Never Look Back

I watched as my boyfriend Mark Goodman put a beautiful matching ring on Sophie White's ring finger.

It was her birthday, and everyone cheered as if they were the ones actually dating.

When I asked him later, Mark shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just a ring. Let her have it."

And without further explanation, he left me alone in my room and left.

I watched as he went, feeling ever-growing disappointment.

After all, no woman would accept their boyfriend exchanging matching rings with another woman.

And with that, we gave each other the silent treatment for two weeks.

In fact, just two weeks ago, he offered to take me to the beach, saying that we should start over.

But when I packed my bags and happily went to the airport, he stood me up once again.

He told me that Sophie's home had a power outage, and she'd be scared, as a young girl alone in a big house.

Even as I felt my good mood vaporizing, I still remember how cold he was when he said, "Be good. I'll make up to you next time."

It was always the same words—I had to let Sophie win whenever she was involved.

He didn't even remember that day was my birthday.

When I pointed out that he was being too nice to Sophie, he would say that Sophie was just a sister to him.

I smiled sardonically as I remembered.

To him, that sister whom he had no blood relations with was even more important than me, his girlfriend.

If anything, it was like Sophie was his girlfriend instead.

And Mark knew how much I wanted a pair of matching rings that I would wear with him—that it was the symbol of our love.

I would tell him that countless times, but he would respond half-heartedly.

When he eventually reluctantly agreed to buy a pair, the ring ended up on Sophie's finger anyway.

I gave him all the love I had, but nothing was ever given back.

Even if I gave my heart to him, it was nothing compared to Sophie.

-

I was arriving at a bus station when Mark called.

I hesitated and eventually answered.

After all, I still had hope—what if he wanted to apologize?

However, all I got was him demanding coldly, "What's your problem, Lilian?! Sophie's crying and saying she wants to apologize!"

As he finished, Sophie's soft voice came from the other end, saying, "I'm so sorry, Lilian… I didn't know you'd get upset about the rings! I'll buy you dinner tomorrow and apologize properly, okay?"

It wasn't easy for me to calm down, but now that calm vaporized because of Sophie.

And when I didn't respond, Sophie started crying at Mark, "What if Lilian doesn't forgive me? I really didn't mean to get between you two…"

I stayed silent as I rolled my eyes, just as Mark snatched the phone and snapped furiously, "How long are you going to keep this up?! Can't you be more understanding?! Sophie is showing you plenty of respect by buying you dinner—you're coming no matter what happens!"

I took a deep breath and said, "I'm busy."

With that, I hung up.

The world was really more peaceful without Mark and Sophie hollering into my ears.

They could do whatever they wanted to—I didn't have the time to waste playing their games.