Love Ended First

I had stood there like a fool, waiting in the hotel, staring at the cramped little ceremony hall while the people around me whispered and sneered.

I really should have appreciated Kyle's good intentions. It was just that none of them had ever been meant for me.

When Kyle heard me laugh, he took it as a sign that the matter was settled, forgiven and forgotten.

He repeated himself, satisfied. "I'll keep my word this time. Once this business trip is over, I'll throw you a proper engagement ceremony. Then we'll go file the paperwork and make it official, okay?"

My thumb froze mid-scroll.

He paused for a moment, then added, "Oh, and that contract Anya didn't close? Go ahead and take over on that."

I let out a quiet, bitter laugh. So that was why he had suddenly brought up filing the marriage paperwork. He needed me to clean up after Anya.

We had been together for 9 years. I had brought up getting legally married more times than I could count, and every single time, he had shut me down.

At first, he said he was still young and wanted to enjoy life without being tied down by marriage. I believed him.

Later, he said he needed to focus on his career, that youth only lasted so long. I believed that too.

Then, once his career had taken off and everyone around me was already married with children, I figured I had waited long enough. I tried to use the multimillion-dollar contract I had just landed as an opening to bring it up again. He turned me down once more.

His reason that time was, "I've gotten so used to the way things are between us. I'm afraid I won't be able to adjust if we change things now. Let's just keep things the way they are. You're the one I love, and that's never going to change."

We had a huge fight over it, and he stormed out.

I was about to text him an apology when I received a video from Anya instead. It was the two of them on a camping trip together.

After that, I never brought up marriage again.

Before I could even respond to what Kyle had just said, I heard Anya's voice in the background on his end. He muttered something about being busy and hung up.

I clenched my fists. It had never occurred to me that the only reason he had offered to file the paperwork was because of Anya.

He truly did spoil that girl rotten. I could not even begin to compete.

Just then, a new post popped up on my feed.

I did not even need to zoom in. I could tell the blurred figure in the photo was Kyle.

The two of them were strolling through a street food market like a couple. Kyle was looking at Anya like she was the only person in the world.

The caption underneath read, "In the quiet moments of ordinary life, love means you are never alone."

I stared at Kyle's happy smile, and at the fried food he was holding in his hands.

I blinked. He had always hated street food.

I had taken him to a place like that once, thinking it would be a nice way to unwind together. I had waited in line for an hour to buy him something to try. He took one look at it, frowned, and tossed it straight into the trash without a word.

Then he shrugged it off. "Weak stomach. Can't handle it."

Yet I had seen the disgust in his eyes, and it was not directed at the food. I never took him to a place like that again.

Only now did I understand. That look had never been about the food. It had been about me.

Within a minute of the post going up, it already had many comments.

I ignored them, tapped a quick like out of habit, and was about to close the app when a notification popped up tagging me directly.

I opened it and found a comment dripping with hostility.

"Finally, Team Lead Anya is posting for herself and setting the record straight. Unlike some people who can only talk trash behind everyone's back."

"This is exactly the kind of person dragging the whole company down. If you ask me, anyone who can only run their mouth like that should've been fired a long time ago."