He Traded My Forever for a One-Night Crush

Reuben's face darkened in an instant.

He rubbed at his brow, something hollow in the gesture, and looked for a long moment at Fiona in the passenger seat.

Only after that did he turn to me.

"Team A won. We—"

He never got to finish the rest.

Fiona rolled down the window and shrieked out into the night.

"No way! Team A's garbage, there's no way they won!"

The words barely landed before her head dropped, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed.

Reuben came apart. He told the driver to pull over at once and yanked open my door.

"Get out first. I'll take Fiona home."

So I was left alone at the edge of the road, up on the overpass.

I watched the door slam shut and the car race off into the distance.

My head was empty. I couldn't hear the traffic roaring past. I just walked home, one numb step after another.

When I got back, Grandma was still sitting in the living room, waiting up for me.

"Macy, why didn't Reuben come back with you?"

I managed a thin smile. "He still has work to do."

She came out of the kitchen and pressed a bowl of hot soup into my hands.

"I made beef stew on purpose. Reuben's been working such late nights lately. He needs building up."

Grandma's legs gave her trouble. Just imagining her shuffling unsteadily through the market to pick out the meat made my eyes sting.

"If I didn't marry Reuben, would you be disappointed?"

She was quiet for a long while, then slowly took my hand. "Macy. Did Reuben hurt you?"

I gave a small shake of my head.

Her health was already poor. I couldn't bear to drag her into worry and grief.

She let out a breath, relieved, and patted the back of my hand.

"Then Grandma's at ease. I watched that boy grow up. He's a good one. Putting you in his hands lets me rest easy."

I knew she thought of Reuben as her own grandson. The bond ran deep.

His overseas business had done well these past years, and whenever something good came along, he was always the first to buy it for her.

After I coaxed her to sleep, I set out warm water at her bedside the way I always did.

I eased the door shut and sat alone in the living room.

Three in the morning, and Reuben still wasn't home.

To stop myself from thinking, I set my phone aside, opened my laptop, and started in on work.

Then, from Grandma's bedroom, the sharp crack of a water glass hitting the floor.

I rushed in.

Her face was ghost-white, one hand pressed hard to her chest in pain, the other clutching her phone in a death grip.

On the screen, Reuben and Fiona were tangled together, kissing.

I didn't stop to think about any of it. I got her to the hospital at once.

The whole way there she kept saying Reuben's name, over and over.

And over and over, I called him.

Thirty-seven times. Not one answered.

When the last call finally connected, the first thing through the speaker was Fiona's coy laughter.

"Reuben!" I shouted into the phone. "Something's happened to Grandma. We have to get to the hospital, now!"

His voice came back irritated. "Can you let me catch my breath? Every single time, it's Grandma this, Grandma that. How many times are you going to pull this? Stop using her to hold me hostage, all right?"

Then he hung up.

Outside the operating room, I called him again and again. When he didn't pick up, I switched to texting.

"Grandma's in a very bad way. We're at the hospital. She keeps saying your name."

"I'm not lying to you."

A long time passed before his reply came.

"To get me to come back, you'll even make up a lie about Grandma being critically ill?"

I explained, desperate, and he turned his phone off entirely.

I don't know how long it was before the doctor came out of the operating room.

"I'm sorry. We did everything we could."

In that instant a ringing filled my ears, and the whole world went silent.

Grandma was the only family I had left in this world.

I stumbled to the bedside and watched, helpless, as the white sheet was drawn up over her face, inch by inch.

I cried until I lost consciousness, passed out and jolted awake again, and still the tears wouldn't stop.

Before her body at the funeral home,

I played that last video sent to her, again and again.

Beneath the video were a few lines of text.

"You wretched old hag, at your age, selling off your granddaughter to chain down a rich man so you can live the good life?"

"The two of you can't make it on your own? You have to cling to Reuben like leeches?"

"Reuben got sick of you long ago, and you're still forcing him to marry your granddaughter. Don't you make me sick!"

I called from a different number. Fiona answered.

I didn't say a word. I hung up.

Then I turned and bowed three times, hard, before Grandma's body.

"Grandma, I'm sorry. I won't marry Reuben."

Three days later,

after she was buried,

Reuben showed up at the door, his face glowing.

"Where's Grandma? I bought her favorite mung-bean cake."

"Perfect timing. She can have some while we talk over the wedding."