MTLNOVEL Chapter 1
Chapter 1. Heartbroken, I Set Off on a Reckless Camping Trip
It was spring, but the chill still lingered. My boyfriend of five years had just broken up with me.
I had thought we would eventually get married. I had even visited his parents and greeted them. We had saved up a decent amount for our future together.
But in the end, that final push was missing.
Half a year ago, he got transferred, and we both became busier with work. The last time I properly saw him was about a month ago, at a farewell party for a colleague. Even then, he seemed no different from usual.
But before I knew it, he had started dating a senior female colleague at his new workplace (of course, she was older than me). And to make it worse, she was married.
And he told me this during the breakup?
On top of that, he had the nerve to consult me, his freshly minted ex-girlfriend?
“Are you an idiot?”
It was late at night before a three-day holiday.
Gripping the steering wheel, I muttered complaints under my breath.
In my apartment, there was no trace of him left. I had thrown everything away, treating it all as trash. I had completely erased his existence.
But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to throw away the camping gear we had prepared together, saying we’d go camping someday. I loaded it all into a rented compact car and set off alone for a solo camping trip to a campsite I had always wanted to visit.
——”Let’s do this too.”
——”I want to try making this dish.”
We used to say things like that while watching camping videos and reading camping magazines.
But in the end, we never went even once.
Memories of those happy days flashed through my mind, and I couldn’t hold back the tears.
“Ugh, ugh…”
It was dangerous to keep driving like this.
My vision blurred with tears, so I pulled over to the side of the road.
“…Are you an idiot?!”
Sobbing, I buried my face in the steering wheel and cried for a while.
“Haah… I need to pull myself together, or I’ll be late.”
Wiping my tears, I glanced at the rearview mirror and saw my ugly face.
“This is the worst.”
I blew my nose hard with a few tissues.
Even though I had a driver’s license, I was practically a paper driver with no confidence to drive on the highway. So, taking the back roads meant the trip would naturally take longer.
Along the way, I stopped at a convenience store to pick up some things. I had already bought a lot, but while stopping to wake myself up, I ended up grabbing more. I stuffed the plastic bags into the cooler box in the back of the car.
By the time the sky began to lighten, a thin mist had started to form.
It’s not uncommon for the fog to turn everything white during the morning commute, making it hard to see ahead. But there’s nothing scarier than driving in such conditions. Even with the headlights on, the unease is unavoidable. Especially since the campsite was in the mountains. I knew there were guardrails, but fear is fear.
The car’s built-in navigation system told me I was almost at my destination.