After the Breakup, His Efforts Were All In Vain

After entering the house in the evening, I casually put the packed pizza on the table.

From Joshua's room came the intense sound of gunfire from a video game.

"Be careful, Eliza. Walk behind me. I'll protect you."

Seeing that he was absorbed in the game, I went straight to the bathroom to shower.

He often played this game with Hailey and several of their colleagues.

I had tried playing too, but I never enjoyed it much due to my lack of skill.

After getting killed as soon as I landed in the game, I would often just sit and wait for him and Hailey to finish playing, which could take up to half an hour.

To have something to talk about with him, I practiced hard privately.

Although my shooting skills were still not as good as Joshua's, they at least surpassed Hailey's.

I was pleased to think that this was a way to understand him better.

However, whenever Hailey died in the game, he would quit and restart.

After a few rounds, I couldn't help but feel frustrated.

But he threw down his headset before I could say anything.

"Do you want her to wait around? It's ruining the game experience.

"Besides, you're not exactly great at the game either. Do you enjoy just waiting around?

"It's not like I begged you to play."

I couldn't remember how long that silent treatment had lasted.

But, as usual, I ended up giving in first, just like before.

When I came out of the bathroom, he was still playing, so I went straight to the bedroom.

The light from the middle of the night was too bright, so I covered my head with the blanket.

Joshua held me tightly with the blanket.

"Selena, why didn't you tell me when you were home? I'm a little hungry now. Get up and make me some spaghetti."

"I already brought you food. It's on the table."

My head felt strangely heavy, and I was too drowsy to open my eyes.

"But it's all cold now, and I don't like pizza. You used to cook for me."

"Then just order takeout yourself."

"You've been so busy lately and haven't really paid any attention to me. It's the weekend tomorrow. Why don't you get up and chat with me?"

After trying to coax me for a while with no response, Joshua began to get impatient.

"Are you getting up or not?" he barked.

After another period of silence, there was a loud bang in the room.

I pulled up the blanket and turned over, falling back asleep until morning.

The next day, I slept until noon, and my throat hurt a lot.

I felt a bit dazed and realized that I must have had a mild fever last night.

Thankfully, it wasn't a big deal.

After that night, Antonia hadn't contacted me for a week.

In the past, I would have apologized and begged him to come back within three days over such small matters.

Now, I was quite content with the peace and quiet.

However, his friend sent me a message first.

His friends inexplicably disliked me.

They made mean comments and subtly put me down while praising themselves.

If I got upset, they'd say I couldn't take a joke and was ruining the fun.

Joshua had advised me not to take it too seriously and to be more open-minded.

I used to avoid confrontations and had endured a lot of their unpleasantness.

When I answered the phone, the person ordered me to go to a bar quickly.

I replied with "not available" and hung up first.

After doing this twice, the person finally became friendly.

They went on about wanting me to find Joshua.

But I wasn't lying. I really was busy.

I was looking for a new place to live.

The current rental was close to Joshua's company, but my commute took over an hour.

Every day, I got up early to go to work and barely managed to stay awake.

I was already exhausted and resentful, not to mention that I had to take the crowded bus home.

I didn't even have the energy to kill myself even if I wanted to.

After a few days of searching, I decided on a place near my office.