After Ninety-nine Times

Instead of taking a cab, I walked home. By the time I got there, the sky was already dark.I stood quietly at the doorway, staring at the photo of us sitting on the shoe cabinet. It was taken three years ago, during our trip to Southsea. Annie was smiling so brightly back then, like her eyes were filled with stars. Now, those stars had all fallen on someone else.A wave of helplessness rose from deep inside my chest. As I collapsed onto the couch, a buzz from my phone broke the silence. It was a message from Annie.“The test results are out. Joseph’s fine. He just has a little hypoglycemia.”I stared at the screen, fingers hovering over the keyboard for what felt like forever. In the end, I replied with a word. “Okay.”Another message popped up right after: “Let’s have dinner tonight. Same place as always.”I should have said no, but when my phone lit up again and I saw she reserved my favorite seat by the window, my heart gave in. Seven years of habit were hard to shake.Pa

After what happened with Joseph, things between Annie and me turned into a silent, drawn-out cold war. However, that worked in my favor as it gave me the space I needed to start packing.Without a second thought, I tossed my favorite mug into the trash. It was the one we bought on our first date. It was a white ceramic, with two cartoon cats snuggled together printed on the side.We’d had it for seven years, and the glaze at the bottom had started to chip, just like our relationship—worn down and cracked in places.I packed and tossed things as I went, loading every souvenir of “us” into boxes headed straight for the dumpster. The bedroom was quickly buried in cardboard as I sorted through my stuff piece by piece, separating what was mine from what was hers.At the back of the closet, I found the first gift Annie ever gave me. It was a dark gray scarf, awkwardly stitched with uneven rows. She’d spent a whole month secretly learning to knit just to make it for me.I stared at it fo

Thankfully, things had been light at work recently, so the handover went unusually smoothly.In my office, I filed the last few patient reports. Seven years’ worth of surgical records were now neatly packed into cardboard boxes. Soon, they’d belong to someone else.Suddenly, the door slammed open. Annie stood there, eyes locked onto me. She wasn’t wearing makeup today, and dark circles hung under her eyes. Her lips were pale from biting them too hard.“I… I haven’t agreed to your resignation,” she said.I didn’t even look up. I kept organizing the files as I replied flatly, “Department transfers don’t require multiple approvals. It was the head office’s decision.”“Finn!” She slammed her palm down on the desk, hard enough to make the pens in the holder rattle and jump.However, her anger faded almost instantly. Her fingers rubbed nervously along the edge of the desk.“How long are you going to keep doing this?”Finally, I looked up at her, calm and distant. “I’m wrapping up my

I thought meeting Annie would just be a minor blip in my life, but her persistence went far beyond anything I could’ve imagined.Ever since that embarrassing scene at the medical conference, my phone hadn’t stopped blowing up. At first, it was just apologies. Then came the long, drawn-out texts filled with nostalgia, and now, it had escalated into full-on harassment.“Dr. Hardy, someone dropped off flowers for you again.” Nurse Lisa poked her head into the office, a teasing smile on her face. “Nine hundred and ninety-nine roses. It’s quite a sight.”I didn’t even look up. “The usual. Split them among the staff.”That was the third time that week. It was obvious Annie was trying to recreate the early days of our relationship.Back then, it was flowers, gifts, and her waiting downstairs for hours just to see me. However, that was then. Now, those same gestures didn’t touch me. They just wore me down.Nurse Lisa hesitated for a moment. “She’s out at the front desk again. She said sh