One
Liem
Did I fuck up, or is this mild sense of impending doom a good thing?
Someone once told me you’ll never be more nervous than the night you propose, so this desire to simultaneously throw up and happy cry is probably normal. We’re in love. What’s the worst that could happen? She says no?
She’s not going to say no. I’m pretty sure.
My beautiful soon-to-be-fiancé sits across from me, the streets of New York City sparkling behind her, the light from the strings of Edison bulbs above us casting an amber glow onto her hair and skin. I can barely tear my eyes away from her, even when she’s doing something as benign as asking the waiter about cocktails.
“My name is Jeff, if you need anything else,” our waiter says. He takes the menus listing the freshly made pasta, expensive wine, and Natalie’s favorite dessert—all of which we ordered.
Natalie is my calm, my constant, my inspiration. When she got her dream job here, about as far away from Seattle as you can get, there was never a question of whether she would accept or not. She told me to stay, keep my job, that everything happens for a reason. Iwatched her leave, then it dawned on me what she meant. If I wanted to be with her, I needed to prove it. I needed to lay everything on the line and show her thatsheis my priority.
So, I quit my job, booked the flight, and showed up on her doorstep with a diamond ring burning a hole in my suitcase. My grand gesture to show her I’m ready for forever to start today.
This restaurant would have been the perfect place to pop the question had I realized it would look likethis. And before the drama started between the couple at the next table.
“You’rebreaking up with me?” the woman shouts, her voice going higher with every word, gaining the attention of the rest of the surrounding tables.
Conversations end, ears pop open, drinks get sipped while waiting for the rest of the tea to spill. The patio is quiet enough to hear Pizza Rat gnawing on his slice. People are nosy as hell—myself included. Lucky for me, I can hide behind Natalie while I listen.
The woman’s eyes are wide and wild in response to the words her man speaks in hushed tones. Then she slams her hands onto the table and screams, “You fucked someone else?!”
An audible gasp leaves the crowd.Damn!
The man glances over his shoulder. We pretend we aren’t watching them like an episode of the newest viral dating show, ready to exchange opinions on social media the minute it’s over.
“Oh, people are watching? No, please. Tell me whyI’mthe one who should be embarrassed whenyou’rethe one who stepped out. Short-dicked, lowlife, cheating-ass bitch.”
While she is ripping him a new hole, part of me feels bad for laughing.
“This iswild. Breaking up in public like that?” I whisper. My attention returns to Natalie. When I find her staring down at the table, brows knit, my heart races. “What’s wrong?”
She wets her lips, thinking hard about whatever words she plans to speak. When she lifts her head to look at me, I already know what she’s going to say before she says it. “Liem, I’m breaking up with you.”
Time stops for a moment while I decide if I heard her correctly. She’s kidding. Surely. A humorous take on the embarrassing situation happening with the couple nearby. When tears shimmer in her eyes, I change my mind.
“Wait, what?” I try to stop my impending doom. “You’re joking, right?”
“I’m sorry,” she says, her voice quavering. “I didn’t want to do it this way, but I can’t keep lying to you.”
“Lying to me?” She’s a writer, not an actress. This is real.
“If you had given me a chance, I would have told you I didn’t want you to come here. I would have told you . . . that I’ve been happier since I’ve been away from you.”
In my peripheral vision, I catch the glances and slow sips shift in our direction. Fuck my whole life.
“You’re a good person, and it’s not that I don’t have love for you, but . . . damn it. How can you be as intelligent as you are and still do something this moronic?” she says.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re young, I get that, but you have to be smarter than this,” she says. “I took a job across the country, didn’t ask you to come with me, and you really thought, ‘She must want me to go too! Let me surprise her by inviting myself to move in with her!’?That’swild. You see that, right?”
What the fuck is happening right now?“. . . Yes?”No. “You’re breaking up with me? For real?”
“Yes. Fivemillionpercent yes.” She sighs as if relieved. “Let me be as clear as possible. I do not want to be in a relationship with you, Liem. I am done. Goodbye,” she says and leaves the table.
