Chapter 2

2.

Shannon and I got together back in our freshman year during a game of Truth or Dare. She had drawn a dare to confess her feelings to me.

Her wealthy friends assumed it was just a joke.

After all, Shannon was an elite heiress, and I was just an ordinary guy with nothing to my name.

Yet that night, Shannon pulled me aside and told me the truth.

She confessed that she had actually picked Truth, and that she had been watching me from afar for months.

Naturally, we started dating.

Her friends made bets that our relationship wouldn’t last three months.

To everyone’s shock, Shannon and I stayed together for nine full years.

For the first seven years, we were deeply in love.

Every year, we traveled across the country and flew abroad, exploring the world hand in hand.

We stood beneath the blooming cherry blossoms in Japan, and Shannon whispered that she wanted a daughter with me so we could bring her there together.

We visited a war-torn region on a volunteer trip, where my heart ached for starving orphans and I shared our rations with them.

That drew a crowd of desperate refugees, turning what should have been a three-day stop into a week-long stay.

Shannon’s startup had just launched back then, and the delay caused her to miss critical business deadlines.

I had braced myself for her anger, but she simply ruffled my hair and patiently joined me in feeding the children.

She told me, “Jayson, you’ve never been ordinary. You’re kind, resilient, and true to your principles. Loving you was always destined.”

Two years ago, during our last trip together, we went camping in the mountains under a meteor shower.

She closed her eyes and made a wish upon a falling star.

“Shooting star, hear my wish: I want to marry Jayson Miller! I want to spend the rest of my life by his side!”

Right after we returned, she hired Logan as her new executive assistant.

I couldn’t tell whether shooting stars simply held no power, or if the person making the wish had a change of heart.

Whenever I brought up marriage after that, Shannon brushed me off with impatience.

She claimed she was swamped with work, yet I constantly saw her in Logan’s social media stories, enjoying fancy dinners and weekend getaways.

Her patience vanished, along with her respect for my feelings.

She would scream and start massive blowouts over trivial things, like an unfolded shirt or coffee that wasn’t hot enough.

The global trips we had promised to take together were quietly replaced by business trips with Logan.

At first, she felt a shred of guilt when returning from those trips, bringing me luxury gifts to compensate.

Later, she stopped caring altogether.

She started bringing back dirty laundry and luggage from her trips with Logan, expecting me to clean and pack everything for them.

She called it all work-related travel for the sake of the firm.

Whenever an argument broke out, she threatened to call off the wedding.

She would wait for me to beg on my knees, then look down at me and scoff, “See? That’s what you get for being needy.”

Aside from cooking and cleaning, she barred me from participating in anything a real partner would do.

Gradually, the person standing by her side in public was no longer me, but Logan.

She had outgrown her need for me long ago. I was just the last one to realize it.