HANNAH POV
“You’re still there?”
I glanced at my phone and lowered my voice. “Yes.”
“Hannah,” Valerie said, sounding exhausted even through the call, “I’m literally at work and you’re still sitting in that restaurant?”
“He said he’d be here by seven,” I replied, checking the time again. 7:48pm.
Valerie scoffed softly. “And you believed him?”
I sighed. “I just want to give him one last chance.”
There was a pause on the line, then the faint sound of keyboards and distant voices. Valerie was definitely at work.
“Okay,” she said finally. “But if he doesn’t show up in the next ten minutes, you’re leaving. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
I ended the call and placed my phone on the table, staring at the empty chair across from me. I ordered chicken tikka masala with a glass of wine while waiting for Elias.
The candle on the table flickered softly, mocking me. Around me, the restaurant buzzed with laughter and warmth. Couples leaned close, smiles easy and familiar.
I felt out of place. Alone. Foolish.
Eight o’clock. Elias stood me up.
My chest tightened as I reached for my bag. I was done waiting.
Just as I stood, my phone vibrated.
For a second, hope flared.
It disappeared the moment I read the message.
Valerie: Hannah, I’m sorry. I just saw Elias
I’m sorry. I just saw Elias.
My heart skipped. Saw him where?
The next message came with a photo.
Elias stood in a hotel lobby, his arm wrapped around another woman’s waist, his head tilted back in laughter like nothing in the world could touch him. The affection he never showed me, he showed a stranger.
I stared at the screen, my hands trembling.
I never expected Elias to betray my trust. Looking at him with another woman disgusted me and still broke my already broken heart.
The restaurant noises faded into the background. The warmth, the laughter, the music. None of it mattered anymore.
Everything I thought I had shattered in that moment.
I asked for the bill, and paid for the bill alone. I could feel the pity eyes the waitress gave me, but I cared less. My so called boyfriend stood me up to go to a hotel with a stranger.
My heart knew she wasn’t a stranger to Elias, but I refused to accept the truth.
The restaurant felt colder as I stood, like I no longer belonged there. Laughter still echoed around me, but it sounded distant, unreal.
As I stepped outside into the night, the city lights blurred in my vision. And in that moment, a painful truth settled deep in my chest.
I never truly knew the man I spent years loving.
My phone buzzed again in my hand, but I didn’t look at it. I already knew it would be Elias, Excuses wrapped in pretty words all lies.
And for the first time since I met him, I felt nothing but disgust.
If this was how love ended, then I was done being foolish enough to wait for it.
