Prologue :

She smelled smoke. In the darkness, she paused and slid her hand down her leg, silently unbuckling the knife strapped to her thigh. Slowly, she padded across the hallway before peeking into the living room. It was dark but the moonlight cast a straight beam into the room. What she saw made her heart nearly stopped. She bit down her scream. Jesse was lying there on the floor, his eyes shut, looking white and lifeless. She fought her instinct to run in and shake him. A noise. A whistle of sorts decreasing to a deadly silence. She knew what it was and immediately ran into the room, throwing her body across Jesse's. There was a loud rush, a tremendous roar and then.. nothingness.

7 years ago

Anyone looking at her would think nothing was amiss. They would probably see a girl sitting on the steps of the building, with her headphones on, head slightly bobbing to whatever she was listening to; just another student at Barden perhaps waiting for her next class. Her face was calm as she looked across the quad and no one can see the slightly tense way she was clutching her hands in her lap.

Beca could not help that one quirk that betrayed how her heart was breaking all over again, as she saw Jesse lying on their (no, no longer theirs) patch on the quad, his arms around a blonde girl (Stephanie, was it?). She was whispering in his ear and he had that easy, sweet smile Beca knew so well, and now he was murmuring to her, possibly talking about the movie they were watching on his laptop.

"Stop it, Beca" she said silently to herself. She closed her eyes and breathed out slowly. Her hands finally relaxed in her lap. It had been months and 9it was about time she finish this.

After her grand gesture at ICCA finals, they had a blissful two years together. Two years of being each other's shadow, of moviecations and juice pouches, of singing and of loving and completing each other. He willingly came along for painful dinners with her father and stepmonster. She spent a few weeks of summer break in the sophomore year with him and his family and loved every minute of it.

It had to end, of course.

When Beca went home to her mom for summer in the third year, little did she know it was to change her life. She came back and for Jesse, it was like his girlfriend had disappeared and an entirely new person returned. Her walls were up, stronger than before and he did not know what to do. They had one row after another and the final straw was when he found the letter of transfer to another college on her table; not even hidden, like she wanted him to find it.

They had a blistering argument, shouting and hurting each other. He wanted to know why she was doing this, why she didn't say anything, why was she leaving, a million and one whys but the very bottom of it, he was asking why she was breaking his heart. And she refused to say anything; only saying she had to do this, she had to go to her mother. She could not say her heart was breaking too.

The Bellas tried to step in. Benji tried to speak to her but her walls were unassailable. In the end, Jesse had to talk to Dr. Mitchell, just to confirm that Beca was indeed going to leave Barden.

Beca knew her father had something say when he asked to see her in his office. Before he could say anything, Beca said, with tears in her eyes "Dad, I knew why you had to leave Mum. I knew why it was not working between the two of you."

Dr. Mitchell shut his mouth and looked down. When he finally looked up at his precious daughter, there was a little anger and sadness in his eyes.

"Beca, they got you too." It was not a question.

He sighed heavily. "You don't have to do this."

"They have something in mind for me, Dad. I have to leave and I can't take Jesse. He has a different future in mind."

Dr. Mitchell went across and hugged his daughter. "Will I still be able to see you?"

Beca nodded, cleared her throat and looked up at her dad. "I am sorry. For all this while. Thinking you were the bad guy."

"You wouldn't know, sweetheart. "

"I can't let Jesse get hurt like you would have been. Dad...please help me."

Dr. Mitchell just nodded.

And he did. He spoke to Jesse, saying Beca's mind was made up and she was leaving. That he should try to forget her and move on, perhaps pay more attention to his studies now that he would be in his final year. And she knew her dad had done so. Because the phonecalls and the texts stopped. Because the Bellas left her cookie packages outside her door and yet left her alone. Because Benji stopped coming round with yet another message or apology from Jesse. It hurt worse than having Jesse beating down her door. It meant that he had accepted it, that he had given up. But it also meant she was free.

Almost.

She had to see that Jesse had moved on. It had been 6 months since she left and now she was here, seeing Jesse with another girl. She had picked up snippets of news from Fat Amy and Stacie. How Jesse was in a spiral for weeks after she left. Benji and the rest of the Trebles had to be on duty to watch he didn't drink too much or missed too many classes. However, the aca-groupies were out in full force and it was not too long before he was seen going out with different girls. However, this blonde , Stephanie, seems to be the more resilient from the pack and they became an item a few weeks ago.

Beca exhaled a long breath. She took a final long look at Jesse, trying to cram as much memory of Jesse as she could remember. How the way the sun caught his hair, his sweet smile (now sadly not for her), the long line of his body, lying on that ridiculous blue towel, the way his arm was cushioning his head. She shut her eyes, unable to look. Like she could forget how Jesse looked.

"Goodbye, Jesse," she whispered so softly into the wind. She stood up, turned and walk away, dialling a number on her phone. When the call went through, it was a simple "Mum, I am ready now."

Jesse raised himself to his elbow and turned his head towards Martin Hall. Something seems to call to him yet he could not hear anything. There were students milling around – nothing seems to be unusual. He thought he saw a familiar figure and had to shake his head. Surely not? Before he could take a second look, he felt Stephanie's lips on his arm and he turned back to smile to her, forgetting what he was looking out for in the first place.