Proposal No. 18: Still Lost to Her Childhood Sweetheart

"Say yes! Say yes!"I kneeled in the middle of the crowd, awaiting a response, as my friends' excited shouts drowned out the square."Enough. You're so annoying."Hailey Morgan, the woman I was proposing to, snatched the flowers from the ground and hurled them hard at me.Her expression was vicious as she exclaimed, "You're so selfish! What else do you know besides pressuring me into marriage? I've told you so many times that I can't get married right now."She couldn't get married, or she didn't want to?My throat felt constricted, and I was so upset that I couldn't speak.This wasn't my first time in this situation, but it was the most humiliating.We had been in love for eight years, and I had proposed 18 times but was rejected every single time. My reputation preceded me to a comical degree at this point. Who else but me could turn a marriage proposal into a full-blown quest?After taking a while to calm myself down, I lifted the ring with a cautious and pleading express

"Daniel, I know my tone was harsh, but it's all for the sake of our future. And about yesterday… It was wrong of me to reject you so coldly. But you know how Eric is now."He can't handle stress, and I'm the only one he has. You don't want to marry someone who's always worried about someone else, right?"Once Eric gets better, I'll be at peace, and I can belong to you completely. Don't be angry anymore, okay?"She grabbed my hand and stiffly said a few words about it being for my own good.I just found it laughable. Rejecting me publicly again and again was for my own good, and so was leaving me to be with another man?She had used too many of these grand, empty excuses before, and now I no longer wanted to hear them. I shook off her hand forcefully."Got it. I'm going to work."Hailey stumbled from the force. She was clearly angry, but that vanished quickly when she met my icy gaze.I had never been this cold to her before. She felt a flicker of unease and could only let me le

This time, Hailey actually left a rare comment on my Instagram post."Eric's stable now. Wait for me. The night view there is also really nice."The night view, huh?I frowned as I thought about it. What was there to see in a dark place with no light?Still, I replied with an "Okay". After eight years of being together, I wanted a proper ending.And so, I waited another three hours. All the guests had left by then, and the place was about to close.Sunset Villa was far from the city, with a long mountain road ahead, so I couldn't get a cab home. If something happened at night, there would be no help.I could only stand dejectedly outside the restaurant's entrance, waiting for Hailey to pick me up.To make matters worse, I hadn't brought a power bank, and now my phone was about to die. Hailey wasn't answering her phone either.The forest ahead seemed to stare menacingly at me. I frowned as I helplessly stepped into the darkness.I couldn't tell how long it would take to walk o

Hailey's face was visibly filled with regret. This was the first time in eight years that it happened, but I no longer needed it from her."We can't go back to how we were, Hailey."After so many rejections and abandonments, our love was no longer a complete piece. It was left with one deep crack after another.A broken mirror couldn't be made whole again, and neither could feelings."Hailey, you've never been the type who can't let go of things. I'm leaving tomorrow. Let's part on good terms."I didn't plan to tell her where I was going. After that, I forcibly pulled my hand from hers and moved into the guest bedroom.Muffled sobs came from outside the door, and she cautiously begged me to look at her one more time.I leaned against the door as I felt bitterness spread in my chest. If she had regretted it earlier, we wouldn't have reached this point.But there were no such things as "what ifs" in this world. Even if there were, people would still make different choices in

No matter how "perfect" one seemed, it was all the same. In the face of love, wasn't everyone equally pathetic?After I landed, my phone was flooded with notifications. As I looked at the glaring red alerts, I shook my head, feeling somewhat awkward.Hailey had never been someone who cared about me. This was the first time she had called and texted so much, all because she was afraid of losing me.But her affection that came too late was worthless to me.I deleted and blocked her number, then threw myself entirely into my work.Being busy helped with making me forget all the pain, but it could also bring about gains.However, the biggest surprise was that Hailey still came looking for meI didn't know how she found out where I was. When I encountered her, I treated her as a stranger and ignored her.After the third time I ignored her, Hailey asked me while crying, "Do you have to be like this?"She stood directly in front of me and acted as if she would start shouting the mome