Chapter 4

Time flew by. After finishing my transition at work, my departure date drew closer.

Without a job and without Finn, I completely disconnected from the San Francisco social scene. My life became incredibly peaceful.

Only Joyce, who knew I was leaving, would occasionally call to give me updates.

She told me that after our run-in at the restaurant, Finn and Nevaeh had a massive fight, and their friends had to step in to mediate.

She also mentioned that Nevaeh had publicly screamed at Finn during a dinner party, leaving him standing in the corner looking completely lost.

I listened to all of it without feeling a thing.

In the past, news of Finn and Nevaeh fighting was my green light to beg him for an early reconciliation.

But this time, I didn't even have the urge to look at his social media.

Even when Joyce casually mentioned that Finn had been asking her about me, I didn't care.

What surprised me more was that Finn actually started calling me.

I repeatedly declined his calls, a move so cold that even Joyce, who was getting a facial with me, noticed.

"Is it true what they say? The more you pull away, the harder they chase?"

Joyce joked, and I playfully kicked her leg.

After our spa session, we sat in a café sipping tea.

Joyce sighed softly.

"You know, in the beginning, Finn really did treat you well."

My mind drifted back to the past.

I met Finn when I was a student at Berkeley.

He was eight years older than me, a rising star in the business world whom my father highly respected.

When my parents moved to Europe, they asked him to look after me.

Back then, the powerful Silicon Valley investor had spoiled me rotten.

When I sprained my ankle during a football game, he ran down from the stands and carried me to the clinic in front of everyone.

When I was crying in the library, overwhelmed by exams and worrying about my mother’s surgery, he found me and held me until I calmed down.

When I bought a cheap, sketchy used car to save money and it broke down on the highway, he not only got me a full refund but made sure the shady dealer faced legal consequences.

I couldn't even point to the exact moment I fell in love with the man who protected me like a precious girl.

I had openly showed him my devotion.

Finn, used to pampering me, didn't realize my feelings until I finally confessed to him.

His face had turned solemn, ending in a deep sigh.

"Nevaeh needs me. She can’t handle me being in a relationship."

That was the night I first learned about Nevaeh’s existence.

His parents' legally adopted daughter. The sister who "needed" him.

That failed confession marked the beginning of nine years of agonizing entanglement.

It wasn't until Nevaeh went abroad for therapy that I naively confessed a second time.

He answered me with a kiss, binding himself to me with a promise of a real relationship.

But when Nevaeh returned and found out we were officially together, she had a complete breakdown.

And Finn broke up with me for the first time.

By the time the cycle of breaking up, getting back together, and breaking up again became routine, I had stopped hating Nevaeh.

I started hating Finn.

What did he think I was?

A convenient comfort he could summon and discard whenever he pleased?

If he didn't love me, why did he keep coming back?

I should have realized much earlier that our relationship was just a twisted ritual. It was his way of proving to Nevaeh, and to himself: *“I tried to love someone else, but in the end, I still belong to you.”*

Snapping out of my thoughts, I cut off Joyce's rambling.

I looked down at my phone.

Tomorrow, I was leaving.

A sense of excitement washed over me.

Let the title of "ex-girlfriend" exist for just another twenty-four hours.

After that, we would be nothing but strangers.

***

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