By the Time He Looked Back

Just after midnight on my birthday, I quietly went to the banquet hall where Luke Bennett had prepared my party. I wanted to leave the ring there, along with the project contract I had begged my father to approve for him.

But the lights were still on.

Bright balloons covered the floor. Luke was still tying them one by one. Someone laughed and asked if he was serious about not breaking up with me yet, even dragging Madison Carter over to help set up my birthday party.

Luke put out his cigarette and said, "This one is too sensitive. Too much trouble."

Madison laughed beside him. She reminded everyone of their bet: whoever dated all twelve zodiac signs first would owe the other a condition. Luke had already reached his eleventh girlfriend.

"Of course I will not quit now," Luke said. "I am already looking for the next one. Just wait until I beat you."

I watched his cold profile through the crack in the door, threw the ring and the contract into the trash, and turned away.

Someone behind me asked what sign I was.

"Scorpio," Luke answered.

Luke Bennett, of all the signs you chose to mock, you picked the one that remembers.

When I reached the doorway, my phone lit up.

"Baby, you are going to love tomorrow's birthday party. I put so much work into it."

Luke Bennett's profile picture kept blinking on my screen.

Balloons, flowers, the laughter of his friends around him. Every detail was proof of how seriously he had prepared this party.

"Baby, why are you not answering? I can see that you are typing.

"You have to tell me when something is bothering you. That is how relationships last."

Last?

When had he ever planned for us to last?

My thumb hovered over send. I had typed, "Luke Bennett, let's break up."

Then I deleted it.

I wanted to ask him if he had ever liked me at all. I wanted to ask whether every tender moment had been an act. But I could not make myself press send.

Luke either did not notice my silence, or he simply did not care. He went on talking.

"Baby, Madison and I made a bet.

"It involves you.

"She said that if I broke up with you, she would owe me one condition. You know me. I just do not want to lose to her.

"You will help me, right?"

I stared at the screen without moving.

So that was why he had gone through all of this tonight. He even bothered to invent a reason to get rid of me, his "sensitive" girlfriend.

When I still did not reply, he sent another message.

"Then I will tell everyone I begged you hard enough to win you back. That way you look good in front of my friends, and I look good in front of yours. Just play along once, okay?

"Whatever bag or dress you want, your husband will buy it for you."

Maybe he thought text was not persuasive enough, because a voice message came in next.

His familiar voice played through my speaker, soft and coaxing in a way I had never heard from him before.

"Wife, everyone in our group knows about my bet with Madison. She already broke up with her boyfriend to set an example for me, but I kept dragging it out because I did not want to upset you. Tonight they all laughed at me and said I could not afford to play.

"We will fake the breakup. After I win the bet with Madison, I will find the right moment to say I won you back, all right..."

The voice message cut off abruptly.

In the noisy background, Madison called, "Luke, come drink."

I replied with one word.

"Okay."

Then I blocked him.

Leaving the chat, I changed my phone wallpaper. It had been a picture of Luke and me.

We had taken it a week after we started dating. I had dragged him through the mall and tried to sneak a photo of us together, but he noticed immediately.

He had ruffled my hair with a doting smile and taken my phone.

"If you want a picture together, why not just tell me?"

The moment he pressed the shutter, he kissed my cheek.

Back then, he laughed and called me silly. I even argued that I was not.

Looking back now, I really was.

I should have seen the amusement in his eyes from the beginning.

Exhausted, I went home.

Luke was already sitting on my couch, looking smug and a little drunk, his cheeks puffed with fake irritation.

"Why did you block me?"

He lifted his phone. My name sat above a row of messages marked with gray ticks.

I pushed him away.

"We broke up."

Luke was about to argue when a woman's voice rang out.

"Luke, your body wash smells so good."

I turned toward the sound.

Madison Carter was wearing Luke's bathrobe and my slippers.

In my home.

"Luke Bennett, who gave you permission to bring her here?"

"Emily, she got drunk and threw up all over herself. My place was too far. Yours was closer, so I brought her here to clean up."

Madison clung to Luke like an octopus, then pointed at me.

"Luke, she is so mean.

"Break up with her. Break up!"

Luke frowned and lowered his voice to soothe her.

"Did you not hear? We broke up, princess."

"Luke Bennett, take your person and get out."

Luke froze.

"Emily, she is drunk. Can you just be a little understanding..."

"Get out."

I repeated it.

His expression changed too.

"Emily Miller, is this really necessary?"

Yes. I wanted to ask myself the same question. For a man like this, was any of it necessary?

He was still wearing the hair tie I had given him around his wrist. But now, the hand wearing my little hair tie was holding another woman.

It was not necessary, Emily.

I used every bit of strength I had to shove them both out the door.

"Luke Bennett, I never want to see you again."

The apartment went silent.

Then my phone chimed.

"Baby, good acting. It almost felt like we really broke up."