Roses are No Longer Romantic

Evelyn did not come home that night. After I refused to cook for Simon, she blocked my number without a second thought.

Instead of waiting, I packed up and drove back to my hometown. I felt a strange pull to retrieve some of my old childhood belongings.

I was not entirely sure what Evelyn had told my mother, but as soon as I stepped out of the car, it became clear that her words had already reached home. My mother was standing at the door, her arms crossed, looking as though she had been waiting for me for hours.

The moment she realized Evelyn was not coming with me, her face immediately darkened.

Mom still did not know the truth that Evelyn would never set foot here again. Deep down, she had always looked down on me and my family, treating us with a kind of disdain she never bothered to hide.

"You haven't made up yet?" my mother asked sharply.

"It's too complicated to be fixed," I replied.

No sooner had the words left my mouth than her hand connected with my face, hard and fast. Half my face throbbed as I felt the familiar sting of her slap.

In front of the whole neighborhood, with people passing by and glancing at the scene unfolding, my mother grabbed the broom by the door. She struck me again with the same ruthless frustration she used to discipline me when I was a child.

Each hit landed with force, relentless and filled with frustration.

"Eve told me everything," she yelled between strikes. "Do you even understand how lucky you are to be with someone like her? You should be grateful. Grateful! It's a blessing you don’t deserve, a fortune earned over several lifetimes. And here you are, wasting it."

"You're just jealous, you're being selfish, you're mean!"

"You better figure it out, you hear me? No matter what it takes, whether you have to beg on your knees or hang your own neck, you’ll marry Evelyn, or don’t even think about coming back here!"

Suddenly, a cold wind swept through and the sky opened up as rain poured down.

My mother finally stopped.

She blocked the door, threw my things into the rain-soaked street and shouted, "Get out! Even if you die, you better die as a part of the Hartwell family!"

The trophy I had earned as a child, a symbol of my pride, hit me square on the forehead, drawing blood. The rain mixed with my own blood, streaming down my face as I knelt to pick up the scattered remnants of my past from the muddy ground.

That was when a Bentley pulled up beside me.

The car door opened and Evelyn stepped out of the car.

She held an umbrella in one hand and with the other, she grabbed me roughly from behind, dragging me toward her car.

"Vince, have you learned your lesson yet?"

"No one in this world will ever love you the way I do."

"Come back home with me. As soon as we return, you have to apologize to Simon and you’ll still be my future husband."

She threw her coat over my shoulders, but the smell of Simon's cigarettes still clung to the fabric, overwhelming me.

I turned my head away, looking out the rain-blurred window at the scenery as it passed.

The numbness in my chest spread, swallowing everything whole.

I used to see Evelyn as my salvation, someone I could confide in, someone who would understand my deepest thoughts and feelings. But now, I realized she had taken my pain and twisted it into something she could use to control me, to manipulate me.

She was never my salvation.

And she certainly was not worthy of my sincere love.

The only way I could truly live, the only way I could ever be happy, was by leaving her and walking away from the hollow place we once called home.

As these thoughts swirled in my mind, Evelyn’s phone rang, snapping me back to reality.

"Evelyn, why aren’t you here yet? Everyone is waiting for you."

"They’re teasing me, saying team events should be attended by couples. I’m barely holding up here without you..."

Evelyn glanced at me awkwardly.

For a brief moment, I could see the wheels turning in her head, as though she was weighing the pros and cons of leaving me behind, but she quickly realized it would be inappropriate, especially after everything that had happened.

"Vince, why don’t you join us for the company’s team event?"

In the past, I was never allowed to simply set foot in Evelyn's company.

I was always the outsider, kept at a distance to avoid interfering with her work. Even when I brought her lunch, I had to wait outside, handing the food over to her assistant while I stood at the door like some kind of delivery boy.

But now, this invitation was something different. An unprecedented offer.

I slowly reached for a tissue, wiping the blood still dripping from the wound on my forehead. Then, after a moment, I answered, my voice calm and deliberate.

"Alright."