A Game of Hearts

The day Jessica Smith and I went to pick out our wedding rings, her long-lost first love unexpectedly returned to town.

When we went to pick him up from the airport, she introduced me to him, saying, "This is Sebastian Grant, a friend."

Jessica made it clear that I wasn't her fiancé. She even went a step further and called off our engagement party scheduled for the next day.

Just when she thought I would fight and insist on marrying her, I suddenly said in relief, "Your best friend previously wanted to hook up with me, you know? And honestly, I was kind of interested."

Cameron came back on the day Jessica and I went to pick out our wedding rings.

She had chosen the date herself.

Last week, Jessica drank herself into a stupor on Cameron's birthday. She stumbled home in the middle of the night, reeking of alcohol. As soon as she saw me, she threw her arms around my neck, calling me "Cam".

She repeatedly demanded to know where I had been all these years and why I had stayed out of touch. It wasn't the first time this had happened in the past five years, either. Each time, Jessica would act like nothing happened afterward, and I'd let it go, never bringing it up.

But this time, I recorded it.

After all, some things needed to be confronted.

The next day, I showed Jessica the video. She barely glanced at the screen and didn't even reach out to take the phone. Instead, she just kept sipping her milk.

With a dismissive shrug, she said, "I thought you'd be used to it by now."

I turned off my phone and smiled bitterly. "I've been with you for five years, and you still can't forget him. It's obvious that without him, you're miserable."

I took a deep breath. "I've thought it through, and I'm done. Go to him."

Without waiting for her response, I walked out the door and went to work.

We didn't speak for three days after that. I didn't bother going home, crashing at my buddy's place instead.

Unexpectedly, Jessica didn't leave. She came looking for me, saying she wanted to get married, that she had already picked a date to choose the rings.

This was her usual way of dealing with things—delivering a sweet cure after having given me the poison herself.

Every time we argued over Cameron, she would make it up to me somehow. She would get up early to make breakfast or book a candlelight dinner for us. She would take my hand with a smile and tell me how good I was. She would say she had gotten used to having me around and that she would definitely fall in love with me eventually.

Every time she dropped these sugar-coated bombs, my defenses would vanish instantly. I would completely forget the hurt and convince myself that even if Jessica were made of stone, I could warm her heart eventually.

My love was truly pathetic.

She had me right where she wanted.

For five years, she would use that trick to ease the tension whenever our relationship hit a wall. I was like her kite, with the string firmly in her grip.

They say that loving someone to the extreme is a sin.

My defeat was inevitable.

As I watched Jessica brimming with excitement about marrying me, I didn't feel that familiar joy anymore. I had proposed several times over the past five years. Each proposal was carefully thought out, but she turned me down every time with one excuse or another.

Now that I had finally decided to let her go, she was the one suggesting marriage.

I looked at her and asked calmly, "Are you sure you really want to get married, Jess?"

Jessica stepped closer and wrapped her arm around mine. "I've thought a lot about it over the past few days, Seb. I've gotten so used to having you around. I can't live without you."

I had dreamed of hearing such a confession a thousand times over the five years we were together. But now that I had finally heard it, the words didn't bring me any sense of sweetness.

-

In the end, I still went to the jewelry store with Jessica to look at rings.

Just as we stepped into the store, her phone rang.

The instant she saw the caller ID, she froze mid-step, completely flustered. When I glanced over, she fumbled to turn off the screen, then looked up at me, her face full of guilt.

I didn't have to guess who it was.

Jessica was usually calm and composed. She would only be rattled this much by receiving a call she had waited five years for.

"Go ahead, answer it," I said, folding my arms and watching her with a wry smile.

She bit her lip but eventually rejected the call. "It's just a spam call. Nothing worth answering. Let's pick out our rings!"

I didn't bother guessing, nor did I even feel the urge to.

A sales assistant approached us, pulling out three of the store's most popular designs and running through the usual sales pitch.

"They all look great. Which one do you like best, Jess?" I asked, gesturing to the rings on display.

But it was like she hadn't even heard me. Her gaze was fixed downward, fingers tapping rapidly at her phone. It looked like she was replying to someone's text message.

Despite her awkward attempts to hide it, I saw the recipient's name on the screen—Cameron.

"Jess?"

She only snapped back to attention after I called out to her again.

"Yeah, that's fine. Let's go with what you picked," she replied with a strained smile.

I caught every flicker of her reaction and replied quietly, "I didn't pick one, Jess. I asked which one you liked."

Jessica froze, her fingers stilling on the screen.

Suddenly, it was as if she had made up her mind about something big.

She looked up at me and asked, "Cameron's back. He's at the airport right now. Would you… come with me to pick him up?"