Part 2The Cheater and His Mistress

The air was unnervingly quiet when Mark arrived.

Ten minutes earlier, the girl had made a phone call.

We had remained on opposite sides of the car window, one of us standing, the other squatting by her fallen scooter.

Neither of us had spoken another word.

Until a familiar car turned the corner.

Until a familiar figure strode towards us.

Until Mark, without even a glance at my car, went straight to her and knelt by her side.

“Not listening again. Didn’t I tell you to stay home and rest?”

He took iodine and cotton swabs from his pocket and began to expertly clean her scraped knee.

The girl giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“It’s nothing! I just wanted to go grocery shopping. It’s your birthday, I wanted to do something special.”

“You can’t get hurt again,” Mark said, his head bowed as he carefully tended to the small scrape. “I don’t need any special occasions. I just need you to be safe.”

“I know, I know~”

I got out of the car.

“Two thousand for the repairs. I’ll accept a private settlement.”

In the moonlight, Mark looked up, his face instantly draining of all color.

“Amber…” he stammered.

I didn’t let him continue.

“You got here fast,” I said, pointing first at him, then at the girl cowering behind him. “From the moment you answered her call to now, fifteen minutes. That’s all it took for me to see exactly where she stands in your heart.”

The wind whipped into the collar of my shirt, and I suddenly felt very cold.

“Mark.”

I said his name.

Three syllables I had been saying since I was ten years old. For fifteen years.

I had called him to wake him up, to come to dinner, to say “I love you,” to say “I’ll wait for you.”

I had never felt so tired.

“Do you have any right to do this to me?”

He didn’t answer.

The girl shrank further behind him.

I stared at her for a long time.

Long enough for Mark to take a half step forward, shielding her even more completely.

That single gesture hurt more than any photograph.

I didn't say another word. I turned, pulled open my car door, and sped away, just seconds before the tears could fall.

In the rearview mirror, he was still standing there, his arm protectively around her, his eyes following my car.

The streetlights cast a dim, yellow glow. The face that had made my heart race a thousand times suddenly looked like a stranger’s.

The car went faster and faster, memories replaying in my mind like a movie.

Ten years old. The day his parents left, he moved in next door. He was so thin, like a piece of paper. I would sneak food from my house and pass it to him over the balcony. He would eat ravenously, tears streaming down his face, saying, “I owe you. Thank you.”

Eighteen. He repeated a year of high school just so we could go to the same university. A senior gave me a love letter, and he beat the guy to a pulp. I screamed at him, bit him. He wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, his eyes red. “Amber, I like you too. Be my girlfriend, okay?”

On the rooftop, he kissed me for the first time. Then he picked me up and spun me around, laughing like a fool. “Amber, this is the happiest day of my life… Thank you, for healing me, again and again.”

Twenty-two. On his first day as a resident, he proposed in front of everyone, swearing he would only love me for the rest of his life. I chose to move to another city for a career opportunity. He helped convince my parents, then told me with unwavering certainty, “Amber, you be you. I’ve got your back.”

Every weekend, without fail, he would drive three hours to see me. Rain or shine. For over a thousand days, he never let me spend a weekend alone.

Every night, we would talk on the phone for hours, never running out of things to say. Every anniversary I forgot, he would surprise me with something full of love.

I don’t think I ever once doubted his love for me.

But I don’t understand. I really don’t.

How can one heart hold two loves at the same time?

My eyes were burning.

The wind rushing in through the half-open window stung them.

But what hurt more was the heart that had loved for so many years.