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.

When the alarm clock woke me up the next day, I shoved his hand off in annoyance, but that alone woke him up.He rubbed his eyes as he got up, "Aren't you waking up too early?""I'm done sleeping," I replied, getting dressed without looking at him.He pursed his lips, noticing the medicine on top of my drawer. "Were you sick?"I never answered, and I was ready to leave after getting dressed when he hugged me from behind.I frowned and tried to free myself, but his arms tightened around me as he said anxiously, "I'm sorry I stood you up, but I can explain—Sophie was sick, and she's alone in the big city. I have to take care of her…"I slid out of his grasp as I replied, "I know—you don't have to explain yourself. You told me that she's sick and frail, so it's only right you went to her. There's no need to apologize, and you can just drop it."There was shock and disbelief in his eyes as I finished, but I didn't want to keep talking to him and patted his arm. "Alright. If there's

Mark never said anything along the way, while I fell asleep in the silence.I jolted awake when Mark clapped my shoulder, and I opened my eyes to find myself staring at his scowl.Sophie had already left him, heading upstairs with other male classmates, leaving just Mark and I in the car."Are you tired?" he asked me."Very," I replied and got out of the car.Mark held out a hand to take my bag, explaining as he walked, "I'm really just giving Sophie a ride to this party. Don't get the wrong idea."I only walked faster—the more he explained, the more it annoyed me.As soon as the door opened, Sophie leaped out, pouting as she wrapped her arms around Mark's neck. "Can't you be a pal for once, Mark? You had to make us wait here for so long because of your girl—your punishment is squats while carrying me on your back."Mark glanced at me in embarrassment and pushed her away. "That's enough. Stop it."Sophie's smile stiffened—she was actually surprised that Mark would say no, but

Mark's behavior only became stranger since then—he would always share with me how his day went, and the frequency of his phone calls also increased obviously.But while I would have celebrated before, all I felt now was annoyance, and I only afforded him short and simple replies.On one occasion, he even showed up at a work dinner, waiting for two hours outside.I even remembered the adoration in his eyes. "From now on, I'll be the one who waits for you."He was persistently clingy, leaving work thirty minutes early so that he could take a detour to my office and take me home. Naturally, it hugely affected my studies.I had clearly told him to stop and even used excuses of working overtime, but he just wouldn't give in.Eventually, I simply ignored him and headed straight to the library after work.One day, when I was packing out and leaving the library, I found him waiting at the door.Though I let him take me home, it was a surprisingly silent journey, as opposed to when he

Mark's attempts at avoidance were futile—I had already decided to leave him, and it was just a matter of time.If anything, I had never expected things to come to this.We had been together since university, but as it turned out, I was the only one who cared, while he only ever cared about Sophie.His future prospects didn't satisfy her vanity, and there was no way she'd be interested, with her disdain for those with more modest fortunes.But she also loved being fawned over and therefore kept Mark hanging for years, and she came back to him when his career took off and he had a sizable monthly income.Neither Mark nor myself had much money back in university, and I spent my hard-earned money to buy him a watch, only for him to sell it and buy Sophie a handbag.When I asked, he'd just tell me every time that I was being unreasonable and blowing things out of proportion.Things only got worse when Sophie moved to the same city.It wasn't like I'd never thought of leaving him bef