Someone posted a nine-grid picture on their Instagram story to flaunt their romance. The photos showcased a beautifully crafted artistic cake. The photos were taken from multiple angles and paired with a caption. [This man's love is so sweet!]
Curious, I clicked on the post. To my dismay, the cake was the same one my fiancé had picked up from me just an hour ago.
The hand that carried the cake was clasping someone else's hand in the background.
I rummaged through the trash, retrieved the invitation, opened my phone and booked a flight to France that would leave in three days.
——
Then I clicked at the nine grid photos in the center and zoomed in to take a closer look.
In the photo, it could be seen that the man's big hand had a small, dark mole near the base of the thumb and a faint scar on the knuckle. There was no doubt about it. This hand belonged to Freddy Lancaster.
Before I could dwell on this matter too much, Freddy called me.
"Sarah, I’m heading to a class reunion tonight, so I won’t be able to pick you up. Be safe, okay? Don’t stay out too late," Freddy said. His voice was slightly muffled against noisy voices in the background.
"A class reunion? Who are you with there? Is it with Rose Jenkins?" I asked in a calm voice.
"Sarah William! What’s with the baseless suspicions again? Rose just got a new car, so a few of our college friends decided to celebrate. Can you not make a fuss about everything?" he snapped.
"You took the custom cake I made for a client without telling me. I had to rush to recreate it for free while apologizing profusely to them and you used it to celebrate Rose’s new car? Freddy, you had never done something like this before …" My voice wavered despite my efforts to hold it together. "Have you forgotten what today is? It’s our two-year anniversary.…"
"Isn't it just a cake! Sarah, don’t you think you’re overreacting? You've never acted like this before! You’ve never interrogated me over something so trivial," he said, clearly exasperated. "We can celebrate the anniversary tomorrow, okay? Stop overthinking and go home early to rest. That’s it for now. Bye."
He hung up the phone but before the call ended, I could hear Rose's coquettish voice in the background asking, "Freddy, what’s wrong?"
Tears streamed down my face as the last shred of hope I clung to shattered. I could no longer lie to myself.
What is I still hoping for?
Everything I had done this past month was nothing more than a futile attempt to hold onto something already gone. It was time to wake up from the dream.
I fished out the invitation letter from the prestigious Lyon Culinary Institute in France from the trash. It just so happened I had a chance to become an exchange student there. I then opened my phone to book a flight to France and I would be leaving in three days.
I met Freddy through some sweet twist of fate. I was a pastry chef and I was running a small but charming dessert shop. Two years ago, late one evening, I was still at the shop experimenting with a new recipe when Freddy walked in. He had just returned from a business trip and being a picky eater, he refused to eat airplane meals. After getting off the night flight, he was so hungry and having a stomach ache and it just so happened he saw my store's light was still on, so he went into the store and ordered a dessert.
I served him a trial version of my latest creation. After he finished, he added me on WhatsApp. That was how we met.
Perhaps it was true that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. He seemed to have a crush on me and used all kinds of excuses to see me come to my shop. Not long after that, he confessed his feelings.
Freddy was a brilliant science and engineering prodigy. He had graduated from the top two universities and worked as an algorithm expert at a renowned company. His intellectual brilliance was something I admired, likely because math and science had always been my weaknesses. Moreover, he had a kind of nerdy charm that I couldn’t resist. He completely captivated me and it wasn’t long before I fell deeply in love with him.
