Not About Love

I picked up my phone and called April Neville. It rang for a long time before she answered.

"Oliver? What's wrong?"

"April, how's Miravel?"

There was a pause on the other end, and when she spoke again, her voice was stiff. "What's that supposed to mean? We agreed we'd reschedule the shoot after I got back from my business trip."

I did not answer. I sent her the live photo.

What came back was an accusation.

"You went through my private stuff? Is there seriously no trust left between us?"

I almost laughed. She was the one lecturing me about trust. "We're done, April."

She did not believe it. "Stop it. What are you even talking about? The wedding's already booked."

Then her voice went soft. "Alright, this is my fault. Don't hang up. Just let me explain, alright?"

Yet the very next second, Sebastian Pratt's voice drifted through from the background, followed by the photographer.

"April, come on! Time for the next set!"

"Don't keep the groom waiting, sweetheart!"

April did not hesitate for even a second. "We'll talk when I get home, Oliver."

Then she was gone.

Whatever I had been holding onto inside me deflated like a punctured balloon and went completely still. Sebastian had always been her first priority. To everyone around them, they were a happy couple.

A voice came through the line. "Hello?"

My best friend, Toby Haines, had picked up the phone.

Of everyone in our little circle, I had always believed he was the one truly in my corner, the one who would always have my back. I had to hear it from him.

"Did you know about this the whole time?"

Toby did not even pause. "Yeah. Oliver, April's been with Sebastian these past few days, and I can tell she's genuinely happier. Like, from the heart. Just let them have this. Let yourself off the hook too, alright?"

I stared at my phone in disbelief. That familiar voice sent a chill straight through me.

Back in college, when Toby got scammed out of every penny he had, I was the one who picked up side jobs with him and handed over my own money on top of it.

When he could not find work after graduation, I vouched for him and begged our boss to give him a shot. After he got hired, I fed him deals I had worked hard to close myself.

He had told me we would be brothers for life. However, he had helped them betray me and lied to my face.

The line went dead while I was still sitting there in a daze. He had hung up on me.

I sat alone on the hospital bed, staring at my phone, and the tears came before I could stop them.

Just then, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Mom: [Oliver, send me those wedding portraits of you and April! Time really flies. My boy's about to start a family.]

The nausea hit all at once. The violent churning from the juice came roaring back, that same feeling of everything trying to come up and go down at the same time.

April had stood right in front of Mom and promised she would be with me for the rest of our lives. It turned out "the rest of our lives" did not last very long at all.

My fingers hovered over the screen. I kept typing and erasing until all that was left was a single line.

[Mom, I don't want to get married anymore. Can I just come home and stay with you for a while?]

I was still trying to figure out what I would tell her when she asked why, but I had already opened another conversation.

[Boss, that offer you mentioned before, the one about running the new branch out in Dryden... Does it still stand?]