Even when a junior researcher in his lab who had feelings for him confessed, he turned her down in the coldest terms.
In everyone else's eyes, he was the perfect boyfriend.
But only I knew none of it was for me.
It was all for Julia.
The holiday and anniversary gifts were standing orders he'd placed with the shop on a fixed schedule. Every year, flowers and a necklace.
I'd already received nearly twenty of the same identical necklace.
And when my family got sick, the only reason he came to visit was that he happened to be passing my hometown while traveling with Julia.
I already knew all of it, really.
There had been a time when I wanted to tell him plainly and cut things off for good, but the flicker of tenderness he showed once in a while always left a sliver of hope alive in me.
Now, though, I'd stored up enough disappointment. It was time to let go.
The day before our honeymoon was set to leave, I texted Miles and asked him to meet me at a café.
For the first time, he answered in a heartbeat. Just one short word, "Fine." And still, it sent a ripple through my chest.
But in the end, it came down to me sitting in that café for an entire day, right up until a barista reminded me they were closing, and I finally rose stiffly and walked out.
The signed divorce papers in my hand never made it into Miles's hands after all.
That same day, I called in a moving company and had them take my things away.
The company had expanded into overseas markets two years ago, and they'd been wanting to send me to one of the foreign offices for a while.
But I'd turned them down again and again, because I couldn't bear to leave Miles.
Now I put in for the transfer myself, and in the span of a single week every last piece of paperwork was done.
The day I left happened to be the exact date we'd booked for the honeymoon.
I laid the divorce papers on the nightstand together with that black lace thong, then turned to look at this home I'd lived in for years.
So empty it looked as if no one had ever lived here at all.
The knot of resentment that had sat lodged in my chest all these years suddenly loosened and drifted away.
My phone chimed.
A message from Miles.
"Why are you dragging your feet? The plane's already taken off. Julia and I went ahead. Book yourself a later flight and come out."
I scrolled through my feed. Ten minutes earlier, Julia had posted something.
【The Egypt trip I've been dying to take. Somebody once said no sun could ever burn as hot as I do.】
I gave it a like.
Then I replied to Miles.
"I'm not coming. Have fun, you two."
Once I'd sent it, I pulled the SIM card out of my phone and snipped it to pieces.
And I threw it into the trash, along with that whole humiliating relationship.
