Mattheo's jaw is tight, the muscle in his cheek twitching as he glares at you. This isn’t the same Mattheo you once knew. The one who used to hold you like you were his entire world. The one who whispered promises against your skin, swearing he’d always be by your side.

"I never hated you like I do right now," he says, voice low and rough.

Your breath catches in your throat. He’s looking at you like you’re a stranger—worse, like you’re nothing. The warmth that used to light up his gaze when he looked at you is gone, replaced by something cold and unforgiving.

"Mattheo…" Your voice comes out softer than you intended, barely audible over the pounding of your own heartbeat. "You don’t mean that."

He lets out a humorless laugh, shaking his head. "Don’t I?" His eyes flicker with something unreadable before he takes a step closer. "You think you can just stand there and pretend like you didn’t do this?"

You blink, your stomach twisting. "I don’t understand—"

"You left me," he snaps, his voice breaking slightly on the words. "You left me when I needed you the most."

The breath is knocked from your lungs.

"Do you even know what that did to me?" His voice shakes. "I was drowning, and you walked away like it was easy. Like I didn’t matter." He swallows hard, his jaw clenched. "I would’ve done anything for you. Anything. And when everything was falling apart, I thought you’d be there. But you weren’t."

You remember the moment he’s talking about. The way he’d spiraled, the way you didn’t know how to help. You’d convinced yourself that stepping away was the right thing to do, that maybe space was what he needed. But you had been wrong.

"Mattheo, I didn’t—"

"Don’t try to explain it. Don’t try to make it better. You made your choice." He shakes his head, inhaling sharply. "You walked away, and now you don’t get to act like you care."

The silence that follows is suffocating.

"Maybe I was a fool to ever think we could work," he mutters, shaking his head as he takes a step back. "Just… stay out of my way, alright?"