Every April Fools' Day, my boyfriend joined his childhood friend in the same cruel prank, pretending to propose to me.

Last year, I slipped the ring onto my finger, my heart full of hope. Suddenly, the mechanism snapped tight. Pain shot through my hand, and I cried out.

He apologized afterward and promised that, this year, the proposal would be real.

As such, I arrived carefully dressed, believing him.

Instead, I was met with a face full of cake.

He reached out gently, wiping the cream from my face as if it were nothing more than a harmless joke.

However, this time, I took a step back.

After six disappointments, I chose to walk away.

So why was it that, in the end, he was the one consumed by regret?

Every year on April Fools' Day, my boyfriend would team up with his childhood best friend to pull the same prank on me. He would pretend to propose.

Last year, the two of them laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world, even though my fingers were almost crushed in the process. Later, he apologized and swore that this year would be different. This year, the proposal would be real.

As such, when he called me again, sounding urgent and telling me to come to the place where we had our very first date, I believed him.

I curled my hair, got my nails done, and spent extra time perfecting my makeup. I picked out a brand new outfit, and even drafted the announcement post I was going to share once everything became official.

However, the second I stepped through the door, smiling and full of excitement, a thick slab of cake cream slammed straight into my face. Laughter burst out from among the crowd and a girl's voice rang out, bright and smug.

"I told you Whitney would show up, Nolan. You lost!"

Nolan Jones walked over and, just like always, gently wiped the cream off my face. "You got all dressed up," he said with a soft smile. "It’s a shame about the outfit."

Then he added, like it was nothing, "I made a bet with the guys about whether I could get you to come. I said you wouldn't. If I won, I'd propose tomorrow. If I lost, I'd propose next year."

He looked at me, still smiling. "Sorry. Since you showed up, I guess we're not getting married this year after all."

I stared at him quietly. "So, you do know what tomorrow is."

He let out a careless laugh. "Of course I do. It's our six-year anniversary. How could I forget?"

The cream clung to my face, sticky and cold. At that moment, something inside me went completely numb.

Our anniversary did not even take precedence over a prank.

Just like I could never beat her.

I slipped off the plain couple's ring I had worn for six years.

"Then let's break up."

The sharp, clear sound of the ring hitting the floor cut through the room, and everything went silent.

Nolan frowned a little. "Don't make a big deal out of this, it's just some cream. I'll wash it off for you later. You know Silvia used to go way harder than this. She's already holding back."

He glanced at the others. "It wasn't easy getting you here. Don't make it look like I can't even have fun just because I'm in a relationship."

Silvia Lowell made a face, looking upset. "Whitney, it's just a joke. If you don't like it, we'll stop, okay? Why are you talking about breaking up over something like this?"

"See? I told you Whitney can't take a joke," someone else said. "You insisted on calling her. Now look at what’s happened."

Silvia huffed and sat on the couch, the mood shifted instantly. The way everyone looked at me turned cold.

She was the only girl in their group, the one everyone spoiled. As long as she was unhappy, everyone would rush to comfort her, Nolan included.

The first time I met her, she organized a game of truth or dare. When other people got dared, it was just something a little embarrassing. However, when it was my turn, they asked me to do something way out of line in front of everyone.

All I said was that it was too much and I did not like it. Silvia's eyes immediately turned red and she ran out of the room.

Everyone ran after her.

Nolan too.

The welcome party that was supposed to be for me ended with me sitting there alone.

He never said anything about it afterward, but from that day on, he never brought me to their gatherings again unless Silvia said it was okay.

Then Nolan looked at me, his brows pulled tight.

"Whitney, apologize to Silvia."

Before, I would have swallowed everything. I would have forced a smile, apologized, and explained myself just to fit in, just so Nolan would not look bad in front of his friends. I probably would not have even waited for him to ask.

However, when even breaking up meant less to him than a single moment of Silvia being upset, I finally understood.

From the very beginning, this relationship never mattered as much to him as what he had with her.

I bent down and picked up the bag and coat I had bought in order to meet his parents.

As they stared, cold and judging, I said, "Nolan, we're done. I mean it this time."

My heels felt unsteady as I turned and walked out.

