
i lowkey feel bad for hayden, i mean he stayed with for like four years with the thought of them dating but they weren’t? but still, him not defending river even when he knows the truth was kinda selfish? or immature,,,, neither of them deserved what they got ugh

That would work. But the author already drew a scene with River attempting to beg Tristan as Tristan drives away. So at some point they were in contact, it’s said an entire year went by that was River‘s first year in grad school. The time wouldn’t make sense as it’s conflict with the dialogue. So the the event had to have occurred during their final year together. Or the author themself has ruined the timeline of events

What I interpreted with that scene was that Hayden found out that River didn't like him in the way that he thought, and in a way of overreacting, he decided to cut ties with River. His overreaction can be shown as to how he never really properly confessed to River and assumed that River meant "like" in a romantic way. So his embarrassment of his actions for their four years of undergrad could have lead him to distance himself from River. Also, River said that he didn't know why Hayden did that, but that he would change himself. That means that it wasn't because of the stealing incident, because River would immediately assume it would be because of that. Then again I could be completely wrong and we just have to wait for more info from the author lol :)
OH MY GOD FINALLY