Chapter 4

I was standing on the street when my phone suddenly buzzed. It was a message from my dad.

He wrote, "Tasha, when is Jared coming back? Your mom was talking about your wedding again today."

I stared at those words, and my eyes finally started to sting. For Jared, I had lied to my family for too long. I told them he was busy, that he loved me, and that he was just a private person. I kept lying until I almost believed it myself.

After a while, I called my mom.

Her gentle voice came through instantly. "How is everything? Have you and Jared set a wedding date? When is he coming over?"

"Mom, we broke up," I managed to choke out.

There was a long silence on the other end. Long enough that I thought she would call me impulsive and tell me to give Jared another chance.

But she merely sighed softly and asked, "Did he hurt you?"

Those words almost shattered the composure I had been fighting so hard to maintain. "Yeah."

My mom's voice grew thick with emotion. "Then come home," she said. "Your dad and I can take care of you."

I couldn't hold back my tears. They started falling freely.

…

I went back to the place I shared with Jared and started packing the last of my things.

In the early hours of the morning, Jared finally messaged me.

"Babe, are you asleep?"

I didn't reply.

A moment later, he sent a voice message. His voice was soft, hushed, as if he were afraid of waking someone up.

"I just finished handling everything. I'm so tired," he murmured. "I wish you were here. I want to hold you."

I scrolled through our chat history, going all the way back to the beginning. Seven years of messages took up a huge amount of storage. There was a time he would buy medicine for me in the middle of the night, drive out to pick me up in a torrential rain, and search half the city just because I said I wanted strawberries.

But those happy memories could no longer wash away the deep humiliation I felt now.

I suddenly remembered what he had written on his feed. "Loving someone means you can't help but show them off to the world."

I opened my own social media account. In our seven years together, I had posted so many things about him.

I shared photos of the flowers he gave me, the movies we watched together, and the first pot of stew he accidentally burned. I had documented every sweet thing he ever said to me.

But he had never liked a single post. He never showed up in the comments, and he never responded.

It was as if he had already decided from the very beginning that this relationship was just my one-woman show.

I began deleting the posts one by one. When I finally finished, my feed was so clean it looked like he had never existed in my life.

…

At first light, I took a cab to the airport.

Sitting in the back row of the waiting area, I watched the sky turn bright gold outside the massive glass windows.

Seven years ago, Jared held my hand for the first time, telling me he was possessive and would never let me look at anyone else. Seven years later, he hid me away like a shameful secret while proudly flaunting another woman to everyone he knew.

This time, I wouldn't wait for him anymore.

The boarding announcement echoed through the terminal.

In the final moment before takeoff, I watched the city grow farther and farther away outside the window, then finally closed my eyes.