Damon Valentino~•~It was only when I was at my childhood home that it fully sank in me that Dahlia and I had broken up.She wasn’t my girlfriend anymore. I couldn’t stare at her without seeming creepy. I couldn’t invite her to my house. I couldn’t kiss her whenever I liked. I couldn’t buy her gifts as I liked. I didn’t have her anymore.For the first time in a long fucking while, I actually felt like crying.But I couldn’t because I was surrounded by all my family members as I stared at the spot beside me that was reserved for my girlfriend. My mother and father sat at both ends of the table. Matteo, Rowan, and their girlfriend were opposite me while Tasha and I sat with an empty seat between us. It was supposed to be for Dahlia, but she wasn’t there.“I thought Dahlia was supposed to come.”As though I wasn’t feeling bad enough, Tasha's words rubbed salt in my wound. “I was really looking forward to spending time with her.”“Yeah,” Rowan added. “You assured me both of you were goi
Dahlia Carrington~•~As soon as I opened the door to my house, I felt all the energy drain from my body. I regretted my decision to break up with him, but I knew it was for the best.I was ready to collapse on the couch and cry my eyes out when I saw Aurelie already lying on it. She was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, looking nothing like she usually did. There was popcorn on the table and her eyes which were glued to the TV strayed to me when I came in. She sat up at once. “Why are you here?” We asked at the same time.“I thought you were spending Thanksgiving with Damon?”“I thought you all were going back home for Thanksgiving?”“I’m French, honey. We don’t do that Thanksgiving shit.” I knew that but I thought she would take advantage of the holiday to see her family like Prisha did. “And you? Why are you back home? I was hoping to have the house to myself.”“I broke up with him,” I admitted. I hated saying it out loud but I needed to hear myself say it before
Dahlia Carrington~•~I spent the next day drinking and eating chicken because it apparently made people feel better in the dramas I watched. It didn’t make me feel better but it made me forget everything that was going on in my life.Aurelie felt bad for me but she tried not to let it show as she drank with me. It was quite fun having only her at home, but we had to pay for the consequences of our actions on Saturday.We woke up with the worst hangover ever. It made me want to stay in bed all day, but I’d promised to visit Anya. She had called me the previous day and I couldn’t remember what we talked about because I was too drunk but she sent a text this morning to remind me of our meetup.I dragged myself out of bed and went into the bathroom, groaning all the way there. With how much my head ached, I didn’t have time to focus on my breakup with Damon.I took a fast shower and got ready as soon as I could as it was already well into noon and I couldn’t keep her waiting or she’d ki
Dahlia Carrington~•~I didn’t know how I managed to get through the rest of the week, but I knew that by the time Tuesday rolled around, I wasn’t any closer to moving on.By the weirded-out stares people gave me, I could tell I probably looked how I felt. I dragged my legs across the hallway. I was very early for my class but I didn’t have much to do at home apart from wallowing in self-pity.I was just about to take a step inside the class when a hand encircled my wrist and pulled me back. Alert, I turned around, ripping my hand away when I saw who it was.Roman glared at me, obviously not happy to see me. “Come with me.” He gritted out and matched away in a direction opposite from the classroom.For a moment, I contemplated whether to follow him or not. What was the worst that could happen? However, I didn’t want him to come back and create a scene, so I followed in his footsteps, coming to a stop when I turned the corner and saw him standing there.“What the fuck did you do to my
Dahlia Carrington~•~“There is a rumor going around that a freshman from our major is sleeping with a professor,” Prisha said one night when all four of us were gathered around the TV. It had been a whole week since those rumors started and they weren’t any closer to dying down. I didn’t know what kind of satisfaction people got from spreading rumors. “Dahlia, is it you?”Shocked by the question, I turned to face her while my two other roommates stared at me expectantly, even if Aurelie already knew about it. “Why would you think it is me?”She exhaled uneasily. “Because your name has been going around alongside these rumors.”I shut my eyes tightly. I knew it wouldn’t be long before it got to this. The semester was close to an end and instead of people preparing for their exams, they were more interested in my business.Clementine slapped Prisha on the arm lightly. “Why would you ask her that? It’s obviously a lie and it’s not the first time rumors like this are going around. You’re
Damon Valentino~•~I was quite worried. I hadn’t seen Dahlia in more than a week which meant she had missed my class twice. I understood that she wanted to avoid me now that we were broken up but it was going to take a toll on her studies if she didn’t attend the classes.I’d canceled the first one but I couldn’t cancel the second one as I didn’t want to deprive the rest of my students of the knowledge they should have for their upcoming exams.There was also the fact that someone had conveniently started a rumor about Dahlia and I after Thanksgiving break. I had a feeling it was Roman as he couldn’t do anything other than that because of his cleared phone.I wondered if Dahlia had heard about it. It didn’t bother me much as I’d never been the kind to care about what people said about me, especially if they couldn’t say it when I was present.It was Wednesday and I knew Dahlia didn’t have a class but I missed her a lot. When I was done with my class, I was very tempted to go to the c
Damon Valentino~•~The next morning, I woke up with an email from the office of the dean and I knew things were about to get much worse.‘From: officeofthedeannyc@gmail.comTo: profvalentino@yahoo.comDate: 7 Dec 2023, 06:17Good day,I hope this email finds you well. As you must know, there are unverified rumors going around involving you and a student of yours. We need you to come to the office after your classes today, so we can find a way to debunk the rumors or verify them. Whatever the case may be.’I held back a laugh when my eyes zeroed in on the time they sent the email. School didn’t start by six but somehow, they were already in the office by then.I didn’t respond to the email. My mind just wandered off to Dahlia. I hoped I wouldn’t get her in trouble. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if it affected her education. She had been worried about getting expelled and like the selfish jerk I was, I didn’t find an immediate solution. I could pull out of teaching at her colleg
Dahlia Carrington ~•~According to my psychology lecturer, there were five stages of breakups; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.In my case, I was going backward. I’d first accepted the fact that Damon and I couldn’t be together before I fell into depression. I was angry currently which was making me snap easily, especially after I got that mail from the dean telling me to visit his office at half past twelve.I felt slightly bad for talking harshly to Damon earlier but being nice to him was only going to make things harder on us. Besides, there were eyes on us and I wouldn’t put it past a student to take a picture of both of us in the classroom to add to their list of growing pieces of evidence.I was more than ready to deny all the allegations. It didn’t matter that I was lying. No one was perfect anyway.I sat on the bench in the assistant’s office as I waited to be called in. I heard footsteps and I looked up just in time to see Damon pause in front of me. In