Chapter 1
Stay.
Stay.
It had become the heartbeat of our relationship.The painful mantra under every goodbye.
The whisper behind every closed door.
The agony that ripped through me and stayed when he picked up the phone, like a ghost still living in my ribcage.
The way my heart hurt and healed every time he came.
Every time he left.
Every time he chose not to stay.
I should be happy right now.
He’s here.
With me.
But all I can do is listen to his breaths, slow, measured, heavy, like a man already halfway somewhere else.
Watch the time change in blue digits on the nightstand.
Wait for the text or the call to come.
We used to be so good.He used to make me so happy.
Until I found out.
About her.
About them.
Now I hurt all the time.
Now I lie here and wait.
For the text.
For him to sigh and say… “I have to go, baby.”
For the shame and the guilt to hit because of what he made me.
The thing I never imagined ever becoming.
He doesn’t even hide it anymore, not now that I know.
I didn’t know at first.
I didn’t.
And I clung to that for so long, like it was my salvation, my alibi, my paper-thin excuse.
But then I found out.
