Page 103 of Glass Jawed
Because suddenly the hall feels like it’s closing in on me. People are looking. My throat’s tightening. The buzz of voices fades to a high-pitched whine.
I’m halfway to hyperventilating and trying to make it look normal. Like I’m just warm. Just stepping outside.
I nod, once, at her greeting.
And then I leave.
Quickly.
Before the panic swallows me whole.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Lucian
I spent more than a year making them both villains in my story.
What I didn’t realize was that my reactive spiral—fueled by distorted memory and unprocessed rage—had now made me the actual villain inhers.
That’s straight out of Alan’s mouth. Well, partially. He didn’t call me a villain. He called meemotionally reactive.
And now, as thevillain, I’ve lost certain privileges. Like having friends who stick around. Who respect me. Who trust me enough to rely on me.
For weeks now, I’ve been stuck in a loop—thinking, rethinking, trying to piece together the damage I caused. Some of it intentional. Some of it in an alcoholic haze. All of itunforgivable.
What doesn’t help is that the catalyst of my downfall is still... present. Not physically—not always, but in the unmarked letters I receive from Tim.
I’ve never opened them.
Didn’t want to.
So I threw them away.
I want it all to end. That chapter. That shame. The way he still lingers in the corners of my existence—uninvited, unworthy, and yet somehow always there.
That’s probably how Aarohi feels aboutme.Unworthy.
Liam said we’ve both been officially shut out by theNo-Mercy-Sisterhood. Can’t blame them.
The website Kashvi made to publicly eviscerate Liam has now crossed over 150 views. We don’t know who those people are, but we did ask around. Isaac and Karina said they’ve seen it. And yeah, they’re well aware that the ’L’ in our names now stands forLoser. OrLow-life.
And Karina’s favorite—Lamebrain.
I didn’t even try to argue. Liam didn’t either.
We’re both just two miserable bastards holed up in my apartment, taking refuge in our shared shame.
Apparently, Layla has been stalking Liam’s place, which is why he’s crashing here. Another ’L’ ruining lives.
While Liam is actively trying to ruin Tim’s. A mess I try to stay away from.
From what I know, Liam’s been quietly making Tim’s life hell in several small, legally non-actionable ways. His parents have financially cut him off after I told them everything last year. He also failed to get a job post-graduation. That failure? It started when I revoked his internship at Kepler after everything came to light.
I didn’t know the internship was mandatory for his program. But when I found outafterthe fact... let’s just say I didn’t feel bad.
Liam made sure the dominoes kept falling. Word got around in the local startup circuit—subtle nudges, offhand warnings, casual mentions in the right Slack communities. All it takes is a few reputation hits and whispered liabilities for a resume to start collecting dust.
He’s effectively been semi-blackballed.
