Somehow it didn't surprise me much,

yet why did it feel like a great hole had been torn open in my chest, blood welling out of it?

Tristan stayed in the living room until the middle of the night,

then came to bed and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

This was his way of admitting he was wrong. In the past, whenever he did this, I'd soften without a shred of principle and forgive him. But this time his embrace only made my whole body ache.

I gently pulled myself free of him.

He seemed not to have expected it. He paused for a moment, then took his pillow and went out to the living room.

The couch was hard and narrow. In the past, I couldn't bear to let him make do with it, and I'd be the one to give in and coax him back to bed with me.

But this time, I found I couldn't muster the faintest strength to walk toward him.

When Tristan woke a little after nine, I was tidying up in the living room.

The first thing out of his mouth was to ask where breakfast was.

Tristan had a bad stomach and couldn't stand going hungry. In the past, even after a fight, I'd get up early every weekend to have a meal ready, waiting for him to wake so we could eat together.

But today, without so much as a blink, I answered him:

"I've already eaten. If you want something, make it yourself."

Seeing the hurt and surprise in his eyes, I felt nothing at all.

Cecily sent a message to our little group chat, the three of us:

【This couples' restaurant is really famous! Let's all go for lunch!】

Tristan shot me a sulky look and replied:

【Just the two of us! We'll get the couples' set—Wallis is busy, no time~】

In the past, at a moment like this I'd have been terrified of him being alone with Cecily, and I'd have argued my case, clinging to him until he took me along. Then he'd have used it to end the fight, graciously making up with me.

But this time, I only freed up a hand to type:

【Right, I'm busy. You two go.】

Tristan dragged out getting himself ready, then lingered around me for a long while. Seeing that I still wouldn't be the first to speak, he stormed off in a huff, slamming the door.

It was past three in the afternoon by the time I had everything packed up, then contacted the courier to ship it away.

Tristan, who never posted online, broke his own rule and put up a sweet couple photo of him and Cecily, the couples' restaurant in the background.

I knew he was waiting for me to call and confront him, the way I had so many times before. Then he'd give his helpless explanation that she was just a friend, and send me an address to come join the fun.

But this time, I only felt tired and fed up, with no interest in playing along.

Tristan didn't come home that night. He called around noon the next day and coldly pressed me:

"When can you give Cecily the money for the house?"

I flatly refused:

"I won't. I never said I'd give it to her."

After a moment, he let out a scornful little laugh, plainly mocking:

"Making a scene again, Wallis. See, this is more like you."

"Here's what we'll do. This afternoon I'll take you to a movie, all right? After the movie you give Cecily the money."

I stared, baffled. Was he even listening to a word I said?

A helpless sense of talking past each other came over me.

"Fine, we'll deal with it there." A breakup had to be said to his face, after all.

By the time I arrived, Tristan was already waiting with a tub of popcorn.

Tristan tried to take my hand; without a flicker of expression, I shook him off.

The movie began. It was one I'd once looked forward to, yet all I felt was bored, drowsy.

Seeing me drift off, Tristan started to say something,

then glanced at his phone and slipped away, never coming back.

When the movie let out and I walked outside the mall,

and saw the two of them cozied up together, sharing a single ice cream,

what I felt instead was that I'd expected exactly this.

They, on the other hand, looked a little stunned.

Cecily pushed Tristan's hand off her waist and hurried over to take mine, explaining:

"Wallis, I just wanted to try a new ice cream flavor! You're not going to be angry, are you?"

I shook her hand off, sick to my stomach.

"If you think it's normal, fine. But I won't touch an ice cream that's already been in someone else's mouth."

I drew in a deep breath, my voice shaking.

"Tristan, we're done."

"Cecily, we're through as friends."

The moment I finished, I turned to leave.

Tristan grabbed my shoulder, his voice rising in accusation.

"Can you stop being so childish? Breaking up, cutting people off, every five minutes!"

"Cecily already explained it to you. It's nothing!"

In the middle of the scuffle, a delivery guy shot out of a blind spot,

and Tristan instinctively shoved me aside, pulling Cecily into his arms to shield her.

The momentum threw me hard to the ground, and I stared up at him, dazed.

I'd already made up my mind to let this relationship go, yet in that moment I still felt the pain, sharp and clear.

Cecily jerked away from him and screamed in his face.

"Why did you push Wallis?"

"If anything happens to her, I swear I'll never let you off!"

Her panic was real, not an act, and somehow that only made the bitterness in me cut deeper.

"Hurry up and get Wallis to the hospital!"

Tristan's expression flickered, and he hesitated before he spoke.

"But you've got work waiting for you too…"

I finally lost all patience, wiped my tears away with the back of my hand,

flagged down a taxi, and went to the hospital alone to get checked and treated.

That night, when Tristan got home in the small hours, I was already fast asleep.

The next day, for the first time ever, he got up at the crack of dawn, insisting he'd drive me to work.

"No need. We've broken up."

Tristan laughed, exasperated.

"Just because I shared one ice cream with Cecily? Over something this small, you're breaking up and cutting everyone off?"

"Or is it because I pushed you? That was because Cecily needed protecting more! And look, you're perfectly fine anyway!"

"Wallis, am I being too good to you? Think it over. My patience has a limit!"

I answered coldly.

"I've thought it over. I said, we're done!"

He stared at me for a long moment, then let out a scoff of a laugh.

"I get it. Another one of your games! Playing hard to get, right?"

"Cecily and I have a business trip, five days. Be a good girl, baby, and I'll bring you a gift when I'm back!"

The way he carried on talking to himself left me speechless.

He took my silence as agreement,

frowned, and went on ordering me around.

"So use these days to reflect. Once you've come around, transfer the money to Cecily. Don't be so petty about it. We can always buy another house."

I nearly laughed out loud from sheer anger.

I swallowed the irritation clawing at me and was about to fire back,

when Cecily's custom ringtone went off. He answered, said a few words, then rushed to the door and left.

Over the next few days, I focused on handing off my work.

The funny part was that every single day I got two nearly identical streams of messages.

One was Tristan's texts, sharing every little detail of what he ate, what he saw, and where he went.

The other was Cecily's posts, set to be visible only to me. Their sweet couple's getaway. Where they went, what they ate together, what they did.

Swallowing my disgust, I liked each and every one, then screenshotted them and sent them to Tristan.

After that, I blocked them both.

On the very day I was set to leave, Tristan's mother called, hinting through every word that I had no self-respect, living in their family's house without being married.

My pupils quaked. I quickly screenshotted every rent payment record and sent them to her.

She hung up in humiliation.

So it turned out this so-called cheap house belonged to the Swanson family, and he'd been hiding it from his parents while making me pay half the rent, using it to buy gifts for Cecily.

I couldn't help but mock myself.

Wallis, oh Wallis, you really are a complete fool.

Ten years. He'd have been better off feeding those years to a dog.

Tristan switched to a burner account and called me like a man possessed.

I couldn't be bothered to answer.

I flipped on airplane mode, boarded my flight without a hitch,

and left everything in Northport behind me.