01
I’m getting married. Not to my boyfriend of seven years, but to someone else.
Seven years and yet his attention has shifted, orbiting around a new female intern at his company. They claimed to dislike each other, but they’re inseparable now, tied together in some strange, symbiotic connection. They’re always finding reasons to be near each other, always “busy.”
It didn’t matter if I was there or not; they managed to create their own world, shutting me out of it. Even on the last trip, when we climbed to the mountain top to watch the stars, he left me there alone to stargaze, ignoring the fact
that I have night blindness.
Three days I waited, alone in the dark, before a rescue team found me. Three days to come to terms with the truth I’d ignored for too long. The moment they pulled me out of that nightmare, I decided I was done waiting. When I got back I agreed to marry my new date. It was time to move on.
My mom could hardly contain her excitement when she heard the news. She sat at my bedside, her face glowing, clutching her phone like a shopping list of eligible bachelors. Her finger danced over the screen as if picking out the perfect man for her daughter. Across the room, I glanced at a message my aunt had sent her and it made me feel as if I’d been living in a glass cage all along.
“Your daughter’s too wonderful to waste her time. If that man really loved her, there’d be no reason to wait so many years. Those who truly love each other don’t take this long. What kind of love has no progress?” Her words were straightforward, almost clinical. But she was right and it cut deep.
She went on, “She just needs to choose someone decent and we’ll make sure the wedding is set up right away. No rush, but there’s no need to wait.”
Everyone around me seemed to understand what was wrong, everyone but me. I had been the only one clinging to the invisible promises he fed me, year after year.
I took a breath, turning back to my mom. “Mom, I trust your judgment. Just keep it simple. I don’t want anything over the top.”
My words had barely left my mouth when the door swung open and Darrel walked in. His expression was cold, an unspoken accusation glinting in his eyes. “What judgment? Are you two picking something out?” he asked, his hand reflexively reaching toward the phone in my lap. I slipped it back into my mom’s bag before he could grab it Sensing the tension, Mom quickly left, giving me a brief nod as she shut the door behind her. The moment she was gone, Darrel sat down in the chair by my bed, pulling out his phone. The silence was suffocating, broken only by the soft, syrupy voice that floated through the speaker on his phone. It was her–Natalie, the intern,
“Sir, you’re not in the office today,” she cooed, her voice tinged with mock innocence. “Some people keep bothering me… I’m so scared. I don’t know what to do. You know I’m just a helpless girl…”
Darrel’s expression darkened. He shot up from his chair, his face twisted with concern, his voice rough. “Don’t worry, Natalie. Just go to my office. Nobody will touch you there. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He didn’t even look back at me as he shoved his phone into his pocket and headed for the door, not a single -word of goodbye. It wasn’t the first time he’d left me without a second thought, like some stranger he barely knew. I
watched the door close behind him, the emptiness in my heart as vast as ever.
Once the silence settled back in, I took a moment to let the numbness pass, then dialed my cousin’s number. She’d practically raised me after my parents left for business abroad, so we were as close as siblings. Darrel had
been in our lives since then too.
We’d all gone to the same boarding school, growing up together. Eventually, my cousin got married and when our family home was demolished, Darrel insisted I move in with him for my “safety.”
Seven years later, we were still living under the same roof, but the dream had died
and
When my cousin picked up, her voice was bright, practically bursting with excitement “Finally! Seven years it’s finally happening. When’s the wedding? Tell me the date–I want to be there in person, to see this day come true After all this time, you both deserve it!”
