Brave Bold Belle (ft. Liam Payne)

Chapter 36 - Breakup

     Does Liam call me? No. Does he text me? No. What does he do? He goes back to the jerk I met six months ago, causing scandals at different clubs, doing reckless things, insulting people and treating them as if they were beneath him. Every time I see him on a new tabloid I feel both hurt and disappointed. I usually grab my mobile, ready to call him but I end up convincing myself that it’s over and I owe him nothing.

I thought once the contract was over, I would be done with Liam and his world, but paparazzi have approached me asking me about Liam. I do as Havi instructed, saying I have no comments about it. I see girls glaring at me at school and mumbling things about how big of a bitch I am for breaking up with Liam. They blame me for the way he’s acting and every time, I feel like stopping them to remind them of how he behaved before I met him. I didn’t change him into this; he came back to his horrible ways on his own. I didn’t bring back the beast; he did it. But again, I tell myself the contract is over, I have nothing to do with Liam, and I shouldn’t even let the rumours affect me.

I hold on to Ariel’s single, Freedom, even if I avoid the girl, because this wonderful track that’s doing amazing is the reason why I accepted the deal, why I put up with Liam. It helps me remind myself that I did the right thing every time I regret signing that contract that forced me to interact with Liam, to tolerate him until I understood him and fell for him.

I try to shut everyone out so I don’t have to be reminded of Liam because it hurts. I prefer to be angry with him, that way I can cope with this more easily. But I can’t escape him and his world. It follows me everywhere. In six months, we created too many memories to just pretend like nothing happened. I see my books and I think of him. I see the necklace he gave me and I feel like my knees will give under my weight. And I still wear the charm bracelet he gave me! I can’t take it off and I scold myself every morning, but I just can’t go out without it.

Three weeks after Liam and I broke up—I can’t call it something else because no matter what the context was, it felt like we broke up—I receive a call I wasn’t expecting at all.

“Hello?” I say, picking up the phone out of curiosity and worry more than anything else.

“Belle! Thank God you picked up. How have you been? Are you doing fine?” Ruth questions, and I blink away the confusion.

“Y-yes, I’m doing fine. Is everything okay?” I ask because I don’t know why she’s calling. It’s been made official that Liam and I broke up, his family surely knows about it, too.

“Are you really doing fine? Liam is not and I’m worried you’re not fine either. He doesn’t wanna tell us what happened exactly,” she sighs and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

“It didn’t work out, Ruth. We’re too different, the distance weighs too much on us and it’s just better if we go our separate ways,” I explain, following what has been said and what Havi told me to report.

“But you two are so good together. I mean, he was the boy I always knew when he was with you,” she explains and I have to press my lips in a tight line, fighting the memories of Christmas day, when we went to visit his family and had a wonderful time together.

“It’s not always enough,” I continue.

“It’s such a pity, Belle. We all agree that there’s no better girl for Liam than you. We’re very sorry, really. I don’t think Mum will love another girl more than she loves you.”

I don’t know whether to laugh, complain or cry at what she says. Her words stir something inside that makes this all the more painful to me because I’m lying. That’s not why we broke up and if they knew they would be so disappointed both in Liam and I. Karen would hate me for lying to her. Ruth would never call me again if she knew it was never real, that I was hired to be Liam’s girlfriend.