I got a new phone.
I needed it—to say goodbye. To at least give the people I've known all my life one final call. One last thread of closure.
Not that Tess agrees.
She didn't think I should get a new phone so soon, but I'm an adult. Maybe hearing Marcus try to explain himself, with miles between us, would finally give me the closure I need to move on. Tess also thinks I should tell him I'm pregnant.
That's a conversation I'm not ready to have.
"Hey… I know you don't want to hear from me, but can we please meet so I can explain everything? Please, Gina. I can't do this over the phone," Marcus says in the voicemail. He says the same thing in all twenty of them. That one was the last.
So I do the unthinkable.
I call him back.
He picks up on the first ring.
"Gina! You have no idea how happy I am that you called. I just need a few minutes—just a few—and then I promise I'll never bother you again," he says, breathless, desperate.
"Marcus, I need to tell you something," I begin, but he cuts me off.
"Where should we meet? That little coffee shop you love? The one that serves that weird green coffee you're obsessed with?"
I let him talk. That's what he does—he talks, makes plans, takes control. It's almost nostalgic. Like the old days. This was his version of romance: making arrangements without asking, then calling it effort.
It was always like this.
He decided everything. Where we lived, what we ate, where we vacationed. He even influenced my career path. We both went to med school—he became a doctor, just like his father and brothers. I followed him in, bored out of my mind, trying to believe it was my calling. After graduation, he told me not to bother working. "I'll take care of you," he said. "That's the plan." So I let go of myself. Became a stay-at-home girlfriend with nothing to show but his credit card in my purse.
I had no one else. He knew that.
I lost my parents young. My mother died of cancer. My father… he couldn't cope with the loss. He took his own life. I was the one who found him. I watched my mother wither away, and I thought I was becoming a doctor for her. But that was a lie. The truth is—I didn't know who I was. I still don't. So I let Marcus decide for me.
"Gina? Are you still there?" His voice pulls me back to the present.
"I won't be able to meet," I say quietly. "I took a job in a new city. They needed me to start right away. And honestly, I think it's best if I never see you again. So whatever you needed to say, say it now."
"You? A job?" He scoffs. "I thought you didn't want to work?"
I let out a small, bitter laugh. "Well, the man who said he'd take care of me just married my best friend. So I can't rely on him anymore."
"I'll always take care of you, Gina. Just say the amount. I'll send it."
His words ignite something in me—a rage I thought I'd buried.
"Don't waste your family's precious money on me, Marcus. Save it for your wife. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."
"Gina—"
"Marcus," I interrupt, "I'm not going to call you again. Say what you need to say. Then let me go. I need to move on. I need to start my life. I need to close this chapter."
There's a pause. Then, quietly, he says, "Right. Okay. I'm sorry. For everything."
He takes a breath.
"Jessica and I… it just happened. We fell in love and didn't know how to tell you or Tess. It's been hard for me too. Living that double life. Seeing you, then going home to her. Then Jessica told me she was pregnant. You know how my family is—we can't have scandal. They planned the wedding in 24 hours. That's what you walked in on. We didn't have time to tell anyone. I didn't want it to happen like that. I swear."
I feel something in my chest—sharp and sudden. Pain.
I drop the phone and clutch at my heart, as if pressing against my skin will help. It doesn't.
Jessica knew.
She knew I wasn't feeling well, that I'd bought pregnancy tests. I told her everything. I said I was scared, that Marcus's family would never allow a baby outside of marriage. That I wasn't ready to get married. Not yet. And she comforted me.
She held me, knowing she was carrying his child.
I said I wasn't ready, but deep down, I would've done anything for him. If Marcus had said, "Let's get married," I would've started planning the next day—before he even bought a ring.
That was the life I imagined.
But Jessica… she planned it first. She trapped him, and Marcus was stupid enough to fall for it.
And now I'm the one left picking up the pieces