Chapter 4

I was standing on the sidewalk when my phone buzzed.
It was a message from my father.

[Eric, are you and Hannah going to visit anytime soon? Your mom was asking about the wedding again today.]

I stared at the words until my eyes finally began to sting. I had lied to my family for far too long because of Hannah.

I told them she was busy. I told them that she did love me, but she preferred to keep her private life private. By the end, I had repeated those lies so often that I had almost started believing them myself.

I called my mother.

Her gentle voice came through the phone. “How did it go? Have you and Hannah set a wedding date yet? Are you visiting us anytime soon?”

“Mom, we broke up.”

There was a long silence on the other end.

Long enough for me to think she would accuse me of acting too hastily or tell me to give Hannah another chance.

Instead, she only sighed.

“Did she hurt you?”

Her question nearly shattered the composure I had fought so hard to maintain.

“Yes.”

My mother’s voice began to break as well.

“Come home then. I’ll be here waiting for you.”

I could no longer hold back my tears. They poured down my face.

I returned home and began packing the last of my things.

It was after midnight when Hannah finally sent me a message.

[Honey, are you asleep?]

I did not reply.

Then, she sent a voice message. Her voice was so soft that it sounded as though she was afraid of waking someone.

“I just finished everything. I’m exhausted. I wish you were here. I want you to hold me.”

I stared at our conversation and scrolled all the way back to the beginning.

Seven years of messages took up a considerable amount of storage on my phone.

There had been a time when she would buy me medicine in the middle of the night, pick me up in the pouring rain, and search all over town simply because I mentioned craving fruit that was out of season.

Those tender memories had long since been eclipsed by the humiliation of the present.

Then I remembered the caption on her post.

[When you love someone, you can’t help showing him off to the whole world.]

I opened my own social media profile.

Over the past seven years, I had shared countless pieces of our life together.

The flowers she gave me. The movies we watched. The first pot of soup she ruined. Every loving promise she ever made.

Beneath those posts, there was never a like from her.

She never acknowledged them. Never responded.

It was as though I were the only one pretending we had a relationship.

I deleted them one by one.

By the time I finished, my profile was so empty that it looked as though she had never been part of my life at all.

When the sky on the horizon began to pale with the first light of dawn, I took a taxi to the airport.

Sitting in the last row of the departure lounge, I watched the sky brighten beyond the windows.

Seven years ago, Hannah had taken my hand for the first time and told me she was possessive. She had said that I was never allowed to have eyes for anyone else.

Seven years later, she had hidden me from everyone while proudly showing another man to the world.

This time, I was not going to wait for her anymore.

The boarding announcement sounded.

Just before takeoff, I watched the city recede outside the window and closed my eyes.