Goodbye, Our Unforgettable Seven YearsChapter 1
I’m getting married. Not to my boyfriend of seven years, but to someone else.
Seven years and yet his attention has shifted, orbiting around a new female intern at his company. They claimed to dislike each other, but they’re inseparable now, tied together in some strange, symbiotic connection. They’re always finding reasons to be near each other, always "busy."
It didn’t matter if I was there or not; they managed to create their own world, shutting me out of it. Even on the last trip, when we climbed to the mountain top to watch the stars, he left me there alone to stargaze, ignoring the fact that I have night blindness.
Three days I waited, alone in the dark, before a rescue team found me. Three days to come to terms with the truth I’d ignored for too long. The moment they pulled me out of that nightmare, I decided I was done waiting. When I got back, I agreed to marry my new date. It was time to move on.
——
My mom could hardly contain her excitement when she heard the news. She sat at my bedside, her face glowing, clutching her phone like a shopping list of eligible bachelors. Her finger danced over the screen as if picking out the perfect man for her daughter. Across the room, I glanced at a message my aunt had sent her and it made me feel as if I’d been living in a glass cage all along.
“Your daughter’s too wonderful to waste her time. If that man really loved her, there’d be no reason to wait so many years. Those who truly love each other don’t take this long. What kind of love has no progress?” Her words were straightforward, almost clinical. But she was right and it cut deep.
She went on, “She just needs to choose someone decent and we’ll make sure the wedding is set up right away. No rush, but there’s no need to wait.”
Everyone around me seemed to understand what was wrong, everyone but me. I had been the only one clinging to the invisible promises he fed me, year after year.
I took a breath, turning back to my mom. “Mom, I trust your judgment. Just keep it simple. I don’t want anything over the top.”