He Buys Her a River-View Apartment While I Pay the Bills

Chapter 8

He stared at me, his eyes lighting up, as if he finally saw a glimmer of hope. "Emma, I knew you wouldn't give up on me after everything. More than ten years together, you can't just walk away."

I smiled, cold and detached. "I don't care about you anymore." It was like closing a ###Chapter on the version of me who had cared, who had been blind to the truth for so long.

"We've known each other for over ten years," he continued, trying to pull at the strings of our past. "We've shared so much. Do you remember the promises we made?"

I let out a small, humorless laugh, then spoke, my voice steady but firm. "When I asked you for money, your response wasn't love, it was suspicion. You thought I was some gold digger, just after your cash. You didn't trust me after everything we've been through. You even kept me in the dark for five years, lying to me." I paused, letting the words sink in. "And as for you and Elaine? That's not about love; it's about you getting bored, losing all sense of loyalty. Even if Elaine hadn't come back, you still would've done this. You've always been unfaithful. I don't regret loving you once, but I regret trusting you for all these years. We're not the same people anymore, and I won't just rush back to you because you ask."

Lionel's eyes reddened, and a tear slipped down his cheek. But I wasn't moved. Not anymore.

"No… it's not like that, Emma," he said, his voice trembling.

"Okay," I interrupted, my tone dismissive. "There's no point in talking anymore."

"Emma, can we start over?" His voice cracked, desperate.

I heard the familiar sound of a car approaching. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw it pulling up. The passenger window rolled down, and the voice that came from it made my heart skip a beat.

"Darling, I'm here to pick you up!"

I smiled, genuine this time, the warmth I felt in that moment a stark contrast to the coldness I'd just shown Lionel. "Lionel, you're so dirty. Do you really think you're worthy of me?"

I turned and walked toward the car, where my new boyfriend was waiting, the door swinging open for me. He carefully shielded my head as I got in, his gestures gentle and considerate, everything Lionel never was.

I glanced back one last time. Lionel stood there, his clothes filthy, probably still not getting the full picture of what I meant by "dirty." But it didn't matter. The car started moving, pulling me farther away from him, and I didn't look back.

The person in the car was my boyfriend, someone I was just starting to build something new with. Who knew what the future held? Maybe we'd get married one day, but that was a long way off. For now, I had something better than the past: time. Time to live for myself.

The End.