Seven Years, Instant Regret

. I couldn't touch them. I couldn't look away from them. My life had been amputated

e moved out, but he didn't d

of their perfect love story. Pictures of them at a vineyard, clinking glasses, the caption reading, "To new beginnings." A video of

them with her. I saw him looking at her with the same adoration he once reserved for me. It was a br

s we overcame, the life we built from nothing. Did any of it mea

I sent texts, long, rambling messages filled with anger, p

ays of silence, he sen

eak to you thro

into something ugly. I needed to see him. I needed to hear his voi

blocked number, my voice disguised, pretending to be from

here in twenty minutes, his face pale with worry. When he s

elled, his voice echoing in the too-larg

er my calls," I sa

uring around us. "This is why I c

in a way nothing else had. He looked

uldn't handle it then, and you can't handle it now. You cling. You suffocate people. You f

he had twisted the knife. The secret pain of my childhood abandonment,

ing for him to leave me for another woman. It was another for him to weaponiz

e words thick with a pain s

ha

ing a shaking finger at the

f my rejection. He hesitated for a second, a fl

ill be in touch. You have one week to sign tho

behind was different this time. It

n the floor, replaying his words. You

the worst, an endless stretch of darkness filled with memories and what-ifs. I'd lie in

love become a cage? His words had planted a seed of doubt, and it was grow

ating blanket. Maybe he was

ced for him. I had helped build his precious company with my own ideas and tireless work in

wound, but it was a single r

er. I looked at my pale, gaunt face in the mirror

me, let his narrative become my reality.

r

cause he said it was too "severe." I put

. I was going to face him, and I was going to face