Chapter 4

Three days after the wedding was called off, I moved out of the bridal home.

We'd bought the house together, but the decorating had been done almost entirely to his taste.

He wakes easily in his sleep, so the curtains had to be blackout.

He doesn't like bright colors, so all the furniture is gray.

He has rhinitis, so we couldn't keep flowers in the house.

By the time I finished packing, I realized that in this place I'd lived in for three years, everything that was mine fit into two suitcases.

When Cliff rushed back, I was setting the key down by the door.

"Where are you going?"

"My own place."

"We just had a fight. Is it really necessary to move out?"

He hadn't slept in three days, and his dark circles were heavy.

Before, seeing him like this, I would have softened.

This time, I just felt tired.

"We didn't have a fight."

He blocked the doorway. "So are you punishing me, or trying to force me to stop looking out for Carly from now on?"

When someone can't understand your pain, no matter how much you say, it all sounds like you're just fishing for sympathy.

I looked at him. "Cliff, I'm breaking up with you."

He froze, and then, a few seconds later, he actually let out a laugh.

"Just because I didn't go to the wedding?"

"Yes."

"Don't say things out of anger."

"I'm not angry."

He reached out to touch me, and I took a step back.

His hand stopped in midair.

"I'm not angry, because I don't want you anymore."

The color drained from his face all at once.

"Impossible. You've loved me for eight years."

"I have."

"We bought the house, the wedding got this far. And now you want to back out?"

"It's precisely because it got this far that I can't keep lying to myself anymore."

"I always used to think, if I just endured it one more time, we'd be fine."

"But on our wedding day, I finally understood—if I couldn't get you to come even while I was standing there in my wedding dress, I never will."

His eyes were red. "Carly took the pills. What was I supposed to do?"

"So I don't blame you for going."

"I'm just not staying anymore."

He grabbed my suitcase. "I don't agree to this."

I pried his hand off.

"A breakup doesn't need both people to agree."

The door closed in front of him.

This time, the one left waiting in place was him.