They Lost Me in the Fire

I spent an entire month in the hospital.

I was trapped for too long–my lungs were damaged from inhalation, and they had to insert tubes to clear them.

Every time they changed the dressings on my burns, it felt like a form of torture.

That single month dragged on like an entire year.

Yet for all that time, neither of them–the father nor the son–came to see me even once.

I tried to convince myself it did not matter.

However, whenever I saw families reunited, I could not help the quiet ache that crept into my chest.

The day I was discharged, sunlight poured over me, and for a moment, I felt dazed.

It reminded me of the first time I met Leo.

The weather was just as beautiful as it was today.

We met on a blind date–introduced through our parents' friends.

He was a firefighter. I was an elementary school teacher.

He was an only child. So was I.

He liked quiet things, liked reading.

I liked staying at home, watching movies, and tending to flowers.

Everything seemed to fall into place, as if it were meant to be.

We never ran out of things to talk about. And just like that, we ended up together.

However, on our wedding day, I saw a message on his phone.

The contact name was 'Maya.'

She wrote: [Congratulations. You finally got what you wanted.]

Leo stared at that message for a long time.

Back then, I did not think much of it.

I assumed she was just a close friend who could not attend the wedding–that was why he seemed so distracted.

It was not until this year, when she returned from overseas, that everything fell apart.

That night, after attending a class reunion, Leo lay in bed, crying out her name.

That was when I realized how naive–how ridiculous–I was.

Like a madwoman, I dug into their past.

Maya was his first love.

Their relationship was intense, unforgettable.

He was the quiet, well-behaved student.

She was a spoiled, headstrong, rich girl.

Academically, she lagged far behind.

Financially, he had to rely on hardship subsidies.

Even their interests could not have been more different.

Yet, despite everyone's opposition, these two opposite people stayed together–from high school all the way through college.

Until Maya went abroad for graduate school and broke up with him.

Two years later, after he started working, he agreed to a family-arranged blind date. That's when he met me.

That message–[you finally got what you wanted]–came from the moment they broke up.

As he watched her leave, Leo said he would not wait for her anymore.

From then on, he would be with someone suitable for marriage.

That person was me.

When I learned all of this, it felt like my heart was being carved apart, piece by piece.

If it were the old me, I might have chosen divorce–unable to accept a love already stained by someone else.

However, when I looked at my son, still in elementary school, I fell silent. And let that layer of dust settle deeper and deeper into my heart.