Seven Strawberries
My fiancée and my best friend were the top partners at a multi-million-dollar law firm, while I was just the guy handling the administrative work.
In the courtroom, they were in perfect sync, trading fierce legal arguments and sharing an effortless dynamic. In their personal lives, they casually flirted through law jokes that only the two of them understood.
I could never get a word in, edge-wise. Every time they laughed, I offered a painfully awkward smile.
Even at my mother's funeral, nothing changed. They chatted merrily in front of her coffin, eventually breaking into audible laughter.
“Clara, can you greet the guests?” I called out to her.
I was the only child in the family, and as my fiancée, she was supposed to help me out with the funeral service.
Anxious, I reached out to pull Clara forward, but she brushed my hand away.
“Stop making a scene, Jack. Ethan and I are discussing something important.”
Ethan just shrugged lightly. “Jack, it’s fine not to greet the guests. It's just a funeral service. Your mom's already gone, so who cares?”
With that, the two of them jumped back into their legal discussion. The conversation grew so intense that they decided to head back to the office right then and there to pull court records.
I was left standing frozen, my hands stiff in the air. In our three years together, I had been abandoned like this countless times.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped up to greet the guests. Clara and Ethan paused for a second, startled. Then, they casually went right back to their conversation as if nothing had happened.
Before my mom passed, she had praised what a good wife Clara would be in the future, but now it all felt like a sick joke. This empty, meaningless relationship had to end right now.