The Don’s Eternal Loss Chapter 05
He froze for a second, then let out a scoff.
“Vivian, stop messing around.”
“You pull this stunt every time we fight.”
“You said the exact same thing last month when you threw
my suitcase down the stairs.”
“And the month before that when you tore up the documents
Isabella sent.”
“And what happened?”
When have you ever not come crawling back a couple of days
later?”
I said quietly, “This time is different.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “Vivian, I’m exhausted.”
“If you want to throw a tantrum, let’s go home and talk about it. I’ll humor you.”
Just stop tossing around the word breakup like it’s a game.
It’s childish.”
I stayed silent.
Not because his words made any sense.
I simply realized that in his eyes, every time I brought up a
split, it was never real.
My pain, my breakdowns, throwing his suitcase down the
stairs, tearing up Isabella’s paperwork…
To him, it was all just an act.
I slid the ring off my left ring finger.
It wasn’t anything valuable.
Michael bought it at a night market seven years ago, a matching pair for twenty dollars.
He told me, “I can’t afford a diamond ring right now, let’s use this to stake my claim.”
I replied, “Deal. When you can afford a real one, I’ll swap this out.”
He could afford it later on, but he never once mentioned replacing it.
“You’re right, I always came back.”
So you never believed I’d actually walk away.”
“That’s why I’m not coming back this time.”
I turned and pushed open the cafe door.
“Vivian!”
Michael’s voice chased after me from behind. “You do this
every single time! You’ll just be back begging me in a couple of days!”
I didn’t look back.
I slid into my car and slammed my foot down hard on the gas pedal.
A duffel bag sat on the passenger seat, stuffed with a change
of clothes and all my legal documents.
Mochi, my calico cat, peered out from the back seat, her big
round eyes blinking at me in confusion.
As the car rolled out of the city limits, the sun began to dip below the horizon.
A memory flashed back of our very first argument.
We were newly together, and what we fought about was long gone from my memory.
Tonly remembered storming off after the fight while he chased me down three blocks, grabbing my wrist and shouting, “Vivian, what am I supposed to do if you leave?”
Back then, he acted like he couldn’t survive without me.
Now, he acted like he’d be better off without me.
Michael got back to the manor at eight in the evening.
He mentioned to mutual friends later that he sat alone in
that cafe for nearly an hour after I left.
When I drove off, he stared blankly at the twenty–dollar
silver ring left sitting on the table for ages.
Stepping through the front door, he assumed I’d be waiting.
Convinced this was just another routine tantrum, he figured
he’d walk in and find me sitting on the sofa, eyes rimmed
with red, waiting for him to play the peacemaker.
I was nowhere to be found.
Even my belongings had been wiped clean.
A cold wave of dread finally hit him.
He rushed into the living room. The cat tree was gone; the
litter box was gone.
Even the two pothos plants I kept on the balcony had vanished.
I had scrubbed myself clean out of his life.
Every single line of communication with me was blocked.
Running out of options, Michael dropped onto the couch and started calling our mutual friends one by one.
The first call went straight to Elena, a friend of mine who ran
a clinic and had been trying to poach me as a partner for years.
At that exact moment, I sat in Elena’s home, awaiting final
clearance for my international deployment.
‘Elena, is Vivian with you?”
Elena fell silent for two seconds. “She isn’t.”
“Has she tried reaching out?”
“She blocked me.”
“Her phone is off.”
“She cleared everything out of the house,” Michael’s voice
sounded distorted over the line. “I have no idea where she
went, I…”