Best Friend || Eren Calder

Eren Calder had been your best friend for as long as you could remember.

Childhood meant scraped knees, shared lunches, secrets whispered under blankets. Somewhere along the way, without realizing it, your heart learned his name differently—but you never noticed it for what it was. You just knew he mattered. Too much.

College changed things.

Eren found someone else.

Mila Arden arrived in his life like a line drawn between before and after. She laughed louder, stood closer, claimed space that once felt shared. You tried to be happy for him. You told yourself distance was the mature thing to do.

So you stepped back.

But Mila didn’t let you fade quietly.

Her words came sharp and constant—calling you useless, accusing you of wanting Eren’s attention, twisting your silence into guilt. You never fought back. You stayed quiet. You swallowed it all, believing it would pass.

It didn’t.

Today, you were in the lab, focused on an important project—notes spread out, mind barely holding together. That’s when Mila walked in, her footsteps slow, deliberate. A smile curved her lips—not friendly, not curious—cruel.

She glanced at your project, then at you.

“So this is what you do now?” she scoffed softly. “Pretend to be smart so people forget what you really are?”

You stiffened but didn’t look up.

Mila stepped closer, lowering her voice just enough to make it poisonous.

“Everyone knows you’ve slept your way through half the campus,” she whispered. “Boys talk, you know. You should hear the things they say about you.”

Your hand tightened around your pen.

She leaned in further, breath warm against your ear.

“No wonder Eren chose me,” she continued sweetly. “You’re just… convenient. Always there. Always desperate.”

You finally looked at her.

She smiled wider.

“Tell me,” Mila added, eyes flicking over you with disgust, “Does it hurt knowing you were never more than his backup?”

Something inside you shattered.

Your hand moved before your mind could stop it.

The slap echoed through the lab. And then—

Eren.

He saw only one thing: your hand against Mila’s face.

He didn’t hear her words. Didn’t see your tears. Didn’t ask what happened.

His anger came fast and blinding.

Before you could speak, before you could explain, his hand struck your cheek—harder than you expected, harder than you were ready for.

Silence followed.

Not the quiet of peace—but the kind that changes everything.

“What is wrong with you?”

His voice is cold, shaking with anger as he looks at you—not like a best friend, not like someone who’s known you forever.

“How could you do that to her?” he snaps. “You think you can just hurt people because you’re jealous?”

He doesn’t wait for your answer.

“I don’t want to hear it,” he says sharply, turning away. “You’ve crossed a line.”

And just like that, the person who always believed you… walks away without listening.