Sarah stared into the mirror. Her tired, hazel eyes gazed back as she frowned. She hadn't slept in days. Dark shadows were apparent under her puffy eyes. Her skin was blotchy despite her best makeup skills. It had been a week since her breakup with Jamie, and she had only stopped crying today. She needed to get over him, but the pain still raged inside.

She still didn’t believe it was real; it had to be a nightmare. If she were to call, he would answer with his usual seductive reply, smooth and full of confidence and without a twinge of regret. She picked up her phone. His picture was still her wallpaper - handsome. Yet his face only triggered revulsion when she thought about him. Looking at Jamie, the emotions began welling up again. She bit her lip to stop the tears. She shouldn’t be crying now, not for that bastard. It would just give him satisfaction. The emotions roiled within her, turbulent and fighting for dominance. Her pride slowly worn out.

'How dare he do this to me, of all people? And with a blonde skank that looks like a ten-dollar whore? What are other people going to say when they find out? Why do this when I’m so much better than her!?'

She glanced at the notifications - seventy missed calls. Swiping through, of course, none of them from him. She had loved him. She had assumed he thought of her as someone special, at least. But in the end, he cheated. She’d wondered what would've been if she had been a few hours late that day and not witnessed his unfaithfulness. They could have retained their status as a power couple - before she knew he was a bastard. He was just as popular as her, yet he dared to disturb that delicate balance by allowing his little guy to dictate his life.

He had rarely called. Sarah always had to call first, to be the one to suggest they go somewhere, and usually the one taking charge. There was nothing wrong with that, but she knew he wasn’t putting as much effort as she was into the relationship. He seemed barely interested in her, but she couldn’t leave him even though they came together on shallow grounds.

She decided not even to confront him since he showed no remorse. Instead, the bastard smiled.

Sarah couldn't understand it. Her phone flashed another new message, from Mia, her Japanese-American friend and only genuine friend amongst her many acquaintances.

Mia wanted her to come over, probably to cheer her up, but she didn't want to cheer up. She wanted to be mad, to channel her rage into a revenge plan as some kind of cathartic measure to process the event. Her phone rang - Mia. She didn't answer. The ringing lasted for about two minutes before dying down - Finally. Just as the soothing silence was about to set in - the phone rang again, piercing sharply through the silence. Frustrated, she answered.

"Hey, didn't you get my message?" Mia’s soft, concerned voice coming over the speaker.

“Sorry, I was in the bathroom." She lied.

“Sarah, I know you were not,” Mia said, smiling; Sarah sighed as she could practically see Mia’s smile as she paused.

"I heard what happened between you and Jamie. You must be down right now; I want you to come over and chill, to take your mind off things. Ice cream and a dorky movie, come on over. I'm not taking no for an answer."

Sarah’s eyes rolled hard as she heard those words. There was no way out now. If she refused, Mia would drive down to the campus to pick her up.

“Fine, I'll be there in ten,” Sarah replied grudgingly.

"Yay! I'll be expecting you, see you in thirty minutes, haha!" Mia said gleefully and hung up.

She reluctantly got up from the bed she had been lying down on - her eyes lingered on the bed, the depression of her body against the soft foam. Strangely, it reminded her of Jamie. She shook her head and hastily undressed and walked into the bathroom.

The bathroom tiles were cold. She closed the door, walked into the shower, closed the doors, and turned the nozzle - letting the cold water warm up. She let the water slowly drizzle a bit. She felt with her hand; it was warm now. She turned the nozzle a little further, changing the drizzle into a stream. She closed her eyes and tried to collect her thoughts.

The wave of warm water flowed through her hair and down over her body. Fifteen minutes later, she turned off the shower and walked out. A breather was what she needed. She would never say it out loud, but she preferred shaking her hair like the way dogs did when it was wet - No one saw her here. Even if someone did, they wouldn’t believe it.

