My eyes stung with tears. I remembered all the times I had begged him to come with me to a check-up, only for him to say, "Next time."
I felt like I was suffocating.
Seeing my discomfort, he guided me to the bed, brought a cold, damp towel, and gently placed it on my chest, rubbing it in small circles with his hand, his eyes full of concern.
People are always so quick to forgive when they're at their most vulnerable.
For a moment, I remembered when we first started dating—how he had stood beneath my dorm window with his guitar, promising he was all mine. Warmth spread through me, and I let out a long sigh before nodding.
A genuine smile finally appeared on his face.
For the next three days, he cleared his schedule to eat with me, to go on walks with me. We were almost back to how we were when we first started dating.
But Scarlett still rejected every version of the song.
It wasn't until about a week later that she contacted me, saying the single was finally set.
She sent me an audio file. As I listened, my heart sank, lower and lower.
This... this was "Our Song." The one I'd been secretly writing for our seventh anniversary. From the opening guitar strum to the melodic progression of the chorus, even the vocal harmonies were identical.
My mind went blank. I rushed back to the studio to check my files.
It was then I realized. One day, when I had stepped away to take a shower, I had left my laptop on and unlocked. Noah had been sitting at my desk. He must have opened my personal folder.
He thought it sounded special, so he sent my private work to Scarlett. She fell in love with it instantly and had been hoarding it like a treasure ever since.
I scrambled to explain to my team that it was a personal project, never intended for a client.
Everyone tried to comfort me. "It's your creation, Ava. No one can truly steal that."
But Scarlett, standing in the corner with red-rimmed eyes and a trembling smile, whispered, "So this was Ava's private work... Then I can't take it. But, if it's not too much to ask, could I come and see it performed on the release day? It's just so beautiful."
The look on her face was a perfect mask of jealousy and disappointment.
Noah, who had been lost in thought, suddenly looked up and said in an unusually calm voice, "Ava, why don't you just let her have the song?"
I was stunned, my hands turning to ice.
When I didn't answer, he frowned slightly. "We're not in a rush," he said, his tone dismissive. "You can write another one. It’s just a song. What’s the big deal about doing a client a favor?"
The room fell silent.
I looked up at my colleagues. Some were shocked, some sympathetic, and others looked like they wanted to say something but held their tongues.
That was the last straw.
I quickly looked down, blinking back tears, then looked up at the man who had once told me I was his one and only.
Then, forcing a smile I didn't feel, I said quietly, "Alright."
