Love Me Slowly, Lose Me Gently

After bidding my mother goodbye, I turned on my phone to find a Facebook friend request from Scott Lakin.

"Jennie, you've got some nerve unfriending me on Facebook," his message read.

Half a month ago, Scott had blocked me on every platform. He had been annoyed by me calling him over and over. The only platform I didn't get blocked on was freaking Soundcloud.

He'd assumed that I would beg him to make up with me like I always did, but he never expected that I would unfriend him on every platform.

If he wanted to contact me now, he'd have to send a friend request first.

I pretended not to see the notification and put my phone in my bag. When I walked out of the train station, I found Scott standing there.

"Where the heck have you been? Why haven't you come home? If I hadn't tracked your location down to this train station, I would never have found you."

He stared at me accusingly, as if he'd only just realized today that I hadn't been home.

I pursed my lips. I was about to tell him that I'd gone to visit my mother when I heard his mocking voice.

"Don't tell me that you ran away from home because you were mad at me. If that's the case, you should have just made yourself scarce. Why did you even bother coming back? Ultimately, you just wanted my attention."

With that, he didn't even wait for my response before grabbing my suitcase and dragging it with him.

"Let's go. The wedding dress we ordered is ready, and the store wants you to go try it on."

I smiled self-deprecatingly. If it weren't for this, he probably wouldn't even have realized that I'd disappeared.

Well, that was fine. Before I left, my mother had said that she wanted to see me in my wedding dress. At least I could make her happy.

The wedding dress had been ordered three months ago. It was a bit of a struggle to put on now.

Seeing me wrestling to put on my dress, Scott couldn't help but frown. He glanced down at his phone, then broke into a smile.

It was blatantly obvious that he was chatting with his childhood sweetheart.

With the help of the staff, I finally managed to put on the wedding dress.

"I already told you that wedding dresses don't suit you, yet you insisted on getting one. You look awful."

The staff gave me a pitying look. I paid his comment no mind, instead nodding to signal that I was ready for the wedding photoshoot.

After all, I was only going to wear this wedding dress once.

Seeing this, Scott stood up and walked over for the shoot. However, at that moment, his phone rang. When he saw the caller ID, he answered the phone without any hesitation.

Margot Williams' sweet voice sounded from the phone.

"Scott, the baby is kicking really hard. I'm really scared. Can you come over?"

When Scott heard that, his expression turned panicked. "Don't be afraid. I'm coming right away."

As soon as he said that, he turned around and shot me a glance. "Margot is in pain, so I need to check on her. Let's do the wedding photoshoot another day," he said matter-of-factly.

I said nothing as I watched him walk away. Yet, I was completely unbothered.

After ten years, Scott hadn't changed. Whenever it came to Margot, the smallest things would send him into a panic.

With reddening eyes, I gazed down at the wedding dress I was wearing. It was beautiful. My mother would definitely be delighted.

After the photoshoot was done, the staff told me that I could take the dress off. I did that, then I found a pair of scissors and cut it into shreds.

"Miss, what are you—"

I looked up, giving her a wry smile. "I don't want this dress anymore, so I thought I'd just cut it up."

Not only did I not want the wedding dress anymore, but I didn't want Scott anymore either.

Afterward, I made a call to the wedding planner. I told the wedding planner to recall all the invitations we had sent out. All I said was that the groom had fallen in love with someone else, so the wedding was off.

Then, I headed back into the office and shared the oranges that my mother had personally handpicked for me with my coworkers.

My mother was a down-to-earth farmer with a green thumb. All her produce always turned out delicious.

After taking a bite, every single one of my coworkers raved about how sweet my mother's fruits were.

At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and Margot walked in with Scott supporting her.

My eyes fell on her flat belly, and she leaned into Scott's arms shyly.

"My baby was kicking really badly today, so I had to ask Scott to take me to the hospital. I hope you didn't mind, Jen."

"Not at all," I said flatly while calmly looking away.

Ever since Scott abandoned me for Margot, I no longer cared about what he did.

Scott spotted the oranges on my desk. He noticed that the sack they came in was also made by my mother.

Stepping forward, he said unhappily, "Don't tell me that you disappeared to your hometown for half a month. Didn't we agree to visit your mother at the end of the year?

"How could you go alone? It's dangerous going to such a remote place by yourself."

My hometown may be rural, but it wasn't remote. Two years into our relationship, I'd wanted to take him to meet my mother.

However, he'd always turn me down for all kinds of reasons. In fact, in the past few years, he'd brushed me off impatiently every time I even mentioned her.

If we weren't about to get married at the end of the year, he'd never have agreed to go visit her.

"My mother told me that she missed me, and I missed her too. So, I went to see her," I said indifferently in response to his belated concern for me.

A strange look flickered in his eyes. He was about to reply when Margot suddenly said that all this standing around was exhausting her. In response, he quickly led her to a seat.

My closest friend at work, Ava Carten, couldn't help but ask curiously, "Jennie, did you and Mr. Lakin break up? It feels like you two started drifting apart ever since Margot joined the company."

I stuffed the last orange into my mouth, savoring its sweetness. Nodding, I said, "You could say that."