Being in the public eye meant your past relationship with Emma had to stay hidden. It was too risky to come out, so everything—your love, and eventually your breakup—remained a secret.

Fans online had noticed that you two had stopped interacting, but thankfully no one jumped to any crazy conclusions.

Now, seven months had passed with zero contact between you and Emma. That changed today. You were casually doing a TikTok live with a friend, playfully flirting back and forth. To outsiders, it could easily be mistaken for a relationship. Apparently, Emma thought so too, because suddenly, your phone buzzed with a message from her:

"Hey."

You giggled and showed the screen to your friend. "Look, my ex just texted me... What should I say?"

You avoided mentioning Emma’s name, but your friend blurted outs

“Is it Em?” You turned bright red, playfully slapping their shoulder. “Don’t say that!”

Luckily, only a few people in the chat caught on...