A Blissful Lie

Chapter 3: Fallout and Cutting Ties

The morning after the post went live, Alessia woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing incessantly on the nightstand. She groaned, rubbing her eyes, and reached for it, half-expecting the usual notifications about classes, assignments, and maybe a few messages from friends. But when she unlocked her screen, she was hit with a flood of alerts. Dozens of unread messages, missed calls, and countless notifications from Facebook.

Her heart pounded as she scrolled through the notifications. The post about Emily had exploded.

1,213 Likes.

873 Comments.

200+ Shares.

The world knew now.

Alessia’s stomach tightened as she opened the app and scanned through the comments. The backlash had been swift, just as she had anticipated. People from their university, mutual friends, acquaintances—everyone had an opinion. And most of those opinions weren’t kind to Emily.

"What a snake! I can’t believe she did this to her best friend!"

"Karma will get her eventually. Homewreckers never prosper."

"She deserves everything coming to her. So much for ‘friendship.’"

Others had tagged Emily, calling her out directly. Emily had tried to defend herself in a few comments early on, but each attempt had been drowned by a sea of vitriol. Now, her profile was gone—deactivated, or maybe just blocked from Alessia’s view. Either way, it didn’t matter.

Alessia stared at the screen, her emotions a strange cocktail of satisfaction, anger, and something else—something like guilt, but she pushed that feeling away. Emily had made her choice. She had crossed a line that no friendship could survive, and now she was facing the consequences.

With a deep breath, Alessia opened her messages. Her inbox was flooded with support from friends.

"Good for you, Alessia. She deserved to be outed."

"That post was savage! We’ve got your back, girl."

But some of the messages were from people who seemed to enjoy the drama a little too much, fishing for more details or trying to stir the pot even further.

"What’s Josh saying about all this?"

"I can’t believe you’re still with him after what he did."

"So what’s the next move? Are you gonna dump them both?"

Alessia tossed her phone onto the bed, running her hands through her hair. As much as she had wanted this public outing to hurt Emily—and it clearly had—there was still a knot in her chest that refused to go away. She hadn’t expected to feel this hollow. Emily was gone now, effectively erased from her life, and there was no going back.

No more shared secrets. No more laughter over late-night drinks. No more inside jokes about classes, crushes, or life.

But Emily had destroyed that the moment she betrayed her.

With a final, decisive movement, Alessia opened her contacts and blocked Emily’s number. She scrolled through their old conversations, hundreds of texts exchanged over the years, memories captured in words. With one last glance, she deleted the chat history, erasing Emily from her life for good.

By the afternoon, the fallout was in full swing.

Campus buzzed with gossip, and no matter where Alessia went, she could feel the weight of people’s eyes on her. Some stared openly, whispering to their friends as she passed by, while others sent her sympathetic looks. A few bold ones even approached her between classes, offering their support or asking her to retell the story.