Chapter 7
“I’ve been overshadowed by you for eighteen years!
Eighteen years! Can’t I fight for myself just once?”
She pointed at my face, tears mixing with spit.
“You had it so good, better at everything than me. But
I’m doing great now too! I have a respectable job, I got promoted to management, I know how to dress, I can
recognize all those luxury brands in your house that I couldn’t even pronounce before!”
“Why does everyone like you more than me?”
I looked at her, not sparing her any dignity.
I shot back,
“You still don’t get it?”
“Because you’re an ungrateful snake.”
Chloe choked on my words.
I didn’t stop there, pressing on,
“You latched onto me like a parasite, feeding off my
hard work and sacrifices You took my kindness, never
appreciated a single thing, and were always ready to sink your teeth into me.”
“Chloe, don’t you find yourself disgusting?”
“Since we’ve burned our bridges and you don’t want to
be here anyway, could you please get the hell out now?”
At this, Chloe couldn’t take it anymore.
She broke down, clutching the key in her hand, and smashed it against Ryan’s chest.
“Take it back! Take it all back!”
She screamed, shoved the door open, and stumbled out.
This time, Ryan didn’t chase her. He just sat there, stunned.
After a long while, he finally looked up.
His eyes were hollow as he looked at me,
“I’m sorry, I never knew Chloe felt this way about you.”
I scoffed, not believing a single word of his lies.
“Never knew?”
“You just didn’t care. You always thought I was easygoing, that a few sweet words would smooth things over. You always thought Chloe was pitiful, that favoring her a little wouldn’t hurt. You played both
sides, enjoying the feeling of two women fighting over you.”
I took a deep breath, looking down at Ryan,
“But I’m not a tool to feed your vanity. I’m a human being.”
“No one held a gun to your head not to eat with her,
not to take her on private trips, not to watch movies
with her, and certainly not to give her the key to our house.”
“We ended up here because of your own choices.”
With that, I stepped back, putting distance between us.
I turned and walked away.
“Go home. We’re truly, completely over.”
But Ryan didn’t leave.
Like a man possessed, he actually stayed in Tuscany.
He started courting me all over again.
Every day, he would linger outside my villa at the same time, either holding flowers or carrying a bag of local pastries.
He even bought back that four–thousand–dollar bracelet Chloe had held, still in its unopened packaging, and slipped it under my door when I wasn’t looking.
I didn’t accept a single thing.
The flowers withered, and I threw them in the trash.
The food sat untouched until I asked the cleaners to take it away. The bracelet, I left at the front desk,
asking the owner to return it to him.
Finally, I called him.
He picked up instantly, his rapid breathing audible, laced with cautious hope.
“I’ve checked out. I’m not in Tuscany anymore.”
“Please stop harassing me. Thank you.