Chapter 2

Edith froze for a moment, then smiled and agreed. "Alright. We're breaking up. Whatever you say, okay? How about I take you home now?"

She still didn't take me seriously.

A wave of helplessness washed over me, but I didn't want to explain any further.

"No. I'll get a ride myself."

Edith didn't get upset when I turned her down. She simply stood behind me and waited for my ride with me.

Blake sent her a voice message. "So? Sleeping with me really got to him, didn't it? If that's not enough, I wouldn't mind doing it with you a few more times. You're pretty good, after all."

After the message finished playing, Edith took her time replying.

"He's upset with me right now, so I need to stay with him. I won't be needing you for now."

She sent the message, then said calmly to me, "He's too rough in bed. I don't like that at all. Babe, I still like you best because you're gentle."

She was trying to soothe me.

Ever since she realized that being intimate with Blake could make me distant, she kept comparing the two of us. She said Blake was a better cook than me, had a nicer personality, and looked better when he smiled.

This was the only time I had ever come out ahead of Blake in her eyes.

Yet I couldn't feel happy about it. Instead, I felt a heavy weight in my stomach that wouldn't go away.

"I don't want to hear the details about you and him in bed."

Edith smiled. "Are you jealous?"

I shook my head.

I wasn't jealous. I just didn't care anymore.

My ride arrived. Once I got in, I noticed Edith's car following behind us.

"I'm still taking you home this way."

I glanced at her message, then turned off my phone.

I used to give in whenever she showed me even the slightest bit of kindness.

Well, not anymore.

When I got home, Dad saw that I was alone and didn't ask a thing. He quietly went to my room and helped me pack.

"Do you still want this ring?" he asked.

I was silent for a moment. "No."

I had made the ring myself when I first proposed to Edith.

She accepted it, but she turned down my proposal and never wore it.

"I'm still young, and I'm not ready to be tied down by marriage. Don't do something like that again. You embarrassed me in front of all those people."

The next day, I found the ring in the trash. I picked it up and kept it safe at home, thinking that one day Edith would be willing to wear it.

I had been too naive.

After I finished packing, I lay down and slowly drifted off to sleep.

I wasn't sad. I didn't feel anything at all.

Early the next morning, someone knocked on the front door.

It was Edith and Blake.

"Babe, what took you so long to open the door? We've been waiting forever," Edith complained.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked.

Blake smiled and held up the takeout containers in his hands. "Obviously, we're here to cheer you up."

Edith nodded. "Didn't you like the sandwiches from this place? I went out of my way to get some for you."

Blake squeezed through the doorway and into the living room.

I caught the same perfume on both of them.

Blake opened the takeout containers and set them out.

"Connor, you really do have good taste. Edith and I have eaten at this place together so many times that I'm tired of it now. But you don't eat it that often, so you should still enjoy it. Come try some."

Edith used to think bringing me breakfast was too intimate and would only make me fall for her more. That's why she had never brought me breakfast before.

And yet, she had eaten at this place with Blake so many times that even he was sick of it.