I Lent Him RM8,000. He Paid Me Back In Instalments. Then Broke Up With Me On The Last Payment.

I'm not stupid, okay. I want to make that very clear before I tell you this story.

I'm a 26-year-old accounts executive. I handle six-figure budgets at work. I know how money moves. So when people hear what happened to me, and they go *"how could you not see it coming"* — I want you to understand that love does something to the part of your brain that does math.

Izzat and I were together for about two years before the money thing happened. He was doing his masters, working part-time, genuinely struggling. I believed him because I'd seen his life — the rented room in Wangsa Maju, the worn-out laptop he'd been using since foundation year, the way he'd always order the cheapest thing at mamak even when I said I'd pay.

So when he came to me and said he needed RM8,000 for his thesis fees, equipment, and a laptop — I gave it to him. Not all at once. I transferred it in stages because that's how he asked, and that felt responsible at the time. Like, look, we're being structured about this. We're adults.

He insisted on paying me back. I said don't worry about it. He said no, babe, I want to do this properly, I'll do RM400 a month. Twenty months. I remember thinking, *this man has integrity lah.* He didn't want to owe me. I found that attractive.

Every month, on the 15th, RM400 would appear in my Maybank. Like clockwork. For twenty months.

On the twentieth month — February 15th — the final RM400 came through at 11:03am. I remember the notification. I even sent him a heart emoji on WhatsApp. He left it on read.

At 11:47am, he texted me: *"Aishah, I think we should talk. I've been thinking a lot and I feel like we're not going in the same direction anymore. I care about you but I think we should break up."*

I stared at my phone for so long that my screen locked.

Forty-four minutes. The man waited forty-four minutes after clearing his debt to end things.

My friends all reacted differently. Alia said *"eh he probably just felt guilty and wanted to clear the debt first, it's actually responsible."* Syira said *"Aishah. Babe. He planned this."*

I've gone back and forth on it so many times. Because here's the thing — if he was planning to leave me, why keep the relationship going for twenty months? Why not just disappear? Why pay me back at all?

But also: the timing. The *exact* timing. If it was a coincidence, it's the most devastating coincidence of my life. And if it was planned, then every one of those RM400 transfers was a countdown. Every month he was paying down not just a debt but an exit.

The worst part? I actually respect the organisation of it. Which I hate myself for.

He texted me a week later saying he hoped we could be friends. I have not replied.

The RM8,000 is back in my account. Every cent. And somehow that's the part that hurts the most.