When dinner was over and I went to settle the bill, I found it had already been paid.
He took my hand, his eyes earnest.
"Bee, I'm your boyfriend. More than that, I'm your future husband."
"I know it bothers you to let me pay, but this is what a man's supposed to do."
"All those gifts I give you, whatever they cost, you don't have to pay me back with something of equal value."
"That would only make us feel like strangers. I want us to grow closer than before, to lean on each other more."
Later, he started a business at school and made some money.
Whatever was the popular gift to give your girlfriend at the time, I had it.
After graduation, we rented a small place in this city and started living together.
And I, watching what he did for me, slowly began to lean on him.
We had our fights over the little frictions of daily life, but we also studied the things the other person liked.
As the years stacked up, I started to notice it: he didn't put his heart into me the way he used to, didn't watch my moods the way he once had.
Back then I told myself that in the adult world, dwelling too much on things like that only sent couples down separate roads.
So we went on like that, until we'd reached the age when you're supposed to get married.
I'd always assumed we'd get married this year, with our family and friends there to see it, and maybe have a sweet little baby the next.
It took my mother's words at today's engagement ceremony to wake me up.
A person who truly loves you doesn't grow contemptuous just because you've become familiar.
And he certainly doesn't treat your parents that way.
I picked up my pace, walked past the two of them, and flagged down a taxi.
I'd barely shut the door when Felix's call came through.
I looked at the little heart after his name in my contacts, and I didn't pick up.
He called four or five times in a row. I hung up on every one.
A few minutes later, an unknown local number came through. Without thinking, I tapped to answer.
Before I could say anything, Felix's voice was already there.
"Bianca, are you done throwing your fit?"
"You change the lock code without a word, and now you won't even take my calls!"
The impatience in his voice was unmistakable.
"I brought Evelyn here to apologize to you. Open the door."
"I can't," I said. "That door is never opening for you again."
He let out a scoffing laugh.
"Bianca, when did you turn into this?"
"You're a grown woman. You want to break up with me over one engagement ceremony I missed, a show staged for other people to watch?"
"And you even dragged your parents into it. Don't you think that's ridiculous?"
"It isn't just about the engagement ceremony."
I looked out at the night scrolling backward past the window, my voice steady.
"It's about the man you used to be."
That stopped him for a second.
"The man I used to be? What are you talking about?"
I turned the engagement ring on my finger and said, quietly,
"You remember our first year of college, you told me you hoped we'd grow more familiar than we were before we got together, that we'd lean on each other more."
"For eight years, I did that. You didn't."
"If anything, all of it just made you look down on me."
The line went quiet for a long while, and then he laughed under his breath.
"Bianca, all that, and it comes down to this?"
"Who treats you the same way they did at the start after seven or eight years together? Watch fewer of those sappy little inspirational videos and clips."
"You're almost thirty, and you embarrass your aunt and uncle with your tantrum. Doesn't any of that make you feel guilty?"
"Fine, then let's just go get the license. I'll be waiting for you at the L.A. courthouse tomorrow afternoon."
Even though I'd already braced myself to leave him, hearing those words, it was as if my breath stopped.
