Dave and I had been high school classmates. Back then, he was the popular guy everyone adored. Girls would line up for a chance to get his attention, and his desk was constantly overflowing with love letters. In the end, I was just one of many.
I never imagined that someone like him could like me. So when he confessed his feelings on our graduation day, I found it hard to believe.
To prove his sincerity, he joined me in a small county town and ate at a run-down street restaurant. For two whole months, he told me every day that he liked me, as if he feared I’d forget. It wasn’t until just before college started that I finally accepted his confession.
Like countless other couples, we enjoyed four blissful years together in college. After graduation, he took over the family business, while I became a literature teacher at the top private high school in Los Angeles. Coincidentally, the school’s investor was a close friend of Dave's.
I was stunned to realize how closely tied my life had been to his over the years. But now, with just one phone call, he rushed to her side, terrified of hurting her feelings if he was even a second late. I didn’t even know he had a fiancée.
For years, I had been deceived, believing in a love that, for him, was never meant to last.
When we met again, he picked me up from work like nothing had changed.
“Kimberly, I’ll come over to your place tonight,” he said, his voice casual, as if we hadn’t just been torn apart by his hidden life.
Slap! My hand struck his face, the sound ringing sharply in the air.
He stepped closer, forcing me back against the car, his gaze locked on my collarbone. With a smirk, he taunted, "You took your clothes off yourself."
I shoved him away and raised my hand to strike again, but he caught it mid-air.
"Kimberly Cox, have you caused enough trouble?"
How could he ask me that? The man who once treated me like a treasure now dared to question my actions after abandoning me for another woman?
How had our eight-year relationship devolved into nothing more than a one-sided fantasy? In his eyes, I was just a secret lover, hidden away and never meant to be seen by the world.
My anger boiled over, and I bit my lip before spitting at him. "Dave, you're disgusting."
His grip tightened, but his voice softened, an unsettling mix of concern and arrogance. "I don’t want to hurt you. If you're willing, we can go back to the way things were."