He Posted Ninety-Nine Sorries And I Posted My Goodbye Chapter 04

He Posted Ninety-Nine Sorries And I Posted My Goodbye Chapter 04

The next day, I dug out everything he’d ever given me.

A crystal necklace for my eighteenth birthday—he’d saved his allowance for six months to buy it.

A hairpin he got me the day after I mentioned I liked it.

I found a cardboard box and packed it all in, then carried it to his place.

His front door was cracked open. Laughter drifted out.

I pushed in. The living room was full of people. Ethan sat on the couch, Lily beside him.

“Oh, hey—look who it is.” Someone recognized me, grinning knowingly. “Ethan’s little—”

“Neighbor.” Ethan cut in, voice flat.

“Right. Neighbor.”

“Heard she’s been chasing him for years and never got anywhere.”

“So Lily’s the one now, huh?”

Laughter swelled.

Ethan looked at me. Then, in front of everyone, he leaned down and kissed Lily’s forehead.

Lily turned pink, laughing, pushing him away.

The room erupted in cheers.

I took a breath, walked past them with my box, and went into the room that used to be mine.

I started going through what was left.

My phone buzzed. Ethan. 　　[You’re the one who said we were done.]

I didn’t reply. I picked up the box and headed for the door.

In the living room, they were still talking.

“Seriously though, Ethan—you ever actually hook up with that girl?”

“Come on. Neighbor. Grew up together. You know how it goes.”

“Shut up—don’t you see he’s got an actual girlfriend now?”

Ethan hadn’t said a word. He was slouched on the couch, spinning a lighter, eyes fixed on his phone.

Then someone went too far with a dirty joke=

“Seriously though—Lily in bed? Some of those quiet ones are the freakiest.”

Ethan grabbed a beer bottle off the table and hurled it straight at the guy’s head.

“Say that again. I fucking dare you.”

The room erupted—guys tackling each other, furniture scraping.

I was halfway to the door when glass shards sprayed across the floor and caught my shin.

I went down. Blood running down my ankle.

The room froze.

Ethan was at my side in a second, crouching, looking up at my face. His pupils were shaking.

For a moment, I saw panic in his eyes.

But all I felt was tired.

So tired.

At the hospital, I got three stitches. Limping when I walked out.

Ethan followed behind me the whole way, silent.

At the curb, I stopped to wait for a ride. He reached over.

His pinky hooked around mine.

It was our signal. Since we were kids.

It meant: I’m sorry.

Every time he messed up, he’d do this. After a fight in elementary school, he’d hook my pinky and I’d forgive him. After a fight in high school, he’d hook my pinky and I’d go soft.

Every single time, I caved.

But this time, looking at those two fingers linked together, I just felt hollow.

All those years together, he never once claimed me in public. Never introduced me. Never said ”This is my girlfriend.” Never held my hand walking past his classmates.

Then Lily showed up, and he took in her cat, ran out in the rain for her, put me in the freezer for her.

Was I not worth it?

I asked myself that over and over, until the question itself became a joke.

I pulled my hand back.

He paused. Then his arms came around me from behind, chin on my shoulder, voice muffled. “I’m sorry.”

Those three words.

I waited five years to hear them.

So why didn’t they make me feel anything?

I struggled. He held tighter.

“Let’s stop fighting, okay?”

I went stiff in his arms for one second.

Before, that would’ve been enough to break me.

But this time, I just waited for him to finish holding me, then pushed him off.

One step. Two steps. Distance.

His eyes were red. Hair a mess. A bruise blooming on his jaw from the fight.

Even wrecked, he was still beautiful.

But looking at his face, all I felt was empty.

“I don’t need your apology anymore.”

His brows pulled together. “What does that mean?”

I didn’t answer. I turned and opened the cab door.

…

The last day of the holiday, both families got together for dinner again.

The mood at the table was almost warm.

Ethan drained his glass in one go, throat bobbing, then stood up.

“I have something to say.”

“Sophie and I—we’ve been together for five years.”

The table went dead quiet.

“She’s pregnant. We’re getting married.”

Ginny’s mouth fell open and stayed there.

My mom turned to me, eyes already wet. “Sophie, is this true?”

I looked at Ethan.

He stood across from me, still red-eyed. Waiting for me to say yes. To say ”I will.”

To give him the happy ending he’d decided on.

I stood up. My voice was calm. 　　“No. We broke up.”

Ethan’s face went white.

“And I already got an abortion.”