Love's Betrayal, Architecture's Triumph

Chapter 3

Word Count: 549 | Released on: 09/07/2025

tle, but the sand was too dry and it kept collapsing. I was on the verge of

little plastic bucket, ran to the water fountain, and came back

astle our kindergarten playground had eve

f honor. He was David, and I was his Sarah. He protected me from playground b

going over to the Chens' again? You' re going t

David is so much calmer when Sarah is around. It' s the

ng him the pieces he asked for. He was always building things, creating worlds. It wa

could ever want, but not a lot of direct supervision. My family was middle-class, warm and ever-present. He

r own daughter, a girl with frilly pink ribbons in

nt of his creation. "No. I don'

"What about Sara

with the dead-serious logic of a six-year-

some girl; I was his person. That feeling, of being chos

mpletely naive. My biggest problem was what to wear to school or whether I' d finishe

y walking in his footsteps. I never imagined a future that didn' t have

de me feel so safe was the beginning of a

Chapter End

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Love's Betrayal, Architecture's Triumph

Mo Er Young Adult

“The acceptance letters for NYU, side-by-side on my desk, symbolized four years of high school effort and a shared dream with David: studying architecture in New York City. Our entire lives were perfectly planned. Then, I overheard David on the phone, his voice low and excited, revealing a horrifying truth: "California is going to be insane. No, she has no idea. I can't do it anymore. The clinginess... I need to be free." My world shattered. The boy I'd loved since childhood, who held our future, was crushing it without a thought. He admitted he was going to UCLA to study film, and when I asked about our plans, he flatly said, "I' m tired of you. I need space to be my own person." His words hit harder than any blow. I realized my devotion had been seen as a cage. All those years I' d put his needs first, sacrificing my own friendships and passions to support him, believing it was love. Now, I saw it was all to make him feel bigger while I made myself smaller. He' d left me feeling like the villain in our story. I couldn't understand. How could the boy who once declared, "Sarah's not a girl. She's Sarah," now call me clingy and dismiss me like trash? Why did he always pull me back with sweet gestures, only to lash out and abandon me when I tried to look out for him? But a tiny, hard kernel of anger began to form. He thought I couldn't survive without him. I would go to NYU, I would study architecture, and I would prove him wrong. Even if it killed me.”