Tamara's POV

Louie Fleming and I had been together for six years. When I found out I was pregnant by accident, we decided to move up our wedding plans. By the second month of my pregnancy, we had already scheduled to get our marriage license.

We agreed to meet at the county clerk's office today. But just before we left, he got a call from his “sworn sister,” Lindsay Snyder.

He quickly said, “You take a cab there first. I’ll meet you at the entrance after I take care of Lindsay’s situation,” and rushed out the door.

On my way to the place, I was unfortunately caught in a car accident. Shaken and in pain, I called him in a panic.

One of his college buddies is a hospital director—just a single call from Louie could’ve opened up an emergency fast-track for me.

But he ignored my call. Three times.

Then he finally sent a voice message, sounding clearly annoyed. “What do you want now? I told you, Lindsay’s not doing well. Can’t you just let me be with her for a while in peace?”

Holding my stomach in agony, I weakly recorded a reply. “Louie, I was in a car accident... My stomach really hurts. I’m scared something’s wrong with the baby…”

I hit send.

But the message wouldn’t go through.

That’s when I saw the notification on the screen that he had blocked me.

Four hours later, I was wheeled out of surgery. I had just barely survived.

But the baby didn’t.

Lying there, staring blankly at the hospital room ceiling, my hands instinctively went to my stomach. Tears slid down the sides of my face, quiet and unstoppable.

I stayed in that daze until evening, unmoving, numb until I caught the smell of food from the next hospital bed. That’s when it hit me. I hadn’t eaten all day.

I picked up my phone to order delivery. But when I unlocked the screen, I realized I hadn't exited the TikTok app, and the first video to pop up was Lindsay's.

In it, she and Louie were having a candlelit dinner. He was gently kissing her on the forehead.

Her caption read: [As long as he's here, I’ll always have the courage to start over.]

Their happiness felt like a knife to my chest.

I couldn’t stop myself from commenting, [A bitch and a dog. May you two love each other forever.]

——

The next day, I checked out of the hospital. The doctor warned I needed at least seven days of rest, so I took sick leave from work and went home.

Back in our apartment, everything looked the same. But to me, it all felt like another lifetime.

The past two days had changed everything. I saw things more clearly now.

Looking back on our relationship, I realized something painful. The reason it lasted six years was that I kept compromising. I gave up so much because I loved Louie.

But losing the baby was the final straw.

Now that the baby was gone, I didn’t want him either.

I decided to find a new place and break up with Louie for good.

That night, around ten, I had just finished getting ready for bed when he came home.

He looked cheerful, like he’d had a great day. But the second he saw me, his face darkened.

“What the hell did you just do, Tamara?” he snapped.

I looked up, confused, meeting the fire in his eyes. I had no idea what I’d done wrong this time.

He walked straight to the bed and reached for my phone like it was his. But he froze when he saw I’d changed the password.

Annoyed, he tossed it aside and glared at me. “Delete that comment you left on Lindsay’s video. She just broke up with her boyfriend. She’s feeling down. What’s so wrong with me being there for her?"

Then, he continued, attacking, "You’re a woman, too. Was it really necessary to humiliate her like that? Besides, she’s my godsister, not some stranger. If anything had happened between us, it would've happened long ago. You wouldn’t even be in the picture!"

Tamara's POV

I’d heard those same words from Louie more times than I could count.

In the past, I would’ve argued with him, yelling, crying, refusing to back down.

But now? I felt numb. I just nodded mechanically, letting him think I understood, then reached for a face mask and started applying it like it was just any other night.

Louie hadn’t expected me to react so calmly. Something about my silence seemed to unsettle him.

He leaned in, trying to explain, “Tamara, I’ve known Lindsay longer than I’ve known you. But I really only see her as a sister.”

Then he added, like it should settle everything, “Besides, I’m marrying you. What more do you want?”

I stared at him, stunned, like I was seeing him clearly for the first time.

That tone, that arrogance, as if marrying me was some sort of favor he was granting.

A storm of emotions churned inside me as I looked at the man I had once loved.

Then I heard myself speak, calm and steady. “Let’s not get married. Let’s just break up.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt lighter, freer.

“What did you just say?” Louie froze, eyes wide with disbelief. He looked like he couldn’t believe I was the one saying it.

In the six years we’d been together, every fight had followed the same pattern—him throwing things, yelling, storming off, and me trying to fix everything with apologies.

But no matter how bad things got, we’d never said the word breakup.

Until now.

“Tamara, are you seriously doing this right now?” he snapped. “We’re about to get married. You’re pregnant. Can’t you just grow up and stop acting like a child?”

His irritation was obvious. He thought I was bluffing, just throwing a tantrum like always. He was so sure I’d never really leave.

“I’m not—” I began, but didn’t get the chance to finish as his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen and answered immediately.

“Louie, the wind is so strong up here... and I just feel so lost,” came Lindsay’s soft, breathy voice through the speaker.

I was sitting right beside him, so I heard every word.

He stood up as he spoke into the phone, already grabbing his coat. “Lindsay, don’t cry. Just tell me where you are. I’m coming to you now.”