As the door closed behind me, I could still hear Silvia's light, teasing laughter drifting out from inside.

"Are you seriously not going after her, you hopeless romantic?"

Nolan let out an icy laugh. "She's just throwing a tantrum. If I actually go after her, what about you?"

He shrugged like it was obvious. "Besides, she has no one to rely on except me. She's way easier to deal with than you."

My heart felt like it had been split open. His words cut through me like a knife, slicing into wounds that had never fully healed.

Six years ago, right there, Nolan had confessed to me. He told me I was the one he wanted for the rest of his life.

Truth be told, it had not been easy for him to win me over.

When I was fifteen, my parents both remarried and started new families of their own. I became the extra piece no one wanted to talk about.

I resisted relationships and I resisted the idea of building a family.

I turned him down five times.

The last time, I was living alone when a stranger started following me. I did not even realize how dangerous it was until it was almost too late. Nolan showed up just in time and took the guy down. He got hurt in the process and ended up in the hospital.

After the nurse finished bandaging him, his eyes suddenly turned red.

"Whitney, why do you always act so tough?" he said, his voice tight. "Why won't you let me protect you?"

At that moment, something inside me softened.

I thought that maybe being with someone like him, someone strong and gentle, would not be so bad.

That very night, he asked me out again and brought me back there to confess.

When I finally said yes, the calm, composed Nolan I knew completely lost it. He hugged me like a kid and spun me around in circles.

We got so dizzy that we both fell to the ground.

Even then, he held me tight, shielding me with his body.

We sat together on the steps outside and, under the moonlight, he swore that as long as he was there, I would never be alone again, never abandoned again.

However, the wound I had gathered the courage to show him, the one that had only just begun to heal, had been ripped open again. This time, he drove the knife in himself.

I let out a quiet, bitter laugh.

Then I opened the email that had been sitting in my inbox for five days, just hours away from expiring.

[Whitney agrees to transfer to headquarters.]

So those words were not that hard to type after all.

I looked up at the moon, half-hidden behind thin clouds.

"Nolan, I'm not that easy to handle. And from now on, I won't need you to handle me at all," I told myself.

I booked my ticket for the afternoon of the second, so I did not have much time left. The moment I got back to the apartment, I quickly cleaned myself up and started packing.

There were not many of my things to begin with, so it did not take long. One large suitcase and one small one were enough.

At three in the morning, I booked a hotel for a temporary stay. Just as I was about to leave, I ran straight into Nolan, who had just gotten back from partying.

He helped a completely drunk Silvia onto the couch, then handed me a bag of pears.

"Good, you're still up," he said. "She drank too much. Make her something to help sober up or she's going to be a mess all night."

I stood there and did not move.

Back when we first moved in together, he had come home drunk one night, throwing up nonstop. I felt bad for him and got up in the middle of the night to make something warm to help his stomach. However, the pot I used was of poor quality. The moment it hit the heat, it cracked. Boiling soup and broken shards splashed all over me.

When he saw it, he sobered up instantly.

Looking at my burns, he was both heartbroken and full of guilt.

From that day on, he never let me step into the kitchen again.

There was even a time when he was sick and wanted something light, he ordered takeout instead of letting me cook.

For years, I never stepped into the kitchen. Even fruit was always washed and handed to me by him.

To this day, there was still a sign hanging on the kitchen door that he had made himself.

[Kitchen Area. Whitney Not Allowed.]

I let out a small, mocking laugh and pulled the sign down, tossing it straight into the trash. "Sorry," I said flatly. "That's not my responsibility. If she wants something, order takeout."

With that, I grabbed my suitcase and headed for the door.

However, he suddenly grabbed my wrist and pushed me back against it.

"Alright, Whitney. Saying it is one thing, but why are you actually packing?" he said, frowning. "I told you. It was just an April Fools' joke. Stop messing around."

His voice softened. "I know you want to marry me soon. I do too. Next year. We'll definitely get married next year, okay?"

The faint smell of alcohol lingered on his breath as it brushed against my neck.

However, this time, I did not melt like I used to. I pushed him away and slapped him.

"Nolan, I've made myself very clear, we're breaking up. I'm not marrying you."

