I Left the Triangle They Thought I Needed Chapter 07

I finally understood that some people don’t deserve your help.

I tried to save Natalie. But she was a snake, waiting for the right moment to strike.

A few days later, I was discharged.

A coworker from the firm called me.

“Wait, Emily. You and James were the couple?”

I frowned. “How did you hear that?”

She gasped, then launched into gossip mode.

“The whole circle knows. Natalie made a huge scene. She’s demanding James marry her.”

“They actually got into a fight at the office. You want to hear this?”

I said nothing.

She kept going. “Natalie sat right down on the floor and started screaming about how James wouldn’t take responsibility.”

“She said he wasn’t a real man. That he liked it just fine when it was happening.”

“Then James lost it. He said she was never pregnant. That she lied to him, again.”

“The whole thing was a show.”

I said flatly, “Is there something you need?”

She asked, way too curious, “You and James were together for years. Why didn’t you ever say anything? Your best friend and your boyfriend…”

I hung up before she finished.

Then I blocked her number.

Natalie was never pregnant. She hadn’t told a single truth.

I laughed to myself and started walking home.

Under a streetlight, I saw a tired, broken figure.

“Emily, I…”

James looked awful. His shirt was wrinkled. His neck was scratched up. His face was pale.

I tried to walk past him.

He stepped in my way, his voice shaking.

“Emily, I didn’t know. I swear. I didn’t know she was like that.”

“She never acted that way around me.”

I cut him off.

“So why are you here? To apologize?”

“What, drowning me once wasn’t enough? You came back to finish the job?”

He shook his head, hurt.

“Emily, that’s not what I meant.”

“I came here to say I’m sorry.”

“Really sorry.”

He bent over in front of me. He didn’t straighten up.

“Do you think sorry fixes anything?”

“Do you think that undoes what you did?”

He dropped his head, his voice cracking.

“I know you won’t forgive me.”

“Emily, I really did love you.”

I laughed through tears. “Yeah. Did. Past tense. You don’t love me now.”

He shot up, his eyes red.

“Who says I don’t?”

The wind blew my hair across my face. I couldn’t read his expression.

“I never wanted to break up.”

“I just… Natalie got in my head. She said we had to be the same. Same energy, same drive.”

“But Emily, I want to go back. Back to the way we were.”

“You were so happy. Always laughing. Always in my arms.”

I kept my voice soft.

“People change. You used to love that about me. That I made you feel calm. Seen. Warm.”

“Then you needed me to keep up with you. You wanted me to become something I wasn’t.”

“I gave up painting for you, James. I studied law just so we’d have something to talk about.”

“You told me not to give up the things I loved.”

“Later, you said, ‘God, Emily, you’re so stupid.'”