So, when the restaurant was closing and Brendan still hadn't shown, I wasn't angry.
He had already betrayed seven years of my life. What was one more broken promise?
He didn't know it, but his signature on our divorce papers was the last—and best—gift he would ever give me.
After dinner, I strolled back toward our luxury apartment on Beacon Hill.
Years of high-intensity work had made me a stranger to the world outside the lab. The warmth and bustle of the streets, the simple vignettes of life unfolding around me—I felt a pulse thrum through me for the first time in years.
Suddenly, I stopped at a familiar street corner.
I realized the garage Brendan and I had first rented to start our company had long been demolished, replaced by a sleek office building.
And the food truck where we used to grab cheap meals every day had been replaced by a trendy bakery.
In that moment, I finally understood. Time and money had changed everything, tainting even the memories I once held dear.
My phone rang. It was my mentor, Professor Evelyn Hayes.
"Tiffany," she said, a hint of hesitation in her voice, "your application to join the 'Chimera' classified biological research project was officially approved yesterday. As your mentor, I need to confirm one last time—are you absolutely sure?"
"This project is highly confidential. Once you join, you'll be cut off from the outside world for at least five years. Without your core patents and leadership, GeneVance, the company you built with your husband, could face a crippling technological gap. It might even collapse. Will your husband agree to this?"
I took a step forward, leaving that familiar street behind. "I'm getting a divorce, Professor," I said firmly. "GeneVance is no longer my problem."
Eager to start the project and leave this toxic chapter behind, I asked my mentor to arrange for my pickup the next day.
My mood for wandering gone, I hailed a cab and went straight home.
The living room lights were on. Brendan was on the sofa, a smile on his lips as he texted.
The moment he saw me, he shoved his phone away. He rushed over, grabbing my hand. "Why didn't you wait for me at the restaurant? The manager said you'd already left when I got there. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was for me?"
I froze. I hadn't expected him to show, but his self-righteous anger was so absurd it almost made me laugh.
