Five Years Of Marriage And I Was A Name He’d Never Mentioned Chapter 03

Five Years Of Marriage And I Was A Name He’d Never Mentioned Chapter 03

On the weekend, I suggested we go back to that little diner by the college.

“It’s been forever. I’m craving it.”

Brandon agreed right away.

The owner still remembered us. He grinned the second he saw us. “You two finally came back!”

Brandon smiled too, pulled out my chair for me, and ordered everything I liked.

BBQ ribs. Mac and cheese. Spicy popcorn chicken.

He even remembered I didn’t like green onions.

He chatted with the owner about the old days. Said I always liked sitting by the window back then. Said I used to gulp down two bowls of soup before exams because I was so nervous.

He said all of it naturally, like nothing had changed at all.

I kept watching the ranking above his head.

Number two: Ivy Simmons. Steady. Not moving an inch.

I smiled like crazy. Kept the conversation going. Desperately tried to pull our past back.

But through that whole meal, I couldn’t get my own rank to move up even half a spot.

Halfway through, his phone rang.

He glanced at it. “I need to take this.”

Outside the glass door, he stood with his back to me, one hand in his pocket, shoulders loose.

At one point, he looked down and smiled.

I knew that smile too well.

Unguarded. A little tender. The kind you only give to someone close.

I looked down at the food on the table.

Everything I loved to eat.

But the warmth was fading dish by dish. He was standing right outside, but his heart had walked much farther away.

In the ranking, her number two spot was slowly inching toward number one.

When he came back, he saw right away that something was off.

So he started compensating immediately.

He put more food on my plate. Apologized quietly. Said the client called with an emergency.

Then he looked at me, like he was afraid I wouldn’t believe him, and quickly added, “Next month on our anniversary, I took three days off. I’m taking you to that island you’ve always wanted to visit.”

The second he said that, I looked at the ranking.

My name actually floated up a little.

Just a little.

And then I understood.

He wasn’t being good to me because love had come back.

It was guilt.

Three days off to buy himself peace of mind.

Like an exquisite receipt—paying for his betrayal.

I smiled. “Okay.”

That smile felt foreign, even to me.

As we left the diner, there was a young couple on the sidewalk. The boy was holding the girl’s hand, laughing brightly.

I looked above the boy’s head. Number one was that girl right next to him. Clean. No other names.

The old couple at the entrance of our neighborhood was the same. The old man slowly helped his wife cross the street. Number one for decades.

I stood there for a moment, dazed.

So that’s what it’s like to be someone’s first.

I turned to look at Brandon.

He was looking down, typing a reply. 　　Number one: Mom. Number two: Ivy Simmons. Number three: Lauren Cole.

I had never been number one in his heart.

When we got home, he went into his study and said he still had work to do.

I sat alone in the living room. The lights were off.

In the darkness, I finally made my decision.

I wasn’t going to wait anymore.

I refused to be the person who kept falling lower and lower in someone’s ranking.

I picked up my phone and scrolled through Ivy’s old photos from company events to confirm where she went for lunch.

It was that same coffee shop.