital fingerprints were all over it.

I read the entire thread during lunch and felt… nothing.

Tavas out, letting go of someone becomes surprisingly easy once you actually decide to do it.

When you finally peel someone else’s name off your heart, you discover your own voice had been there all along

I’d reclaimed nyself, and that was worth more than any relationship.

During AP Cals, a girl 1 barely knew passed me a note asking if it was true I’d “stolen Z back from K.”

Fed up with the high school drama, I made a public post that evening:

Phoebe. [Going offline to focus on finals and college prep. Stop tagging me. If you can solve this problem, maybe then we can discuss my personal life]

hardest differential equation from last year’s national

posting “?” and calling me everything from

a complete,

of Velvet

43.6%

Chapter 13

partner

[You’ve definitely seen

[Give me your hardest problem then. I’ll

Me: [–]

commented too: [See you at UC Davis @Phoebe]

once rearranged my entire future around.

meant absolutely nothing

closed the app without replying.

his in–person

desk began accumulating carefully selected gifts–cherry–flavored everything, indie band merch I’d once mentioned

to the

cycled through borrowing his friends‘ phones

demanding to know what was happening with Sid, sometimes swearing nothing physical had happened

the rabbit plushie sitting on his nightstand, claiming he’d “taken it

each number methodically.

once typed a response.

churned out a romantic narrative: after

an epiphany.

was supposedly studying with newfound determination, working to earn a spot at UC Davis, planning