**Chapter 1**
Liam had Serena’s chat pinned, but not mine.
I broke up with him.
My friend Maya was shocked. Over something so trivial?
Everyone thought I’d regret it.
After all, Liam was genuinely great.
He’d meticulously planned my entire academic journey, from undergrad straight into a Ph.D. program.
He’d even thoroughly researched and decided which city we’d settle in.
His notebook was crammed with plans for “our” next ten years.
It detailed everything, right down to which year we’d save enough for a down payment, and when we’d have kids.
But he wouldn’t pin our chat.
He thought taking five seconds to text me goodnight was a waste of time.
Yet, he spent two weeks coaching Serena on topics she didn’t understand.
He’d explained it. “It’s all for work. Work is for our future.”
I knew.
I knew everything.
But I didn’t want to live in the future anymore; I just wanted to live in the present. The day before our fifth anniversary, I playfully asked Liam to pin my chat.
“This is the only anniversary gift I want. Please, just say yes!”
This was probably the seventh time I’d asked him to pin our chat.
The previous six times, he’d refused.
Even now, he had 99 pinned chats.
There was Serena, his junior colleague, his advisor, various work and study groups.
But never me.
My initial confusion had turned to hurt and anger, and now, a calm indifference.
The message I’d sent him still hadn’t received a reply, even after 12 hours.
No surprise there.
Liam was always busy, and not replying was the norm.
Once, he went on a business trip with his advisor and didn’t reply for half a month.
If I hadn’t seen Serena, who was with him, still updating her Ins feed regularly, I would have thought something terrible had happened to him.
It sounds ridiculous, but I had to learn about my boyfriend’s whereabouts through other people.
This time was no different. I checked Serena’s Ins and found out the academic summit had ended, and a banquet was being held.
Logically, the busiest part should have been over.
But Liam still wasn’t replying.
I just called him directly.
He picked up on the third ring.
“Is something wrong?”
His voice, thick with exhaustion and static, sent a chill through me.
I gripped my phone tightly.
“It’s our anniversary. I’m at the hotel entrance where the banquet is…”
“It’s just an anniversary. You didn’t need to come all the way to City A.”
Liam calmly interrupted me.
My full anticipation for our fifth anniversary.
In his eyes, it was a dismissive “just.”
How many five-year periods do you get in a short lifetime?
Liam continued.
“You should be writing your thesis instead. Your current level won’t get you into the university we’re aiming for.”
I softly cut him off.
“I’ll wait for you. After the banquet, just half an hour, have dinner with me.”
Then, I hung up.
I waited for a while.
My phone remained silent.
No calls, no messages.
The hotel’s warm, yellow lights were diffused and hazy by the snowy mist.
Faint laughter and chatter drifted from behind the glass doors.
It made the silence outside even more profound.
Liam was probably chatting and laughing with those academic bigshots.
Maybe Serena was right beside him, smiling as she raised her glass.
But none of it mattered anymore.
I had already made up my mind to break up.
**Chapter 2**
When my best friend, Maya, heard I wanted to break up, she called me crazy.
“Liam was so good to you, didn’t you forget that notebook?”
“Do you know how many people envy you for having a boyfriend who plans everything out?”
Liam had a notebook.
It was filled with plans for our next ten years.
The first phase was college.
In high school, his grades were better than mine, and he’d tutor me every week without fail. In the end, we went to the same university.
The second phase was the Ph.D.
For this, he helped me plan my path from undergrad straight into a Ph.D. program.
It was detailed, down to how to change majors, which courses to take, which advisor’s research group to join…
Then came work, buying a house, marriage, and having children.
He’d researched the climate and housing market trends in different cities, specifying which year we’d pay the down payment and which year we’d have kids.
I was in every stage of his plan.
Maya sighed. “Chloe, tell me, what other guy would go to such lengths?”
I watched the snow outside gradually stop falling.
My throat felt tight.
Yeah.
The words “us” were written densely throughout his notebook.
He often told me:
“We’re not just two paths crossing; we’re two people walking together to the finish line.”
Those things were true.
But he’d write in his notebook to prepare gifts for our anniversary, yet he’d mix up the dates.
He thought replying to my messages was a waste of time, that researching topics was more productive than chatting with me.
He’d plan our home ten years from now, but leave me heartbroken countless times in the present.
Maya was still trying to persuade me.
“Look, he even included you in his life ten years from now. Isn’t that enough?”
“Now you want to break up over something as small as pinning a chat? Aren’t you being a bit dramatic?”
“Listen to me, don’t be impulsive, don’t break up. You’ll regret it.”
I gently cut her off.
“If he can’t even care about me now, will the ‘future’ he’s planning truly include me?”
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