A Handful of Broken Promises

The live call was still connected, and Gary Litt's familiar voice kept going, "You're the mother of a three-year-old. Come on, sweetheart, stop acting like a child."

I rested a hand on my slightly rounded belly, my heart turning ice-cold.

For a while, Gary had kept telling me how busy he was: busy saving up for our wedding fund, busy trying to buy a car and a house.

Once, during a phone call, I heard a small child crying and fussing near him and asked about it offhandedly.

He explained right away, "It's a coworker's kid. I can't wait for the day you give me a baby of our own. I bet they'll be just as adorable as you."

So I stopped doubting him. I tried hard to get pregnant with this child, wanting to surprise him.

I never imagined he'd already had a child with another woman and built a family with her.

A woman's coy, whining voice came through the computer, "I'm not imagining things! Then tell me, who's this woman sending you money?"

A few seconds of silence followed, and my heart clenched along with it as I waited for his answer.

Then Gary spoke, his tone careless, "Her? She's a classmate from college who chased after me. Now I can't shake her off no matter what I do."

The word "classmate" cut into my heart like a knife.

Lena Arnault refused to let it go, and Gary kept coaxing her, his voice full of indulgence, "Back in college, we were young and didn't know any better. Right before graduation, she got pregnant with my child, but I made her get rid of it so I could marry you."

In that instant, my hands clenched into tight fists.

Back then, he had cried as he told me he couldn't afford to raise a child yet, that he wasn't ready to take on the responsibility of being a father.

My heart ached for him, so I swallowed the pain and ended the pregnancy.

So the child I lost had only ever been an obstacle standing between him and marrying another woman.

Lena let out a playful huff. "Then what's this transfer about?"

"Who knows why she's so desperate to get married?" Gary sighed helplessly. "She's so desperate to marry me that she'd decided to save up our wedding fund herself. If she could, she'd buy me a house and a car too.

"But why would I give her the time of day? She's nothing compared to you."

Lena gave him a flirty kiss and cooed, "Honey, you're the best! If someone like that ever found out you're the richest tycoon in the city, she'd cling to you even harder."

Sitting in front of the screen, I felt something in my head explode.

Gary had told me he worked at a small company, and that his heartless boss docked his pay and constantly worked him to the bone.

We were long-distance most of the time. Every visit meant a bus ride that took a full day and two nights, and by the end I was always utterly drained.

So that Gary wouldn't have to agonize over our wedding fund anymore, I worked at a company during the day and streamed at night as a relationship-advice streamer.

My mother, Agnes Castor, even stayed up late making handicrafts to help me save money. She had nearly ruined her eyesight doing it.

Now I saw it clearly. In his eyes, I was nothing but a clown, "desperate to get married."

Just then, Gary's voice suddenly came closer to the computer, "Who are you chatting with?"

Everything went silent for a few seconds. Then the call was cut off.

Staring at the screen as the chat comments scrolled by in a frenzy, I finally remembered how to breathe.

A message from Gary popped up on my phone: [I'll explain later. Don't ask Lena about it. She doesn't know anything.]

The money I'd worked so hard to save, the wedding I'd planned so carefully, nearly seven years of love, all of it turned into a farce in that moment.