Tamed by the Bad Boy Next Door

A Case of Heartbreak

Whatever the case, the important thing was that she had stopped.

Thus, it was unfair and unreasonable that it was still because of her that Colleen fought and broke up with Jay.

Seb knew his friend. The guy had an honest personality, but he could be a little too shy and awkward when dealing with other people, especially the ones he didn’t know well.

After Ainsley had been brought to his attention, Jay couldn’t help but become hyper-aware of her. Like Seb, he had developed the habit of scanning any crowd to make sure she wasn’t there. In the unlucky times when she was, Jay would then try his hardest not to be conscious of her.

But the more he did that, the more strange and suspicious he looked. There were also times when he would slip up and glance Ainsley’s way.

Ironically, those were mostly the times when Colleen was with him—and her presence was what was making him so nervous that he couldn’t control himself.

Of course, Colleen took those slip-ups to mean that Jay had developed an interest in that other girl, the same one she herself knew had a crush on him.

No matter how much Jay denied it and explained himself, she wouldn’t believe him. She told Jay that she really thought he was different from most other guys—that he’d be the last person who would cheat on the one he was in a relationship with.

Even if he technically didn’t do anything but look, she didn’t feel like she could still trust him now. Thus, she broke up with him.

Both as a firsthand witness and from secondhand accounts, Seb knew about everything that happened.

The cynical part of him couldn’t help but feel validated about his beliefs.

‘See?’ he thought. ‘Relationships only cause trouble while you’re in one, and eventually, it comes to a bad end. So why bother at all?’

But for days afterward, while Seb was going about his business confident that he was right in his choices, his friend was the complete opposite.

Jay was barely functioning. He would get up every day and attend all his classes, but his mind was always elsewhere. He hardly ate anything during their breaks, and according to one of their other friends who was Jay’s roommate, the guy would stay up late each night, either typing long messages on his phone or trying to place a call over and over again, mostly with no success.

Anyone could guess that he was reaching out to Colleen to explain himself again, probably to promise as well that whatever it was about him that she didn’t like, he would change it. He just wanted her to give him another chance.

The longer Seb saw his friend in this pitifully broken state, the more he felt torn about what to believe.

Obviously, Colleen meant a lot to Jay. He liked her so much that he was going nearly out of his mind with regret, blaming only himself for the mistake that had caused her to lose faith in him.

But what about the other person? Seb could understand if Colleen broke up with Jay because he was really cheating on her. No matter what, no one deserved to have that done to them.

However, all of this drama stemmed from a mere misunderstanding. In Seb’s eyes, it wasn’t even a real issue. How could this be enough justification for her to break up with a guy as pure-hearted as Jay?

If that was as far as her own feelings extended, then his friend was better off without her.

This was the conclusion Seb had reached after thinking it through.

Thus, on a Thursday afternoon a little over a week after the breakup, Seb didn’t hesitate for a moment from doing what he did.

He happened to be with Jay when the guy saw Colleen on the other side of the quadrangle they were walking in. This wasn’t the first time they would be crossing paths, but it seemed that Jay had finally reached the limit of his desperation.

If she would allow it, he wanted to talk to Colleen face to face.

He was unmindful of anything else as he took the first step to approach her, but before he could take a second one, Seb was already right in his way, an arm placed across Jay’s chest and shoulder to stop him.

“I don’t think she’d welcome you accosting her,” Seb whispered.

“But I’m not—”

“Does she even take your calls?”

Jay instantly looked crestfallen. “Only to tell me to stop…”

Seb nodded. “Right. So she’d probably hate it even more if you tried to talk to her in public.”

“I just need to apologize, Seb,” Jay replied desperately. “I just want her to understand that I never betrayed her. I don’t want her to think that she wasn’t enough so I came to like someone else. She’s really the only one I like.”

That one almost pierced through Seb’s hard shell. But he rallied himself. “I know,” he said. “You’re preaching to the choir here. I’m just saying, you’re not at your best at the moment. If you approached her like this, you might turn her away even more. You don’t want her to completely come to hate you, right?”

Jay’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “No…”

“Right. So I think it would be better if you kept your distance for now—and then fix yourself up while you’re at it. You’re kind of a mess, man. No offense.”

“But… But what if she thinks I’ve given up…?”

Seb grinned. “Then you might be in luck. What’s the line? ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’? If it looks like you’re backing off, it might spur her to make a move herself.”

Full of doubt and reluctance, Jay shook his head slowly. “I don’t think that’s…”

“Come on,” Seb cut in, applying force to get Jay to continue walking with him towards their original destination. “It’s worth a try. In the meantime, let’s just attend our last class and then head out early to the bars. We’ll get you wasted so you can forget your problems for a night, and then it’ll be a fresh start for you tomorrow.” His arm now across Jay’s shoulders, Seb shook him in encouragement. “It’ll be fiiine. Let’s go!”

A time later, Seb got what he wanted. He and his other friends coordinated to get Jay out and distract him with booze and partying.

But while they did succeed in getting him drunk within a few hours, they completely failed at making him forget.

At an open karaoke bar that they had drifted into at some point, Jay was listening to someone singing a ballad one moment and was crying the next.

“Dude…”

“I love her,” the guy blurted amid his heartfelt tears. “It hurts so much, I can’t take it. I love her. I just love her…”

For the rest of that night out, Jay continued to cry. The alcohol he had consumed had only allowed him to let out all of the pain he had been keeping in.

With the spirits of his companions also dampened, they sent Jay back to his lodgings and also called it quits.

Unknown to everyone else, Seb took Jay’s breakdown harder than they did.

It certainly didn’t help when, just as he was fishing his key out in front of his door, having some difficulty because he was also a little drunk, Ainsley chose that moment to show up.

Why the hell was she only getting back now?

Oblivious, Ainsley greeted him carelessly while passing behind him. “Hey, Sebastian~ Bye, Sebastian~”

Seb found in her a target to take out his bad mood on.

“What are you so happy about?” he snapped, shocking her into stopping and looking back at him. “Must be nice, huh, being all clueless after wreaking havoc in other people’s lives?”