Chapter 3

"Bandage the cut on your leg first," he said, his voice softening. "I'll go find her. It isn't safe for her to be alone this late. You should calm down."

Something in my chest gave a dull thud.

"Go, Julian. I'll sell this apartment. You don't need to come back."

I was calm. But anger flared in his eyes.

"Evelyn, what the hell is wrong with you? I told you it isn't what you think. What more do you want?"

I wasn't losing my mind.

I just didn't love him anymore.

"I don't want anything. This apartment was where we were supposed to live after the wedding. We're broken up now. Why wouldn't I sell it?"

"You're always so worried about her safety. Now you can move in with her and protect her every second of the day. Isn't that what you want?"

My calm and my acceptance came across as provocation to him.

"Keep this up. I'll wait and watch you come crawling back begging me to marry you." He was furious. "You're completely unreasonable."

"That won't happen," I said. "I'm leaving."

"Fine. If you're getting the hell out this time, get out for good. I'm not in the mood to come looking."

Bang.

The door slammed shut.

I looked at his retreating back and felt nothing.

In the past, whenever we fought, I'd deliberately run away from home. Really, I'd only hide near the apartment, because I knew he'd always come find me.

Seven years of love. Seven years of fighting.

But somewhere along the way, that stopped working.

And it turned into this—

"I'm already exhausted from work. Can you stop making trouble?"

"Why can't you be more like Mia? She can talk cases with me. She can travel with me for work. What can you do besides fight?"

I bent down and picked up the broken glass with my bare hands.

The photo had split along the frame—I was on the outside, and their half was still intact.

I didn't look at it again. I dropped the photo and the shards into the trash.

The next day, I packed my things into a suitcase, carried a cardboard box out to the backyard, and set it on fire.

The flames flickered in my eyes.

Eight years of love.

Ten years of friendship.

All of it, over.

Julian had just come back and happened to see it.

He looked at the things burning in the pit, panic crossing his face. He tried to reach in and pull them out with his bare hands, but it was too late.

His eyes reddened as he grabbed my arm.

"Why would you burn them? Weren't these your most precious things?"

"They used to be. Not anymore."

The nine hundred and ninety-nine paper cranes Mia had folded to pray for my exam scores.

The bracelet she'd bought me with her first paycheck.

The ninety-nine love letters Julian had written me.

The handmade ceramic ornament we'd made together.

Once the love was gone, they were no different from trash by the roadside.

Julian stared at me, trying to find some trace of change on my face.

He found nothing.

He let go, awkwardly.

"Evie, you're doing all this because you want an explanation, right?"

"Fine. Everything I did with Mia was something friends do. You think we wronged you, but we never crossed a line."

A tear slid down my cheek.

I hadn't meant to cry.

It just struck me as absurd.

Did betrayal have to involve sex?

No.

Emotional betrayal was betrayal too.

When we watched the snow together, he photographed it, turned away, and sent the picture to Mia.

When we went to Disneyland and bought plush toys, he didn't think about what I liked. He picked up another one and paid for it because he thought Mia would like it.

His fiancée was standing right beside him, but the only one in his heart was Mia.

"Enough," I said. "You don't need to explain. I'm leaving anyway. It doesn't matter."

My phone screen was still lit on the patio table, showing the New York flight confirmation.

Julian caught a glimpse of it and frowned. "You're going to New York for work? Then we'll talk about the next wedding date when you get back."

"I promise I won't miss it this time. And stop using a breakup to threaten me."

He didn't ask any further. I didn't explain again.

I just looked at him quietly.

"What if I don't come back?"