"Rose, I don't want to make this uglier than it has to be. Adela can't handle any more stress right now. Just go."
I turned and left.
I didn't pack a bag. There was nothing worth taking.
On the third night, the front door swung open.
The first thing Leo did when he walked in was check whether I'd packed.
When he saw my clothes still hanging in their usual place, the tension left his shoulders.
He'd always remembered what I told him when I was sixteen—that I'd never leave him. So once again, he was certain I wouldn't go.
"Rose, you should understand where I'm coming from. You can't get pregnant, so I had to find another way. Besides, my child would be your child too, wouldn't it?"
"And let's be honest—life is long. I'm a normal man. If you could take care of my physical needs, I wouldn't have had to go looking elsewhere, right?"
Every word out of Leo's mouth was more shameless than the last.
As if all of this were somehow my fault.
"Leo… do you actually still love me?"
His voice carried a thin edge of impatience.
"Of course I still love you. Why else would I have gone through all this trouble to keep it from you until now? Rose, you can't be this selfish. You can't let your condition stop me from having what any normal person needs."
So in the end, I was the selfish one.
My voice shook with barely contained fury.
"Leo, when you were eighteen, you didn't abandon me over this 'condition.' Seven years. And now you're telling me you need this."
He frowned, not a shred of shame on his face.
"We were students back then. All we needed was love, and that was enough. But we're adults now. Love alone doesn't cut it."
"But don't worry. Once Adela has the baby and everything settles down, I'll marry you. And then we'll have a child of our own."
When I didn't respond, he sat down beside me.
His tone softened a fraction.
"Come on, Rose. Everything I'm doing is for our future. And you don't need to worry about Adela—I've already apologized to her on your behalf. She said she's willing to forgive you."
He pulled my head against his shoulder.
"But she's going to be emotional for a while. I'm worried that seeing you might set her off, so just stay at a hotel for a few days, okay? I need to be with her."
In that moment, I knew with absolute certainty: the boy I'd loved was dead.
"Rose, we're not kids anymore. You're mature enough to understand, right? Just wait a little longer. You promised—you said you'd never leave me."
With that, he glanced at the incoming call flashing on his phone and hurried out the door.
When I was sixteen, I waited for his broken heart to heal.
When I was eighteen, I waited for the better days he promised.
This year, I waited for him to marry me.
Now I was supposed to wait for whatever scraps of love he decided to throw my way.
One day passed. Then another. Leo never came back.
Instead, Adela's social media became the last place I saw him.
"Clumsy new dad-to-be."
"Shopping for baby stuff with my hubby—he insists it's a girl, so everything's pink."
"Morning sickness is brutal, but I've got my husband's home-cooked meals to get me through."
I looked down at the takeout Leo had ordered to my hotel door and let out a hollow laugh.
I slipped the plastic ring off my finger and dropped it on the table.
…
At the airport, before boarding, there was no longing, no goodbye. I snapped the SIM card I'd carried for nine years in half, tossed it in the trash, and walked through the gate without looking back.
Our love arrived without warning—mine crashed into me all at once, and his vanished just as fast.
I wished him well. I wished him everything.
I just never wanted to see him again.
Early the next morning, a call came through on Leo's phone.
It was from the hotel.
"Hello, is this Miss Barnes? After you checked out, some clothing and jewelry were left behind in your room. Would you like us to hold them for you?"
