The Last Thing He Fed Me

Synopsis

My childhood sweetheart, James Carter, spent years feeding me sugary, greasy desserts, pushing me from 132 pounds all the way to 209 pounds so he could use my weight as an excuse to end our engagement. All that time, I thought he was doing this out of love. Until one day, I overheard him sitting around with his friends, saying, "If I don't fatten her up, what excuse am I supposed to use to call off the engagement? Now even my mom and her family think she's not good enough for me." One of his friends said, "Damn, James, that's brutal. You fatten her up on purpose, then dump her? She loves you that much. What if she can't handle it?" James sounded impatient. "What else can I do? Eliana is coming back soon. She went overseas to get a master's degree in art so she'd be good enough to be with me. I can't let her down." Eliana Reed. She was my dad's illegitimate daughter. Three years ago, after I had that accident, she was a suspect, so my dad hid her overseas, afraid that I'd go after her. And somehow, in her version of the story, she'd gone abroad to further her education for the sake of love. Man, she had no shame. The reflection in the window showed me exactly what I'd become. A round face, a double chin, and a thick waist. I had gained so much weight that I looked like the Michelin Man. My eyes, once praised for being bright and pretty, had been swallowed up by layers of fat until they were little more than slits. So, this whole thing had been a trap, and James had planned every bit of it. I took a deep breath, picked up the food I'd spent hours making for him, walked over to the trash can, and dumped it in without a second thought. Then I walked away without looking back. You wanted to call off the engagement? Fine. And you wanted to be with your little sweetheart? Go ahead. I hope you were stuck with each other for the rest of your lives.