Our Love's Final Breakdown

After dropping hints to Roland for the 99th time, I finally found an exquisite ring box in his coat pocket.

Seeing the joyous expression on my face, he was taken aback. "I haven't had a chance to tell you, if you're free this weekend, let's have dinner with your parents!"

I thought this was the prelude to a proposal.

That weekend, I invited my parents and a few friends and I dressed up, wanting to be at my best for one of the most important moments of my life. But he never showed up, even when the restaurant closed.

His first love updated her status on social media, "Willful princess and her devoted prince."

The picture showed two hands, fingers intertwined, wearing matching rings. At that moment, I was neither angry nor sad, just exhausted.

Our love ended here.

When I found the ring box in his pocket, my heart pounded like a war drum. The sadness and grievance I had just felt were instantly replaced with the clear skies of summer.

Roland's gaze shifted from the ring box in my hand to my now radiant face. He finally said the words I had longed to hear.

I thought that our seven-year love was finally reaching its happy ending. Counting the days felt especially long and I was so excited that I lost sleep every night.

On the day of my dream, I put on a custom-made dress and spent a long time crafting an exquisite look. Dad, Mom and my friends all teased me, saying that they had never seen someone so eager to get married.

I wasn’t eager to marry anyone. I just wanted to marry Roland and give our years of love a happy ending. But things didn’t go as planned. By the time the restaurant closed, Roland still hadn’t shown up or even called.

As expected, the other shoe finally dropped after a day of anxious waiting.

This was the countless times he left me for Lysandra. On my birthday, he went to buy medicine for Lysandra’s menstrual cramps. On our anniversary, he brought Lysandra home, claiming her toilet was blocked and she couldn’t stay there. Even when I had acute gastroenteritis, he first went to take Lysandra’s dog to the vet.

Time and again, I felt like I had become exceptionally patient and enduring, but in reality, I was just unwilling to give up the seven years and youth we had shared.

After coaxing my angry parents away and watching the pouring rain outside, I finally decided to let go with a sense of relief.

Somehow, he no longer heard what I said, saw what I did, or cared about my feelings. It felt like we had run out of things to say.

The phone rang and Roland's impatient voice came through.

"Why aren’t you home yet? If you don’t come back soon, I’ll lock the door!"

I sighed and that inexplicable sense of exhaustion surfaced again.

“Roland, you were supposed to have dinner with my parents today…”

I heard his breath on the other end of the line seem to lighten and after a long pause, his cautious voice came through.

“So, what about your parents now?”

Before I could respond, he abruptly added, “Selena, hold on a moment. I have an important call coming in. I'll call you back later, okay?”

He seemed very urgent and before I could respond, he hastily hung up the phone. I no longer wanted to question whether he really had a call or if it was just an excuse to avoid me.

Looking at my phone with no battery, I walked into the rain, letting it soak my high-fashion dress and drench the elaborate hairstyle I had spent five hours on, making it stick to my forehead.

I suddenly recalled the year I graduated from college when Roland and I waited for the bus in the rain to save on taxi fare. At that time, he tilted the only umbrella we had completely over my head.

That night, as he came home soaked and with a fever, sneezing while daydreaming, he said,

“In the future, when we have money, I’ll definitely buy a car to pick you up in the wind and rain, so you won’t have to get wet again.”

Unable to tell if it was the rain or tears, my vision began to blur.

A taxi pulled up beside me and the driver, a woman, called out, “Hey, get in! I won’t charge you for this ride!”

The driver was a chatty woman who tried hard to make conversation with me. Before I could pay and get out of the car, she called out to me again.

“Hey, there’s no difficulty that can’t be overcome. Money can be earned back and you can find another man. Don’t ever put yourself through this.”

I suddenly realized that her kind words were meant to prevent me from feeling hopeless. I waved my hand in gratitude.

Yes, from now on, I would not allow myself to suffer.

Before going to bed, I checked my phone and Lysandra, Roland’s "first love," had updated something on her social media.

“The princess just couldn’t sleep, so her prince came over to lull her to sleep.”

In the video, Roland’s profile could be seen as he gently hummed a pleasant tune. He had a beautiful voice and sang very well.

When I was feeling down, I once insisted that he sing a song for me. I remembered his response. “I’m not a singer, if you want to hear a song, just search online.”

Looking back on our seven years together, Roland's patience with me was indeed quite limited. I blocked both Lysandra and Roland, as a way of wishing them a matching pair in my own unique manner.