He walked to the door, then turned to me and said coldly, “I don’t have the energy to deal with your drama every day. Think about what you want—marriage or breakup.”

And just like that, he slammed the door behind him.

I stood there, staring at the closed door, feeling like the punchline of some cruel joke.

He’d never once comforted me, his girlfriend.

But for another woman’s bad mood, he was willing to rush to her side in the middle of the night.

That night, Louie didn’t come home at all.

The next morning, I started packing.

I left behind only the essentials. Everything else that reminded me of him, I tossed.

Matching couple outfits, our necklaces, our Polaroid camera, the plush toys we won together at the mall, anything that held a memory of Louie went into a giant garbage bag.

And as I packed, I realized something painful.

Most of the things I owned were connected to him.

By the time I was done, I’d filled four huge sacks with things to throw away.

And the things I planned to take with me? Just two storage bins.

It took me five full days to clear out the apartment.

But I was determined. I didn’t want a single thing linked to him in my life anymore.

Not in my home. Not in my heart.

He didn’t come back once during those five days.

No texts. No calls. Nothing.

But I knew where he was, thanks to Lindsay’s constant TikTok updates.

She posted everything—Louie taking her to an amusement park, peeling shrimp for her at dinner, playing cutesy kissing games.

Every time she posted something new, the algorithm shoved it in my face, no matter how many times I hit “Not Interested.”

Tamara's POV

I packed the last of my things into two suitcases and started browsing apartment listings online.

After some searching, I found a place I liked in Downtown Street. I messaged the landlord and scheduled a viewing for the next day. If all went well, I could move in immediately.

That night, Louie finally came home.

The moment he saw the suitcases sitting by the door, his expression darkened.

“Tamara… are you really leaving?” he asked, a hint of guilt in his voice, like he finally realized how out of line he’d been disappearing for days.

I nodded.

My calm seemed to catch him off guard. For the first time, a flicker of panic appeared on his face.

He stepped closer and carefully wrapped his arms around me, his voice soft and coaxing. “Don’t be mad, okay? Lindsay’s just like a sister to me. If it makes you uncomfortable, once she’s feeling better, I’ll stop seeing her.”

I looked up, and that’s when I saw it. A bright red lipstick mark on his collar.

My stomach turned.

I pulled away from his embrace and said coldly, “Don’t bother. I hope you two are happy together.”

He stumbled a bit from the push, then dropped the act entirely. “Tamara, how long are you going to keep this up?”

Normally, all it took was for Louie to soften his tone just a little, and I’d be the one trying to fix things.

This time, he was actually giving me a promise, but I stayed cold. And that annoyed him.

“Just give me a straight answer. Are you still marrying me or not?” he demanded.

I stared at him, silent. My mind flashed with memories—how he always made excuses for her, how she’d flaunt their closeness like a challenge to me.

But in the end, I didn’t bring up the flirtatious photos I’d seen of the two of them.

Even if I did, he’d just come up with a dozen reasons to deny it. I was too tired to argue.

So, I turned around and walked back to the bedroom without a word.

Frustrated, Louie followed me and started yelling again.

“Tamara, can you stop being so heartless? Lindsay’s like my sister—her boyfriend treated her like crap. What was I supposed to do, just ignore her?”

Bringing up what had happened a few days ago, he continued, “Also, I went to the county clerk's office right after I calmed her down. I waited for you for two hours, and you never showed up! I honestly don’t know what your problem is!”

Shaking his head and sighing heavily, he added, “Anyway, I already spoke to someone. Next Monday is a good day. We’ll register our marriage and give the baby a proper name.”

His words hit me like a slap.

I hadn’t started showing yet, as I was just two months pregnant at the time of the accident. So there was no way for him to know.

But I knew. I remembered every second of that night.

I remembered the car accident.

I remembered calling him three times.

And I remembered him ignoring every single one of them—too busy to pick up, too busy to care. And because of that, I lost the baby.

Now he stood there, acting like he was doing me a favor by offering to marry me, for the child he didn’t even bother to check on.

My eyes burned with tears. I glared at him and icily said, “There’s no baby anymore. We’re done. Don’t ever contact me again.”

His eyes widened in shock. “What did you say? You got rid of the baby?”

Louie looked like the wind had been knocked out of him.

“Do you even realize what you’re saying?” he snapped, his voice rising in disbelief. “I told you to get rid of it, and you were the one who said it was fate. You said we were at the right age to get married. I agreed to all of this because of you.”

“For years, you kept pushing me to propose. You were even willing to use a baby to trap me into marriage. And now that you finally got what you wanted, you're telling me you got rid of the baby? Are you fucking kidding me, Tamara?!” he snapped.

His words cut deep. Every sentence was like a slap to the face.

The worst part? He wasn’t wrong about how desperate I’d been.

I really had chased after him all these years like a fool.

I’d spent so long dreaming of marrying him, building a family, and living a quiet, happy life together.

At first, I tried hinting that I wanted a romantic proposal. Something meaningful.

But Louie never cared enough to even pretend.