Too Late For Your Proposal

“My boyfriend, Carter, chose a ski trip with his manipulative "best friend," Bridget, after I gave him an ultimatum. "If you go, we're over," I had warned. He just laughed and told me not to come crying to him when I got lonely. But while he was gone, the stress of his silence and Bridget's taunting Instagram posts sent me to the hospital with a bleeding stomach ulcer. Lying in an urgent care bed, hooked up to an IV, I saw him liking her posts-pictures of them looking like a happy couple, with captions mocking me. He wasn't just ignoring my pain; he was actively endorsing it. In that sterile room, something inside me didn't just break; it turned to ice. The years of begging for his affection, of fighting for his attention, simply evaporated. So when he came home expecting his favorite dinner, I had a surprise for him instead. "We broke up," I said, pointing to the moving boxes that held every last trace of him. He pulled out a Tiffany bracelet, claiming he was going to propose. But it was too late. I had already called the movers.”