After she was done with that, she grabbed two towels from a cabinet. One that she dried off the rest of the water in her hair, the other towel she wrapped it tightly around herself.

Her breather complete, she walked out of the bathroom.

Just outside the room, to the left, stood a bright blue wardrobe. She approached it and opened it, thinking,

'It's Mia's place, no need for something special - just something casual, something simple.’

Looking inside, she quickly picked out a white top and a pair of jeans - fighting her urge to go through another couple of cute outfits, she placed her clothes on the bed.

She ditched the bra and just wore the semi-transparent top that left little for the imagination. Admiring herself in a mirror, she sighed. So much for being simple. Beautiful, hot, sexy. She had heard those words from so many guys, many times.

'And yet that bastard had the nerve.'

"Ugh!", She exclaimed in a fury.

Her tight jeans hugged her body, showing off her curves. Even while wearing 'simple' clothes, she was too eye-catching. She picked up her phone and opened the Uber app. Her parents forced her to become an Uber driver, telling her it would help her understand the value of money. She didn't want to do any pickups today, so she froze the app and decided she’d take a shortcut to Mia's house.

She walked out of her private apartment that was on campus and locked her door. She turned around. She took in the stunning sight as she walked. The university's environment was nothing short of breathtaking. No matter how many times she saw it, it would always amaze her. She dashed towards the main gate that led outside the university.

Walking by the large magnificent faculty buildings distanced evenly from each other, the strategically placed plant life, giving the place a glow of life and the orderly way students and teachers moved within this institution. She usually strolled here to bask in the affection of her male admirers, but now her mind was way too clouded.

The gate appeared before her - finally. Her car was parked right outside the campus. She slotted in her keys and stared briefly at the handle before getting into the car and settling. She texted Mia, telling her she was on her way, laid back her head, pushed her foot against the pedal, and drove off.

'Damn! I forgot to take a permit - it's okay, the registrar will overlook it as long as I hit him with my killer smile.'

She thought satisfactorily. She needed a chill pill, or she would just scream. Her fingers curled tensely around the steering.

She imagined him, the look on his face when Jamie received sweet payback for what he'd done when he lost something he loved, and she disgraced him in public. A smile formed unknowingly on her face. But there was a slight problem of how to get back at him, fucking another guy wouldn't work with him, he couldn't care less; she knew. It had to be something he cared about.

'But what?'

She focused on the road; Mia lived in the city and not even in the residential area. All around were skyscrapers, either of some well-known brands or successful upstarts. She saw so many of them pass by she was already numb to it. The shortcut was just around the corner, and Another random skyscraper came into view. She looked at it and looked away, not giving it a second thought.

Suddenly, a loud bang resonated from above. Her body instinctively ducked and swerved and slammed into the door as the car skidded off the road to make an abrupt halt. Her eyesight dizzied, and her ears were ringing, and her head pounded in pain - She was disoriented. She made out a distant voice, but she couldn't understand what it was saying. She tried harder to listen and filtered the ringing in her head. The voice became more explicit.

"Miss, miss!!" his voice rang out.

She tried to figure out which direction the voice came from.

"Are you okay?" his voice asked.

"Yeah, but vision’s blurry, and I feel dizzy." She managed to reply.

"Take my hand,” he said after opening the door.

She stretched out her hand and felt a hand clasped hers.

"Here's some aspirin and water before the ambulance arrives. Let me find you a chair." The driver said, placing a bottle of water in one hand and the tablets in her other hand.

She just nodded in response. They soon made her sit down on the chair. There were voices of people around. Her vision slowly resolved after she took the pills.

The accident scene became clearer. There was someone covered in blood on the top of the car at a skewed angle. Nausea first hit her at the sight of blood, but her curiosity pulled through. She couldn't see his face. She got up from her seat to inspect. Her vision still wasn't pristine; She squinted to get a better image.

Her heart trembled, she was utterly horrified, her body convulsed, her reaction, her expression, it meant only one thing - she knew him.