Chapter 2

2

Twenty minutes later, I went back with a container of seafood porridge, Maya's favorite.

As I reached for the door handle, I heard her best friend gasp inside.

"Wait, you weren't actually poisoned? You scared the hell out of us!"

Maya's voice sounded perfectly normal. "Of course not. I faked the whole thing."

"Kieran came back yesterday. I needed a way to see him, so I improvised."

I looked through the small window in the door. Maya looked sharp and alert. There was no trace of toxins in her system.

I clenched my fist so hard my nails drew blood from my palm.

The container of porridge slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a loud thud.

The conversation inside stopped instantly. "Who's there?" Maya called out.

I composed myself and pushed the door open. "It's me. I dropped the food."

I paused for a second. "So, you're awake. Are you feeling better?"

Maya's face was a mask of indifference. She didn't even look at me.

"I'm fine. Go get another bowl of ribs and grits. Dr. Reed likes that."

"By the way, don't take anything I said during my hallucinations seriously."

She said it so casually, without a hint of guilt or regret.

"Which part?" I asked, my voice raspy and trembling. "The part where you love him, or the part where I'm just the help?"

Maya actually laughed at that.

"It was all a joke. That's just how my friends and I talk."

"You're probably just not used to our humor. Don't be so sensitive."

She laid back down and started scrolling through her phone.

She didn't even notice that my hand was red and scalded from the hot porridge.

I didn't go out to buy more food. I went home and took a long shower instead.

Afterward, I picked up the phone and dialed my mentor's number.

He sounded surprised to hear from me.

"Quentin? Don't tell me you've changed your mind about joining the excavation team?"

I stayed silent for a moment, thinking about Maya's proposal to Kieran.

If I was looking for a reason to stay while I was smoking at the hospital, I had found a reason to leave now.

"Yes," I said. "I've thought it over. I'll take the flight in three days."

"That's great news! We've all been waiting for you to come back to your senses!"

Three days from now was my wedding day. It would be the perfect day to say goodbye.

I hung up and tried to remember a single moment where Maya actually loved me.

I searched through my memories, but I came up empty.

Everything I remembered only proved that she belonged to Kieran.

Maya was a designer. She made things for me, but she was obsessive about the details.

She insisted on size 10 shoes and custom-tailored suits. She hated it when my hands were scarred.

I was an archaeologist. My hands were always covered in small nicks from tools.

Maya constantly pressured me to quit and stay at home.

Seeing Kieran today, I realized why. He had the perfect, unscarred hands of a surgeon.

The five years we spent together were just a series of her trying to mold me into someone else.

I gathered everything she had ever given me and threw it all into the trash.

I was done with her, and I was done with this one-sided love.