I Saw the Name in My Fiance’s Heart So I Walked Away Chapter 01
I can see the labels people keep in their hearts for the people they’re closest to.
Derek Foster and I have been together for seven years.
And in all that time, every single time his eyes found mine, the words across his heart said the same thing:
[My Maya]
But this past month, the two words changed to [Fiancée]
I told myself it was just the wedding getting close- that being his fiancée meant I was finally someone who mattered more.
Until the night the stomach pain hit, the night he made
chicken broth and accidentally threw in shrimp, the one thing I’m deathly allergic to. He freaked. Rushed me straight to the ER.
“I’m so sorry, Maya. I’ll be more careful next time.”
Not long after, my best friend Riley Mitchell came
through the doors with a paper bag.
“Derek, why didn’t you call me sooner? Look at her she’s in agony. Do you even know how to take care of
her?”
Her voice was teasing, but the edge was real. Still, she
shoved the bag into his hands.
“I brought you a burrito. You always need a midnight snack, right?”
Derek unwrapped the bag and immediately started picking out the jalapeños. Then he handed one of the burritos over to her.
“You should eat too, princess. And don’t give me that
look like I can’t take care of Maya.”
She took it, still smiling. “You seriously remembered I hate those?”
He laughed. “Last time you bit into a jalapeño, you made that face for, like, a mile.”
They started talking about that late–night snack run,
about the time her stomach hurt after overtime, about some inside joke from the office.
I couldn’t get a single word in.
A nurse finally stopped at my bed, frowning. “Hey, lovebirds, stop chatting. Her IV bag is completely empty.”
Derek’s smile froze. He whipped his head toward me.
And in that exact moment, I finally saw it clearly. The label he held in his heart for Riley had changed, too. It used to say Maya’s best friend. Now it just said Riley.
The nurse pulled the needle out, voice clipped. “Another minute and that line backs up with blood.
Watch the drip, lovebirds.”
for an hour.
The moment they were gone, I pulled my jacket on and walked out of the hospital alone.
The night air hit my face, but the churning in my stomach slowly started to settle. I’m the one who introduced Derek to Riley.
At first, he thought she was too loud, and she thought he was way too fussy.
Somewhere in the time I wasn’t looking, they turned all that friction into a rhythm I couldn’t step into.
I made it two blocks before the horn cut through the
dark. Derek. He pulled to the curb, got out, and came straight at me–jaw locked, eyes hard. Then his jacket was around me, warm and heavy.
“Maya, you just had an allergic reaction. What the hell are you doing out here by yourself?”
He pressed his palm to my forehead, then wrapped his fingers around my wrist to check my temperature.
“Your hands are freezing.” His palm wrapped tighter around my fingers. “Is it still hurting? Your stomach? Get in the car. I’m taking you home.”
If I hadn’t seen those labels change, I might’ve let that tenderness get to me.
I looked up at him. “Didn’t you drive Riley home?”
He opened the back door, tone perfectly even. “Her place is way too far. She’d barely get any sleep, so I put
her up at a hotel nearby. Makes it easier to pick her up in the morning anyway.”
The second I got in, I caught the faint scent of gardenia. I followed it–and there was Riley’s perfume, sitting right on the passenger seat.
A month ago, I tried to adjust that seat back just a little. He frowned and stopped me. “The passenger seat’s for clients sometimes. Don’t mess with it. If you’re uncomfortable, just sit in the back.”
Turns out, the “client” he meant was Riley all along.
Back at the apartment, he poured me a glass of water and laid out my meds in neat little piles on the nightstand.
“Riley’s presentation still needs a final run–through. She’s buried, so I’m gonna head over and give her a hand.”
I stared at him, and then I heard my own voice, quiet and clear. “Derek, what if I asked you to stay tonight? What if I actually needed you to?”
His hands went still over the pill bottles. He lifted his eyes to mine. And in that split second, I watched the guilt in them thin out.
“Maya. Not tonight. If it gets worse, call me.”
“Besides–Riley is your best friend, isn’t she?”
The words hit me square in the chest. My best friend. My fiancé.
The two people who should’ve been the closest to me now felt miles away.
I watched him walk out the door and heard myself say it, quiet and clear. “Derek, we’re done.”