Never First in His Heart

"Melissa, did you really break up with him?"

The call from my best friend, Larisse Scott, came through the second I stepped out of Elias Jones's company building.

"I did."

"You and Elias grew up together. You've been together for nine years. You're really ending things just because he didn't buy you that bag while he was away on a business trip?"

I stopped walking.

"It wasn't just the bag."

Elias had spent seven days on a business trip to Francoria.

Before he left, I had reminded him over and over, "Don't forget my birthday bag."

He smiled and promised he would not.

When he came back from Francoria, he made sure everyone received a souvenir.

His secretary, the security guards, and even the receptionist got one. One by one, they all walked away smiling with a gift in hand.

Everyone except me.

"I'm sorry, Melissa. The trip was so packed. It completely slipped my mind.

"I'll get it next time. I promise."

Since our engagement three months ago, he had forgotten something important to me seventeen times.

The first time happened when I was on my period.

The cramps were so bad I could barely get out of bed, so I asked him to pick up some painkillers on his way home from work.

He said he would. Instead, he came home smelling like alcohol.

"A client invited me to dinner last minute. We had a few drinks, and I forgot."

I did not get angry.

After helping him to bed, I ordered medicine and dinner for myself.

The second time, my design studio was flooded with orders.

I was so busy I barely had time to breathe, so I asked him to bring me dinner that night.

He agreed without hesitation.

I waited until eleven o'clock.

My blood sugar dropped, yet he still never showed up.

When I finally got home, he had already gone to sleep.

"I was exhausted after work. I got home, lay down for a minute, and forgot."

I looked at the pajamas he had already changed into.

I did not say a word.

Then came the third time.

Then the eighth.

Then the seventeenth.

Again and again, I convinced myself not to make a big deal out of how absentminded he was.

Eventually, every time I asked him for something, I automatically prepared myself for the possibility that Elias would forget.

Then, by pure chance, I stumbled across Tracy Shaw's Instagram.

Almost every post was about her life with her boss.