Part 3She Swallowed His Eel, Now Regrets Losing Me

From then on, Tyler's boundary-crossing behavior spiraled out of control.

He'd help her with skincare, personally applying lotion to her skin.

When she twisted her ankle, he ignored me standing right there and carried her to the nurse's office on his back.

She even canceled birthday plans she'd made with me because Tyler caught a little cold.

Whenever I expressed dissatisfaction, Claire would snap impatiently:

"Adrian, you see dirt in everything! He's just an intern. What could possibly happen between us? Stop projecting your filthy thoughts onto other people!"

But later, even she sounded less and less convinced when she said it.

What hurt most was an important industry gala.

The host explicitly required attendees to bring their partners. She hid it from me and brought Tyler instead.

I only found out afterward when multiple people asked if we'd broken up.

When I confronted her, she was angrier than I was:

"I only brought him so he could learn! Don't interns need experience? Can you stop being so petty?"

That time, our cold war lasted so long I almost thought we'd reached the end.

Until she sent me a late-night text:

"Babe, my stomach hurts so bad..."

All my pretend indifference crumbled instantly.

And so the terrible cycle repeated:

I'd question. She'd get angry. I'd try to please her. She'd forgive me.

I closed the ring box and tossed it in the trash.

At the very back of the drawer was a letter she wrote me at eighteen, apologizing for missing one of my messages.

Back then, she truly cared about me.

Now, her heart and mind were full of nothing but that intern.

I pulled out that yellowed apology letter, tore it into tiny pieces, and scattered them into the trash.

Decades of attachment, completely erased. The house felt emptier in an instant, and my heart felt just as hollow.

In the company group chat, photos kept flooding in of Tyler celebrating Claire's birthday and making her laugh.

Colleagues who understood Claire's preferences scrambled to flatter them:

"Miss Sullivan and Tyler are SO sweet together!"

"If you're looking for a boyfriend, find someone warm like Tyler, not someone who's cold all the time like Adrian."

"An intern like Tyler can take such good care of Miss Sullivan—now THAT'S devotion..."

I didn't bother reading anymore. I called my lawyer:

"Withdraw all my investments from Sullivan & Co."

Claire, I don't love you anymore.

I hope you won't regret this.