"You're insane!" Cole's voice cracked with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "Even if that's true, Avery deserves to know! You can't just propose to Clara behind her back and blast it all over social media!"
But Griffin's tone was that of a tragic hero who believed himself misunderstood.
"Cole, you just don't get it! Clara needs to feel secure. If I proposed to her in secret, how could she ever trust me?"
So… all this time, he had only considered Clara's feelings. To give her a sense of security, he could shatter my heart and eight years of our life without a second thought.
A sharp, physical pain shot through my chest. My knees buckled, and I had to brace myself against the doorframe, gasping for air.
"What about Avery?" Cole roared. "We were all classmates. I watched you two from the very beginning. You're both my friends!"
Griffin hesitated.
"Regardless, I have to stabilize Clara's condition first. Once she's no longer suicidal, I'll slowly bring up divorce. It'll only be a year or two. Avery and I have been together for so long, she'll wait for me."
Then, incredibly, he let out a soft laugh. "She loves me so much, she can't leave me. Of course she'll understand."
In that instant, I no longer had the strength to push open that door.
I stumbled downstairs, my heart numb, and wandered away from the apartment building in a daze.
How could he just assume I would understand?
I wandered aimlessly through the pouring rain as memories of our eight years together played on a loop in my head.
His nervous, sincere confession in the library at the University of Washington.
The shy, sweet look on his face the first night we spent in our new apartment after graduation.
The time he held me tight, his eyes welling with tears as he swore he would never let me go when I prepared a birthday dinner just for him.
And yet, the person I had loved and trusted completely shattered that trust when I was at my most vulnerable.
The rain fell harder, and the pedestrians on the street quickened their pace, rushing to escape the storm.
But my feet felt as heavy as lead. I trudged onward, aimless, as the rain soaked through my coat.
A harsh screech of brakes cut through the rainy night as a car slammed to a halt beside me.
Griffin jumped out and, in one swift motion, pulled me into the car.
He handed me a blanket, his expression taut.
"Avery, I called you so many times, why didn't you answer? It's pouring, why didn't you find a place to take shelter?"
Hearing him say my name in that same gentle tone sent a wave of nausea through me.
He was someone else's fiancé now.
"Don't use that tone with me. Go find Clara. She's your fiancée, isn't she?"
I threw off the blanket, shoved open the car door, and stepped back into the rain.
His car remained motionless, the windshield wipers swishing back and forth mechanically.
In eight years, I had never been so cold to him.
I plunged into the downpour, a burning pain in my chest, not knowing where to go.
I heard hurried footsteps behind me.
Griffin had come after me.
He was much taller and stronger than me. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his arms.
"Avery, please… don't be like this. We can talk this out. Just give me another chance. The rain's too heavy, let's go home first…"
He used the same tone, the same sweet words I had heard a thousand times.
Staring at his rain-streaked face, a suffocating weight crushed my chest. My panic disorder roared to life.
The world went dark.
I collapsed.
When I woke up again, I was in the hospital.
