When Regret Came, I Was Already Gone

Tamara's POV

I packed the last of my things into two suitcases and started browsing apartment listings online.

After some searching, I found a place I liked in Downtown Street. I messaged the landlord and scheduled a viewing for the next day. If all went well, I could move in immediately.

That night, Louie finally came home.

The moment he saw the suitcases sitting by the door, his expression darkened.

“Tamara… are you really leaving?” he asked, a hint of guilt in his voice, like he finally realized how out of line he’d been disappearing for days.

I nodded.

My calm seemed to catch him off guard. For the first time, a flicker of panic appeared on his face.

He stepped closer and carefully wrapped his arms around me, his voice soft and coaxing. “Don’t be mad, okay? Lindsay’s just like a sister to me. If it makes you uncomfortable, once she’s feeling better, I’ll stop seeing her.”

I looked up, and that’s when I saw it. A bright red lipstick mark on his collar.

My stomach turned.

I pulled away from his embrace and said coldly, “Don’t bother. I hope you two are happy together.”

He stumbled a bit from the push, then dropped the act entirely. “Tamara, how long are you going to keep this up?”

Normally, all it took was for Louie to soften his tone just a little, and I’d be the one trying to fix things.

This time, he was actually giving me a promise, but I stayed cold. And that annoyed him.

“Just give me a straight answer. Are you still marrying me or not?” he demanded.

I stared at him, silent. My mind flashed with memories—how he always made excuses for her, how she’d flaunt their closeness like a challenge to me.

But in the end, I didn’t bring up the flirtatious photos I’d seen of the two of them.

Even if I did, he’d just come up with a dozen reasons to deny it. I was too tired to argue.

So, I turned around and walked back to the bedroom without a word.

Frustrated, Louie followed me and started yelling again.

“Tamara, can you stop being so heartless? Lindsay’s like my sister—her boyfriend treated her like crap. What was I supposed to do, just ignore her?”

Bringing up what had happened a few days ago, he continued, “Also, I went to the county clerk's office right after I calmed her down. I waited for you for two hours, and you never showed up! I honestly don’t know what your problem is!”

Shaking his head and sighing heavily, he added, “Anyway, I already spoke to someone. Next Monday is a good day. We’ll register our marriage and give the baby a proper name.”

His words hit me like a slap.

I hadn’t started showing yet, as I was just two months pregnant at the time of the accident. So there was no way for him to know.

But I knew. I remembered every second of that night.

I remembered the car accident.

I remembered calling him three times.

And I remembered him ignoring every single one of them—too busy to pick up, too busy to care. And because of that, I lost the baby.

Now he stood there, acting like he was doing me a favor by offering to marry me, for the child he didn’t even bother to check on.

My eyes burned with tears. I glared at him and icily said, “There’s no baby anymore. We’re done. Don’t ever contact me again.”

His eyes widened in shock. “What did you say? You got rid of the baby?”

Louie looked like the wind had been knocked out of him.

“Do you even realize what you’re saying?” he snapped, his voice rising in disbelief. “I told you to get rid of it, and you were the one who said it was fate. You said we were at the right age to get married. I agreed to all of this because of you.”

“For years, you kept pushing me to propose. You were even willing to use a baby to trap me into marriage. And now that you finally got what you wanted, you're telling me you got rid of the baby? Are you fucking kidding me, Tamara?!” he snapped.

His words cut deep. Every sentence was like a slap to the face.

The worst part? He wasn’t wrong about how desperate I’d been.

I really had chased after him all these years like a fool.

I’d spent so long dreaming of marrying him, building a family, and living a quiet, happy life together.

At first, I tried hinting that I wanted a romantic proposal. Something meaningful.

But Louie never cared enough to even pretend.