Chapter 2

I had heard those exact words more times than I could count over the years.

Countless times, when Carlos and I had been on a date, Celeste would call and pull him away, all under the guise of having an episode and needing him to be with her.

Did Celeste have no other friends? No family of her own? Was Carlos some kind of miracle drug that could cure her the second he walked through the door?

It was all just an excuse for Celeste to steal Carlos away from me, plain and simple.

The ridiculous part was that Carlos had never seen a single thing wrong with it. He had chosen her over me, again and again.

Even today, at our 100th engagement party, he had left without a second thought.

I roughly wiped the tears from my eyes, pulled myself together, and saw all my friends off home one by one. After that, I went back to our empty apartment alone.

I sat in the living room, opened every single bottle of wine I had bought to celebrate our engagement, and drank them all until they were empty.

I stared at the empty bottles littered across the table, took a photo, and posted it on social media.

I captioned: [Turns out, I've always been alone.]

My friends all knew what had happened with Carlos that night, and flooded the comments with messages of support.

One of my friends messaged: [Isabel, we're always here for you.]

Another texted: [There are so many better people out there waiting for you.]

My phone pinged again with another notification.

I opened it and saw a message from Carlos.

It read: [What the hell is your problem? I told you Celeste was having an episode. Can you grow up and be more mature about this?]

I let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh when I saw that message, which held not a single ounce of care for how I was feeling. I opened another bottle of wine and downed it in gulps.

The alcohol burned my stomach with a sharp, hot ache, and tears slipped down my cheeks.

When Celeste needed someone to be with her, Carlos would drop everything and rush to her side, no matter where he was or what he was doing.

But when it came to me, all I ever got was him blaming me.

After seven years together, I finally saw the truth. I had never been a priority to him.

That night, for the first time in seven years, I did not wait up for him on the living room couch.

In the past, I had always been scared he would come home to a dark, cold house and feel unwelcome.

I would leave a light on for him and sit on the couch waiting, even if it meant staying up until dawn. I had ended up with chronic headaches from it over the years, but I had never minded.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but I slept like a log that night.

I woke up early the next morning. Sure enough, Carlos had not come home at all the night before.

I did not call him to yell or demand an explanation, like I had done so many times before. I made myself breakfast, ate it quickly, and got ready to leave for work.

Just as I was about to walk out the door, Carlos came home.

He looked surprised when he saw the empty dining table.

"Where's my breakfast?" he asked.

Carlos had a sensitive stomach. In the past, no matter if he had come home the night before or not, I would always make him a fresh breakfast, scared he would skip it and make his stomach issues worse.

But today, I kept putting on my shoes and replied without looking up, "I already ate. Order something yourself."

Maybe he finally realized I was pissed, because he came over and wrapped his arm around my waist, his voice much softer than yesterday.

He said, "Isabel, I know I was wrong to keep turning down the engagement. But there's no one else to be with Celeste.

"I can't just leave her alone. You don't want me to marry you with this hanging over my head, do you?

"Once Celeste finds someone to spend the rest of her life with, I won't have to worry about her being alone when she has an episode.

"I'll be able to marry you with my full attention. Isn't that what you want?

"There's really nothing going on between Celeste and me. Please stop being mad at me."

Back then, whenever Carlos patiently explained things to me, I'd let it go and forgive him.

But this time, all I felt was fed up.

I was sick of hearing the same excuses over and over again. I pulled his hands off my waist.

"Yeah. I'm going to be late for work. I have to go," I said.

Then I walked out the door without looking back.

As soon as I got to the office, I heard the news that the department was sending two employees to a training program at the overseas branch. Everyone was rushing to sign up.

Since I had joined the company straight out of college, there had been three previous opportunities for this overseas training program. This was the fourth.

Nearly all the employees who had joined the company at the same time as me had gone on the program. They had all gotten promotions and raises when they came back a year later.

But I had never signed up. I had not wanted to be in a long-distance relationship with Carlos. I had let every single one of those amazing opportunities slip through my fingers.

Looking back now, I was 30 years old, and my life was a complete mess.

In my love life, I had spent seven years chasing after Carlos, only to be left at 100 failed engagement parties.

He would not even give me a vague promise of when we might get married. It was always the same line. He would not get married until Celeste did.

In my career, I had gotten nowhere. All my peers had moved up into management positions years ago. I was still stuck in an entry-level role, going through the motions every single day.

I thought it was finally time to make a change.

I went to my manager and signed up for the training program. I had worked under this manager ever since I had joined the company, and she looked shocked when I handed her my application.

"Isabel, so you finally made up your mind? Did you talk it over with your boyfriend?" she asked.