After eight years together, just as we were starting to talk about marriage, my boyfriend, Griffin Pierce, told me we had to wait.
He explained that he had to marry his first love, Clara Shaw, first.
Clara, he said, was suffering from severe depression, and starting a family with him was her only reason to live.
He couldn't bear to watch her self-destruct, so he tearfully promised to give her the family she so desperately needed.
I was stunned. "Then what about me?" I asked.
He didn't answer. Instead, he snapped that I had no empathy.
"And… give me your engagement ring. I'll have one made for Clara first. You won't be needing it anytime soon, anyway."
I gazed at the man before me, so familiar yet suddenly a stranger, and felt a cold, hollow ache spread through my chest.
But eventually, I saw the monster he truly was.
So when their wedding day came, I decided to attend—and bring a special blessing of my own.
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1
On Valentine’s night, I sat alone in the restaurant, my reflection a lonely figure under the warm lighting meant for two.
My boyfriend, Griffin, had asked me to meet him here, promising a surprise I would remember for the rest of my life.
Now, however, as I watched couples across the street holding hands, wrapped up in each other, my solitude felt like a cruel joke.
"Ma'am, it's already midnight. Will there be anything else? We're about to close."
Noticing I was lost in thought, the waiter approached my table.
"Ah… it's gotten so late," I murmured, my voice trailing off.
His eyes widened slightly. "But the gentleman who made the reservation… he hasn't arrived yet? He even arranged for something special…"
Yes, a special arrangement. Only it wasn't needed anymore.
I lowered my head, glancing again at the Instagram post on my phone.
Then, I stood up.
"I'm sorry," I managed, forcing a brittle smile. "He's… not coming. He proposed to someone else tonight. I'll get out of your way."
The waiter stood there, dumbfounded, as I fled in a panic, terrified I would break down in front of a stranger.
Just a week ago, Griffin had told me he was preparing a surprise for me.
I thought I knew what it was. He had promised me a proposal I would never forget. But now… everything had changed.
I couldn't stop myself from pulling up the post again, studying it as if staring long enough could change the truth.
But no matter how many times I looked, the man in the photo was undeniably him. He and Clara were at Kerry Park, the glittering Seattle skyline their backdrop.
It was the first engagement photo that had ever made me cry.
Griffin and I had been together since our days at the University of Washington—a full eight years.
Flashes of our life together—every smile, every quiet moment—raced through my mind.
Our love was the envy of all our friends. In their eyes, we were the couple that was actually going to make it.
Even yesterday, at work, he had kissed my forehead, his eyes full of tenderness.
"My love," he had whispered, "I've called you 'my person' for so many years, and now you're finally going to be mine for real."
Yet overnight, I had become the world's biggest joke.
No… he wouldn't do this. There had to be a misunderstanding.
Did someone hack his account? Or steal his phone? Why else wouldn't he answer my calls?
My heart clenched. I hailed an Uber and rushed home.
Just as I reached for the door, I remembered the newly installed security camera. I opened the app on my phone and pulled up the feed from the entryway camera. I heard voices from inside—his, and that of his good friend, Cole Sullivan.
"Griffin, are you insane? Weren't you going to marry Avery? What the hell is going on?"
Griffin's voice was thick and trembling, as if he were about to cry.
"What could I do? Clara's depression is out of control. She said having a family with me is her only hope of staying alive…"
"I don't want to push her over the edge. That would only make her condition worse. And you know I've been crazy about her since we were kids!"
His voice grew sharp with agitation.
I froze.
Crazy about her since we were kids…
Then what was I?