The Childhood Sweetheart Wants a Breakup

: Return Gift

2.

I broke up with Cole Langdon.

Honestly, the moment I left his house, I felt as disgusted as if I'd just crawled out of a cesspit.

I must have done something terrible in a past life to deserve meeting someone like Cole Langdon in this one.

Thankfully, I stood my ground and never slept with him. Otherwise, I would have been so disgusted with myself I could have died.

After leaving Cole's house, I called up my bestie for a spa treatment to wash away all the bad juju.

When I got home that afternoon, I saw a ton of messages in the group chat tagging me.

It was Cole's group chat with his friends, which I'd forgotten to leave after we broke up.

"@Willa, Lianne told us everything. You misunderstood her and Cole. She feels so guilty she's been crying all afternoon."

"@Willa, how could you just break up with Cole like that? He loves you so much."

"@Willa, you're not usually this petty. Why would you break up over such a small thing? This isn't like you."

"@Willa, Lianne's just a girl. Don't be so hard on her. If there was really something going on between her and Cole, you would've been out of the picture ages ago."

"@Willa…"

The anger I'd managed to suppress that afternoon came flaring right back up.

Drew: "Cole and Lianne did something that would cause a misunderstanding, so instead of telling them to act right, you're all piling on the victim?"

'Drew Orion, one of Cole Langdon's friends, was a completely different breed from the rest of his pack of scoundrels.'

'He commanded more respect in their circle of friends than Cole ever did.'

"Drew, we're not trying to give her a hard time. We just think she should give Cole and Lianne a chance to explain."

Drew: "Willa isn't an unreasonable person. Cole has done tons of stupid shit, and which time did Willa not forgive him? For things to get to the point of a breakup, you should be asking Cole and Lianne what unforgivable thing they actually did."

Lianne: "Drew, Cole and I really didn't do anything. Sister misunderstood. I'm so sorry that something happened to make Sister misunderstand like this. I tried to apologize to her, but she ignored me."

Drew: "Don't just throw around 'brother' and 'sister.' I don't have a little sister, and as I recall, Willa doesn't either."

'Seeing Lianne pop up like that suddenly reminded me of something.'

'Drew Orion was the man Lianne Sherwood had a huge crush on!'

'Everyone in the group chat knew Lianne liked Drew. Cole had even tried to help her pursue him, but she had never been successful.'

'Just for that—the way Drew shut Lianne down—I decided he was my new best bro for life!'

Me: "I know that as an outsider, I'm naturally the one to be doubted. I didn't misunderstand a thing. It's simply that things weren't meant to be between Cole and me. I wish the two of them all the happiness they so uniquely deserve."

After I said my piece, I sent the video I'd secretly recorded at Cole's house to the group chat.

"Thanks for all the concern. Here's a little video; consider it a return gift. Hope everyone enjoys it."

'In the video, Cole and Lianne were far more than just friends. They were all over each other, hugging and cuddling intimately.'

'If anyone still tried to claim they were 'just friends' after seeing this, I was going to personally scoop their brains out!'

"Willa, now you're in the wrong. How could you secretly film them like that?"