The Final Party

Edward shoved me hard. I stumbled back and slammed into the elevator wall. Pain shot through my back, and I gasped.

He gave me a cold look, like I was useless. Then, he turned and walked back to Juliet's apartment.

Juliet stood at the door and raised her voice, saying, "Edward! How can you talk to your fiancée like that? Women are emotional. You should calm her down. Bro, you just blew the deal!"

Edward put his arm around her like he had done it a hundred times.

"Let her go. She'll regret it. Remember how she chased me for three years? She couldn't leave me even if she tried."

He squeezed Juliet's arm and laughed.

"You're easier to be around. Just like one of the guys."

Juliet giggled and poked his chest. "Stop it. I'm a woman. I am pregnant!"

Edward smirked and touched her chest. "This small? You sure?"

They laughed and slammed the door behind them.

Bang.

The hallway went quiet. All I could hear was my heart pounding. My whole body shook with anger.

The elevator finally came.

I pressed the close button repeatedly, trying to keep calm.

Before the doors closed, my phone rang. It was Edward's mother, Mrs. Kingsley.

"Margot, I heard about Juliet and Edward.

"I've scolded him. Please don't take this personally. All couples fight. As long as he still wants to marry you, that means he still cares.

"Juliet said she doesn't want to get in between you two. Just ignore her."

My throat felt dry, and I replied softly, "We broke up."

She replied with a different tone, "Why are you so ungrateful? Do you even know your place? We were kind enough to accept you. You should be thankful.

"Why are you being harsh to him? Is it not exhausting being this stubborn? He merely made a small mistake."

I stayed quiet for a second, then replied, "You've always looked down on me, haven't you? You've always looked down on my degree, thinking it's not good enough and that my family runs a small company. I'll never be good enough for Edward. So, now that I'm leaving, isn't that exactly what you've always wanted?"

I hung up.

The Kingsleys came from a long line of professors. Edward's dad was tenured at Columbia. His mom worked at Brookings. Most of the family had jobs at Harvard or Yale.

At every family event, someone would ask, "Margot, what school did you go to? What was your GPA?"

When I told them, the room would go quiet.

Then someone would say, "Well, that brings down our family average. You know intelligence comes from the mother's side. Imagine if our grandchild got her genes..."

Edward sat nearby, sipping wine, smiling, never saying a word.

He had heard it all. He just did not care.

He had looked down on me, too.

I remembered the first time I confessed. He scanned through me and said, "My girlfriend should at least have a 1550 SAT Score. You barely made it into college, didn't you?"

He only agreed to date me after I chased after him for three years.

I slid down the wall inside the elevator. My head was heavy. My chest was tight. I could not breathe.

After what felt like forever, the elevator started moving.

The doors opened. A tall man was standing there.

I could not see his face, but I knew he was frowning—just like he always did when I got hurt.

He gently wiped the tears off my face and pulled me into a hug.

"Margot, don't let anyone hurt you ever again."

It was Nathan.

He smelled like alcohol—he must have come straight from a business dinner. I knew he had just left a deal meeting. He probably walked out on the client and his boss to go and find me.

Nathan had always been calm and polite. However, that night, he cursed for the first time.

I tried to push him away, worried the elevator doors might close.

However, he held me tighter.

"You've already said yes on the phone. You're not allowed to take it back."