Until I became the rat in the corner, staring up at their happy little life.
I'd cried. I'd screamed.
But Zachary always brushed me off with the same words: It's all for the company, isn't it? All so you can live a good life.
All for me.
An invisible weight pressed down over my head like an iron lid, smothering me until I couldn't breathe.
But to me, it was nothing but an excuse.
For the videos, Zachary took her to Tahiti, the place he'd promised me a thousand times and never once delivered on.
For the videos, he chartered more than a dozen helicopters to celebrate her birthday, forgetting that the same day was our fourth anniversary, the night I waited up for him in vain.
There was so much more. Even now, looking back, it still left me aching, bitter.
By the time I got to the office, Zachary was already inside.
I tucked my resignation letter beneath a stack of documents. He didn't look closely. He just signed.
I was about to leave when he called me back.
He took a velvet box from the drawer.
He opened it. Inside lay a glittering sapphire necklace.
His voice turned unusually gentle. “Do you like it? I bought it especially for you.”
Something in my chest trembled.
It had been so long since he'd given me a gift.
Let alone lowered his head to apologize first.
Before I could figure out what to say, his phone buzzed.
A message from Susan.
【So how'd it go, Zachary? Did Amelia like the necklace? My taste in gifts isn't bad, right?】
The air froze.
I tugged weakly at the corner of my mouth. So even the gift he gave me had been picked out by someone else.
I pushed the box back toward him. “No need. You can take it.”
Once, I would have flared up at him again. But today my heart was strangely calm.
Susan had been part of my relationship with Zachary for too long. Too deeply.
Even in the smallest corners of it.
The body wash at home suddenly changed scent, and Zachary said Susan had recommended it, that it smelled wonderful.
New sheets and a duvet cover appeared in the closet, and again Zachary said Susan had recommended the fabric and the pattern, that it was soft and beautiful.
At some point I stopped knowing when, my thoughts and feelings had come to mean less to him than a single offhand remark from Susan.
Zachary frowned, silent for a moment.
Before he could speak, another message from Susan came through.
【Or should I buy you two some little toys? Didn't you say Amelia loves……】
The voice message hadn't finished playing before Zachary cut it off.
My whole body went rigid. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard.
My lips went numb. “Zachary, you tell her even about what we do in bed?”
He visibly panicked. “Amelia, don't misunderstand. I can explain.”
Susan's voice message had carried clear mockery, clear teasing.
A cold laugh escaped me. What had I become to them?
“I don't want to hear your explanation. And I'm not something you two can joke about however you please.”
But Zachary frowned. “Is it really that serious, Amelia? Susan's your friend too, not some stranger. What's the harm in mentioning it? Do you really have to be this petty?”
My eyes stung. I curled my fingers.
“Even now, you still think I'm just throwing a tantrum,” I stared at him and said, word by word, “Zachary, let's break up.”
“What did you say?”
His face went ashen, a dark, brooding air rolling off him. “Amelia, you dare say that again?”
“I said, let's break up.”
Zachary tilted his head back against the couch and pinched the bridge of his nose, exhausted.
