Defused the Bomb, Ignited Our Breakup

Shawn's POV

As soon as the kiss was over, the atmosphere in the room was absolutely electric.

One of our male colleagues handed Andy Byers a full glass of liquor. "Andy, you did the most today, so you have to knock this one back!"

Andy had just taken it and was about to drink when Claire Weber snatched it right out of his hands. "Leave him alone."

With a slight frown, Claire tipped her head back and downed the entire glass in one go.

Then she told the server to bring over some honey water before warning everyone with a cold expression, "Andy's got a bad stomach. From now on, I'll drink on his behalf."

The whole room immediately erupted into teasing, suggestive cheers. "Oh, what's this? Our captain, who never drinks no matter who asks, is actually drinking today? I guess Andy's got a lot of sway around here!"

My heart was a mess of emotions. I'd never known Claire could be so thoughtful. And yet, when she came home yesterday, she'd brought jackfruit, the one fruit I didn't like.

As everyone laughed and chatted, a glass of liquor suddenly appeared in front of me. "Shawn, you're one of the veterans here. You can't refuse this one."

I frowned and instinctively looked over at Claire. "My hand got torn up by shrapnel and got infected. I'm on antibiotics, so I can't drink."

Annoyed, the guy grumbled, "Everyone's having a good time. You're seriously killing the mood."

I ignored him and kept looking at Claire, refusing to look away. Just this once, I wanted her to stand up for me the way she'd stood up for Andy and save me from being put on the spot.

But all she gave me was an indifferent glance. "There's a line between men and women. You've already drunk from that glass, so what would it look like if I drank from it too? We need to think about the bigger picture, so just deal with it yourself."

Then she silently mouthed the words, "Let's keep our distance."

Because of those words, we'd spent all these years keeping as much distance between us as possible at work. If it wasn't absolutely necessary, we didn't talk or interact.

No one knew how passionate she could be with me once we were home at night.

The colleagues around us all gave her a thumbs-up. "Looks like our captain is staying strictly loyal to Andy. For his sake, she won't even get close to another man."

Without saying a word, I picked up the glass. As the burning liquor went down my throat, my eyes stung. Soon, I fled the party.

Standing at the bus stop, I pulled out my phone out of habit. My chat with Claire was still sitting at the top of my messages, the last text from yesterday still there.

"Tomorrow's op is dangerous. Be careful."

She never replied. As I scrolled up, it was just message after message from me, and only me.

"Coming home for dinner? I made your favorites."

"It's getting cold out. I left your scarf on the coat rack."

The last time she'd messaged me at all was when she said, "There's a new guy on the squad called Andy Byers. Be sure to look out for him."

I gave a wry little smile. Then I noticed that Claire had posted something on her social media, which was unheard of.

It was a photo of Andy from behind, backlit by the sunset, with the caption, "New blood. We have bright days ahead."

The comments were filled with our colleagues teasing them, with some even joking about when they'd be invited to the wedding.

This was the first time Claire had ever posted on her social media. Back when we first got together, I hugged her from behind and told her I wanted us to go public with our relationship.

Claire refused without hesitation, saying that keeping our distance was to protect us both.

For five whole years, it was as if I'd never existed in her life.

I clenched my phone in my hand and liked the post with a blank expression. So this was what utter disappointment felt like. I couldn't even shed a single tear.

When I got home, I rebandaged my wound with practiced hands and opened my computer.

There on the desktop was a marriage application I'd filled out long ago.

I hovered the cursor over it, tempted to open it for one last look. But in the end, I simply dragged it straight into the recycle bin.

Then I logged into my email and opened the transfer request that had been sitting there for a long time. The northwestern border was the place with the highest casualty rate in the bomb disposal unit.

Once I got there, my records would be classified as top secret. And from that point on, it would be as if I no longer existed in this world. Without hesitation, I sent in the transfer request.

Claire wanted us to keep our distance, so I was going to do exactly that. From now on, whether I lived or died would have nothing to do with her anymore.