Chapter 4

"I never asked you to do that."

"You—" He sucked in a breath. "Fine! If you don't want to eat it, fine! But you owe me for your half of the breakfast! The bagel was eight bucks, the coffee was six—that's fourteen total. Just Venmo me seven dollars."

I looked at him, completely dumbfounded, almost amused by his sheer audacity.

"Weren't you just offering to treat me? Now you want to split it?"

"I offered, but you rejected it!" he barked with absolute conviction. "You not eating it is your problem! I bought it, so you pay your share. If you'd eaten it, it would've been my treat. That's fair!"

I was floored by his warped, predatory logic.

"Austin, do you honestly think the entire world owes you something?"

"I'm just being reasonable!"

"Oh, reasonable? Sure, let's talk reasonable." I nodded slowly. "Then let me ask you: over the past two months while you chased me, what about all those DoorDash orders, coffees, and that dinner? Should we calculate all of that too?"

He blinked, his eyes darting around. "Those were voluntary gifts. Those don't count."

"And this breakfast wasn't voluntary? Why should I have to pay half for something you voluntarily bought without asking?"

His mouth opened and closed, producing no words.

"Austin, do your principles change whenever it's convenient for you? When it benefits you, you preach principles. When it doesn't, you throw them out the window. That's not a principle—that's a double standard."

His face cycled through shades of red and pale white. He stammered before spitting out:

"You just don't want to be with me anymore, so everything I say is wrong!"

"You got that right. I do not want to be with you." I said every word with icy clarity. "Now move. I need to get to work."

He blocked the lobby door, standing stiff.

"Just tell me what I have to do for you to take me back!"

To my shock, his eyes welled up with tears, his voice cracking.

"I truly love you! I just... I'm just bad at dating! I can change, okay? I'll change!"

"Austin, don't bother changing."

"Go find a girl who shares your mindset. It's a huge world—there's bound to be someone willing to split every single penny with you. But that person will never be me."

I walked around him, pushed open the door, and stepped out onto the street.

He watched me walk away, his lips trembling, unable to form another sentence.

As I glanced back, I caught the exact moment his expression melted from pathetic longing into raw, toxic fury.

I sighed internally.

This was only day one. God knew what other psycho stunts he had planned.

I hailed an Uber to my office, resting my head against the cool window pane, utterly drained.

Between the sleepless night and his morning ambush, a dull migraine throbbed behind my temples.

My phone buzzed. A text from Austin:

*Chloe, you are truly heartless. I treated you so well, and you threw me away over nothing. If you keep acting like this, no one will ever love you genuinely. Don't come crying to me when you regret it.*

On the ride to work, I cursed my rotten luck.

I thought I'd finally met a decent guy, only to discover a manipulative, hypocritical stalker.

Next time, I'd keep my guard up. Actually, forget dating entirely.

Being single was fantastic. At least nobody was going to send me a Venmo request for gas.

At the office, I forced myself to focus, trying to bury the chaos under work tasks.

My coworker Maya asked why I looked so pale, and I just claimed I hadn't slept well. She didn't pry.

The rest of the day passed quietly. I foolishly thought the nightmare was over.

At five p.m., I packed up my desk to go home.

Just as I stepped out of the office tower, my phone rang from an unknown number.

Hesitating, I answered.

"Chloe."

It was Austin's voice. He was using a burner number.

I hung up immediately without saying a word.

He called again. Declined.

Again. Declined.

Then came a text: *Just wanted to let you know, I'm waiting outside your apartment door. Don't panic.*

I stared at the screen, a cold sweat breaking out across my palms.