The first time I found a lipstick stain on Aldric's shirt, I had already torn this house apart. He kneeled before me, apologizing, saying there was nothing between him and Vivienne.
But that day, he was caught off guard, and when she threw herself at him, the lipstick left a mark on his collar.
I knew I should have been more decisive. I knew the sunk cost fallacy shouldn't influence major decisions.
I knew it was foolish to try and fill the present pain with memories of past joys. It was all futile, and even shameful.
But love... love grew within me. It had its own fierce vitality, burrowing its way into every part of me, into my organs and every single cell.
It started as a small, barren seed, and for ten years, Aldric's unwavering love watered it, turning it into a towering tree. Every branch, every leaf, was marked with his name. I thought of cutting it out, but the pain was so excruciating that every inch of me screamed in agony.
At sixteen, I was cornered and bullied by a gang at school. He showed up, battered and bruised, having broken a finger, and insisted on carrying me home.
At eighteen, after the college entrance exams, I wanted to apply to the same university as him.
My parents forbade it, saying his family was unstable and complicated. He knelt at my door, I fasted, and begged my parents, crying that he loved me, that he truly loved me.
They said I was too young to understand love, and so I severed ties with them and eloped with him without looking back.
I jumped from the second-floor window, bringing only my ID with me. He caught me with a smile, saying, "My life starts again today, because the one in my arms is my treasure."
We struggled through the toughest times, facing rejection from investors and drinking ourselves to the point of vomiting blood. His company went bankrupt multiple times. At one point, we barely had a hundred bucks to our names, selling skewered starch snacks outside the university.
When I looked at the food with longing, he sold the only heirloom his grandmother had left him. It wasn't worth much, but it was enough for me to eat a whole lot of starch snacks. I ate until I was about to puke, and he knelt before me, wiping my tears, gasping for breath, vowing that he would give me a better life.
Love was truly wonderful. Even at our lowest point, it still made us believe there would always be a tomorrow, a future.
But then, but then...
We had overcome so many difficulties, so many impossible barriers. In a fairytale, the prince and princess would have their happily ever after.
"How…" I crouched on the floor, unable to speak through my tears. "How can people change so easily?" How could I ever accept this? How could I ever let go of each other?
