Chapter 3

Deep down, I always knew I never held a candle to Julian in Alyssa's heart.

Julian, Alyssa, and I had been college classmates.

Julian used to be my best friend.

When he found out I had a massive crush on Alyssa, he offered to help me woo her, throwing out all kinds of advice.

Then I caught them walking across campus, holding hands.

When he returned to our dorm, I grabbed him by the collar. "Why the hell did you do this to me?"

He just smirked. "You know how it is, man. You can't force feelings."

After that, Julian and I were through.

I thought he would treat Alyssa well, but he constantly flirted with other girls behind her back.

I couldn't help warning Alyssa several times.

Instead of listening, she accused me of trying to break them up.

Predictably, it didn't take long for Julian to dump her.

His excuse? The thrill was gone.

Furious, Alyssa turned around and confessed her feelings to me.

I knew she was just using me to make Julian jealous.

Even so, I said yes, because I was genuinely in love with her.

I believed that through my actions, I could win her heart for real.

Once we were together, I poured everything into her.

Whatever she wanted, it was in her hands by the next morning.

I took on side gigs just to save up and take her on dream vacations.

Yet the better I treated her, the more entitled she became.

She grew glued to her phone, chatting with other people until the early hours, and forbade me from asking about it.

One night, after Alyssa fell asleep, I quietly reached for her phone, only to find she had changed the passcode.

I lay back down in the dark, stared at her sleeping face, and silently wept.

I knew we wouldn't make it to the end. A breakup was inevitable, yet I clung on desperately.

I pushed myself to spend more time with her, to talk to her constantly, trying to keep our spark alive.

I forgot that my own soft heart was the very source of my misery.

I tossed our wedding invitations into a metal bin and set them on fire, watching them burn to ash.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

I checked the screen. It was Alyssa.

After a moment's hesitation, I picked up. Maybe some foolish part of me still held onto a shred of hope.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice carrying a faint trace of anticipation.

Alyssa's tone was smug and mocking. "Ethan, you're pretty stubborn, aren't you? It's been days, and you still haven't apologized to me."

I gave a bitter chuckle at my own foolishness before asking, "Why should I apologize?"

Alyssa paused for a second before pressing on.

"If you get on your knees and apologize right now, I might let it slide and—"

"Forget it," I cut her off.

"What do you mean?" Disbelief laced her voice.

"Alyssa, I thought that even if you didn't love me, you'd at least have some respect for the years we spent together."

"Now I realize you don't have a heart at all."

I hung up immediately.

I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

I often wished I had a terrible memory, but every hurt Alyssa inflicted on me remained painfully sharp.

In this relationship, I was the only one who had ever been trapped.

I took a deep, steady breath, slowly calming myself down.

My life and my career had to move forward. I couldn't let one person ruin everything.

I got up and cleaned the apartment, gathering every single item that belonged to Alyssa or reminded me of her.

Even the matching promise rings and couple necklaces I had bought.

I boxed everything up, taped it shut, and shipped it straight to her.

It was time to close this chapter for good.

"Ding." A notification popped up on my phone.

It was an alert for transactions on my credit card.

I scrolled through the statement. The charges seemed endless.

Because Alyssa's family struggled financially, she carried a massive chip on her shoulder and an obsession with vanity.

She used to whine until I bought her designer bags, luxury clothes, and expensive shoes.

Eventually, I gave her an authorized user card on my account.

Her appetite only grew.

A single card wasn't enough to satisfy her.

She went behind my back and linked my bank card to her Apple Pay and PayPal.

When I confronted her, she showed zero remorse. Instead, she lashed out: "So what if I spend a little of your money? If you're counting pennies already, how am I supposed to trust you as a husband?"

I let it drop, simply because I loved her.

Snapping back to reality, I laughed at myself. "A simp for so many years, and I didn't even get a participation trophy."

Without hesitation, I removed her from my PayPal and canceled the card I had given her.

A toxic mess like this wasn't worth keeping.

I was done humiliating myself for love.