It happened on a normal day.
That's what made it worse.
There was nothing special about that afternoon—just another workday, another lunch, another moment I thought belonged to us.
We were sitting together like always, laughing over something silly I can't even remember now. Percy was mid-sentence, smiling, relaxed… the same way he always was with me.
And then someone said it.
"Percy, your girlfriend is here."
Everything stopped.
At first, I thought I heard wrong. My smile stayed on my face, but it didn't feel like mine anymore.
"Your what?" someone else asked, surprised.
"His girlfriend," the voice repeated casually, like it was common knowledge.
I turned to Percy.
He didn't laugh.
He didn't correct them.
He didn't even look surprised.
He just… went quiet.
And in that silence, something inside me broke.
A girl walked in a few seconds later. Confident. Comfortable. Like she belonged. Her eyes found Percy immediately, and she smiled—the kind of smile that didn't hesitate, didn't question.
The kind of smile that knows.
"Hey," she said, walking up to him.
Hey.
Just one word. But it carried everything I didn't know.
Percy stood up quickly. "I… I didn't know you were coming," he said.
"I wanted to surprise you," she replied, lightly.
Surprise.
I felt like the only one who had been surprised.
I sat there, frozen, watching the two of them exist in a reality I had never been part of.
No one laughed anymore. The teasing, the jokes, the assumptions—they all disappeared in an instant.
Because suddenly, it wasn't funny.
It was real.
And I was the only one who didn't know.
He looked at me then.
Finally.
And I saw it—the hesitation, the guilt, the realization that the truth had found its way out without his permission.
"Valerine…" he started.
But I stood up before he could finish.
I couldn't sit there. I couldn't breathe in that moment, in that space that suddenly felt too small, too exposed.
"You have a girlfriend?" I asked.
My voice didn't sound like mine. It was too calm. Too controlled.
He didn't answer immediately.
And that silence said everything.
I nodded slowly, even though my chest felt like it was collapsing.
"Okay," I said.
Just one word.
But it carried everything—shock, hurt, confusion, and the quiet realization that every moment we shared suddenly meant something different.
The lunches.
The walks.
The music.
The way he looked at me.
All of it.
I picked up my bag and walked away.
I didn't look back.
Because if I did, I knew I wouldn't be able to leave.
That was the moment everything changed.
Not when I found out he had a girlfriend—
But when I realized…
I had never been the only one.