"When Dana was with me, he did all the cooking and housework. So how come now he can't even be bothered to pick up a bottle when it tips over?"
"Ha. Good for you, I guess. My own maid finally found herself a maid too."
Back then, I really had fallen apart, lost all composure.
Now, though, I felt strangely calm.
Even exposing the fact that she was faking her illness seemed pointless now.
Failing to get a rise out of me, the smile at the corner of Roberta's mouth stiffened.
She turned instead and walked into the kitchen, resting her head on Dana's shoulder.
"Dana, you were going to propose to her? Then do I get one too?"
Whenever Roberta mentioned me, it was always just "her."
Utterly disrespectful. I'd protested to Dana about it, even cried and made a scene.
But all he did was frown.
"You're not a hundred-dollar bill. Who says everyone has to remember your name? Such a small thing, does it really matter?"
Three careless words, as if I were the one being unreasonable.
Even now, he still didn't see anything wrong with it.
He only murmured his gentle promise to her: "Of course. I'll make sure you have the most unforgettable, beautiful memories."
Roberta glanced back at me, smug.
But I still didn't break the way she wanted.
Instead, expression flat, I opened my phone and logged into the World Cup ticketing site.
I transferred both tickets back.
Then I changed the password.
Nine years I'd waited for this World Cup. And since Dana had still chosen another woman.
Then I wouldn't have him. I'd go see it with a different man.
Laughter kept ringing out from the kitchen. I couldn't be bothered to listen anymore, and walked straight out the door.
First, to the office to quit.
My manager was a little reluctant to see me go, but signed off on it easily enough.
"A master's graduate, top of her class, working reception at a little firm like ours. You really were selling yourself short."
My nose stung before I could stop it.
After graduation, I'd turned down an arranged marriage with a well-connected family to stay in this city with Dana.
His family, his friends, his first love were all here, and so was the career he'd slowly been building.
Meanwhile I didn't have a single soul of my own here, and still, because of one line from him, "somebody has to put the family first," I chose to give in.
I thought my sacrifice was for the sake of building a better home together.
But it turned out to be nothing at all.
Leaving the office, I made a trip to my old campus too.
Nine years of love, ending like this, quietly fizzling into nothing.
I wanted to say goodbye in the place where it had all begun.
Back in the day, Dana was a big man on campus.
Yet he'd pursued me with everything he had, keeping strict distance from every other girl.
At the very top of the confession wall beside the basketball court, a whole line of his declaration was still carved.
"Dana Delgado loves Cordelia Sullivan, now and forever."
The campus felt like our own Garden of Eden.
Here, I still didn't know Dana had a first love etched into his very bones.
Didn't know that afterward he'd blur the line with other women, again and again, for her sake.
And I certainly didn't know I'd spend night after heartbroken, sleepless night because of it.
A gust of wind blew past, and leaves drifted down from the top of the confession wall.
At last I saw the line clearly.
The two words, "Cordelia Sullivan," had been scratched out until no trace of them remained.
Carved in their place was "Roberta Simmons."
It read: "Dana Delgado loves Roberta Simmons, now and forever."
I stared at it, dazed.
Had he changed it when he agreed to love Roberta one more time, or even earlier than that?
Suddenly I realized I no longer had any interest in knowing.
So it turned out even our old campus no longer belonged to me and Dana alone.
The wind blew, and left me hollow inside.
It scattered every last one of those beautiful memories.
When I got home, the place was empty.
Only the leftover dishes and chopsticks, and the kitchen a total wreck.
I knew Dana was waiting for me to clean it up.