That slap did not just wake him up. Even Silvia, sprawled on the couch, seemed to sober up a little.

She stumbled toward me, barely steady on her feet, and raised her hand to slap me.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped. "Who gave you the nerve to treat Nolan like that?

"If you want to break up, then break up. There are plenty of better girls out there. You… who do you think you are?"

My cheek burned. The pain was sharp and immediate.

My eyes stung as I lifted my hand to slap her back. However, before I could, Nolan grabbed my wrist and shoved me away. My lower back slammed into the doorknob, and pain shot through my whole body.

He pulled Silvia behind him, shielding her. There was irritation in his eyes. "She's drunk. Why are you arguing with someone who's wasted?

"Just go outside and cool off," he added. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

I stared at him in disbelief. The way he spoke so calmly made it feel like I was nothing to him, just someone unimportant.

However, he did not look at me again. Instead, he lowered his voice and started comforting Silvia, who was still acting out from being drunk.

All his patience, all his gentleness, was for her.

I clenched my hands so tightly my nails dug into my palms, then I grabbed my suitcase and walked out.

After checking into a hotel room, I did not fall asleep until almost dawn.

When I woke up, my phone was flooded with messages.

Some were just the usual prank messages people sent on April Fools' Day, but most were from coworkers and friends asking why I had not shown up to work. Some were curious, even excited, wondering if I had some kind of good news to share.

My chest tightened.

I sent a quick reply saying we had broken up, but I felt drained down to my bones.

The notifications kept coming.

Some people thought I was joking, some said it was impossible, while others told me not to overreact just because I did not get a proposal.

From their perspective, Nolan was gentle, steady, and the kind of man who always had everything under control. The kind of good man one would rarely find.

What they did not know was that this same man had once set up what looked like a romantic proposal scene on our fourth anniversary, only so I would let my guard down. Then his childhood friend showed up with a real snake to scare me.

On our fifth anniversary, he even used a prank ring she prepared to "propose" to me.

I ended up getting my finger caught in a trap mechanism. I spent the whole night going back and forth between the ER and treatment rooms. I almost lost that finger.

Yes, he was good at cleaning up the aftermath.

It was just that the person he protected was never me.

Back then, I kept ignoring all the things that felt wrong. I told myself over and over that aside from Silvia, he was actually good to me.

However, now that I was finally thinking clearly, I understood something I had avoided for far too long. Even if this relationship had led to a real proposal, it never would have had a future.

I let out a bitter laugh and opened social media out of habit.

My feed was filled with their prank posts. The most eye-catching one was a full set of photos Silvia had just uploaded. Nolan was with her at the movies, at a claw machine, playing arcade games.

Even before, he would spend April Fools' Day with Silvia first, and then come celebrate our anniversary with me.

However, he had never once taken me to do any of those things. He always said those activities were for younger couples, that they were a waste of time and not meaningful. He said it was better to do something simple, like making things at home or watching a movie together.

I thought that was just him being mature, so I pushed down all the little, naive wishes I had about being in my first relationship.

Now, looking at the carefree smile on his face in those photos, I finally understood.

It was not that those things were boring. It was that doing them with me was boring.

The comments were full of people saying how perfect they looked together. All our mutual friends had liked the post. The number of likes was even higher than when we had first announced our relationship.

I was just about to close the app when a message popped up.

It was from Nolan.

[Don't get the wrong idea, I just took her out to relax. If you have time, come back. She said she wants to apologize to you.]

I frowned and was about to reply that there was no need.

Then a delivery notification suddenly popped up.

I tapped it open. It was the anniversary gift I had ordered earlier.

The address was still set to the apartment.

I hesitated for a moment. It was time to make things clear and I still needed to return the key.

At the very least, we should end things properly.

I packed up quickly and headed over.

However, the moment I stepped through the door, a splash of liquid with a sharp, stinging smell poured down over me.

My skin started to burn.

"Surprise! Happy April Fools' Day!"

Before I could even open my eyes, Silvia rushed over.

She grabbed a makeup wipe and started scrubbing my face hard, dragging it back and forth.

The burning grew worse. It came with a crawling, biting itch that spread across my skin, so intense that it felt like my face was being torn apart.