Goodbye, Lover

I had heard this from Charles so many times before. If this had been before, I would probably be yelling at him by now.

But now, I just felt numb. I nodded like I was on autopilot and put on a mask. Charles didn’t expect me to stay so calm. It threw him off and he seemed a little panicked.

He walked over to me, trying to stay patient. "Sydney, I’ve known Jenna longer than we’ve been together. I swear, she is like a sister to me. And I’m marrying you, what else do you want?"

I just stared at him, like I was seeing him for the first time. His tone made it sound like marrying me was some kind of favor he was doing.

I felt a mix of things in my chest, but it all came out in a quiet voice. "Let’s not get married. Let’s break up."

Saying it actually made me feel a little lighter.

Charles’s face went blank. "What did you just say?" he asked, like he couldn’t believe it. I had never said "break up" before.

In all the years we’d been together, our fights always ended with him throwing a tantrum and me apologizing. We never even brought up breaking up.

"What are you talking about? We’re getting married soon and you’re going to be a mom. Can’t you just understand?" Charles looked at me like I was being unreasonable.

He knew how much I loved him, so he probably thought I was just throwing a fit, that I didn’t actually mean it.

"I don’t—" Before I could finish, Charles’s phone rang. He checked the caller ID, then picked up.

"Charles, the wind on the rooftop is too strong here, I feel so uncomfortable," a soft voice said from the phone. We were standing so close, I could hear every word.

"Jenna, stop crying, just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you." Charles said as he grabbed his coat and started heading out.

He turned around before leaving, adding, "I don’t have the energy to deal with you every day. Think about whether you want to marry me or break up." Then he slammed the door behind him.

I just stood there, watching him walk away, feeling like a fool.

Charles had never comforted me as his girlfriend, but now he was rushing off in the middle of the night to calm another woman just because she was upset.

That night, Charles didn’t come back and the next day, I started packing.

I tossed out everything that reminded me of him; couple shirts, matching necklaces, Polaroids, the stuffed animals I got him at the mall. All those little things with memories of Charles went into one big bag.

While cleaning up, it hit me, most of my stuff was tied to him. The things I was throwing away filled four bags, while the stuff I was keeping barely fit in two storage boxes.

It took me five days to get everything sorted. But by the end, I was sure of one thing: nothing related to Charles would be part of my life anymore.

During those five days, Charles didn’t contact me once. No calls, no messages. I only saw what he was up to through Jenna’s TikTok.

She posted videos of them at the amusement park, feeding her food, playing kissing games.

Every time she posted something new, it showed up in my feed, even though I’d already clicked "not interested" more times than I could count.