Chapter 3
My thoughts were a tangled mess. Without thinking, I typed: [What are you doing?] A second later, I realized my mistake and frantically deleted it, trying to rephrase it into something less needy.
But it was too late. My follow-up text was suspended next to a single gray check mark. I was blocked.
He was still that sensitive to those words.
I sighed.
After all this time trying to bend toward each other, we were still wrong for each other.
I got obsessive. He got unhinged.
I used to think that even if the passion was gone, we could at least be respectful.
But now, I was done. A strange sense of peace washed over me.
No amount of money or no declaration of love could make me accept a third person in our relationship.
He trampled the one boundary I could never compromise on.
I didn't hate him. He was, after all, the person who had stood by me during the darkest time of my life.
When I was being bullied so badly in high school that the police had to get involved, my own parents blamed me for making trouble. It was Daniel who held my hand and talked me through the nightmares.
When I got into a car accident, it was Daniel who flew across the country to sit by my hospital bed. He took care of me for two weeks when I was at my most broken and disgusting.
When I was so depressed during my grad school entrance exams that I stopped eating, it was Daniel who encouraged me, driving all over the city just to find my favorite dessert.
Remembering all of that, I dialed such a familiar number that I could do it in my sleep.
I just wanted to talk. I wanted to know who she was. Even if it was Jessica, I could handle it. I would let them be happy. They wouldn't have to sneak around anymore. We could break up peacefully, and I could finally move on.
The phone rang and rang.
Suddenly, through the window, I saw them.
The lab had recently moved to a new building, right across the street from a five-star hotel.
Standing at the entrance with a cold expression was Daniel. Wrapped in his arms, clinging to him, was a pretty girl.
It was Claire Evans, the girl who had led the charge in bullying me all those years ago.
The air rushed out of my lungs. An invisible hand clenched around my heart, squeezing until I couldn't breathe.
I watched, frozen, as she smiled and leaned up to kiss him.
Daniel turned his head slightly. "Stop it."
"You said that three months ago," she whispered, "but you still stayed."
This time, when she leaned in, he didn't pull away. He met her lips, deepening the kiss.
Daniel, who never even liked to hold my hand in public, was letting her grope him right on the sidewalk.
His eyes were full of a playful indulgence I hadn't seen in years. "Little trouble," he murmured.
Then he saw my name on his screen. His brow furrowed, and he pushed Claire off.
His voice went cold and mocking. "Checking up on me again? I'm with a colleague. Do you need me to put her on so she can explain?"
Before, his accusations would've made me crumble and blame myself.
But now, the words "let's break up" were lodged in my throat, like a bitter pill I couldn't swallow.
Rage tore through my chest.
Suddenly, I saw it all clearly. His cutting remarks and his accusations were lies to keep me trapped and confused.
He used Jessica as a shield to hide someone far worse.
He knew how much I hated Claire, but he had chosen to twist the knife, sleeping with her to re-open all my old wounds.
Hatred ate me alive, flooding my veins.
Why should we have a clean break? Why should I forgive him? Why should he get to be happy?
Why should I let him stomp my heart into the floor?
Why should I be the one to let go of all the pain?
My voice, when I finally spoke, was colder than I had ever heard it.
I forced a smile, pushing all the roiling emotions down.
"Daniel," I asked, "are you coming home tonight?"
I would make Daniel pay a price so steep that he would spend the rest of his life remembering it.