The Weekends He Never Gave Me Chapter 07

The Weekends He Never Gave Me Chapter 07

Giada came looking for me one Friday.

She set the white ceramic mug down on my desk. “Livia, I… I don’t want this anymore.”

I glanced at it. “Throw it away, then.”

“Dario smashed his own.”

“So?”

She bit her lower lip. “I thought you’d want to know.”

I said nothing.

“He came to see me that day and told me not to reach out on weekends anymore.” Her eyes glistened. “He said he’d crossed a line with me.”

Giada suddenly fixed me with a hard stare. “But you never complained before.”

A faint laugh escaped me. “And what of it?”

People are strange. When someone endures pain quietly for years, everyone else starts to think it’s

their entitlement.

Giada tightened her grip on the mug. “Livia, did you plan this? Pull away from him out of nowhere, make him panic, make him feel guilty?”

Her words spilled out faster and faster. “You know how much Dario hates having his time

consumed. He told me once how low-maintenance you were.

My expression didn’t change. “What did he say exactly?”

Giada thought she’d finally found the knife to twist. “He said your best quality was being low-maintenance. That dating you meant no constant coddling, no endless checking-in, no

pointless demands on his schedule. He also said..”

She hesitated. “He found hanging out with me on weekends easier than being with you.”

The office door swung open without warning.

Giada spun around. Dario stood in the doorway, his face dark with fury. “Get out.”

Giada’s lips trembled. “Dario…”

“I told you to leave.”

Eyes stinging, she hurried out of the room.

Dario shut the door behind her. “Livia.”

I kept gathering my things. “Was it true, what she said?”

He didn’t answer at first.

I lifted my head. Dario’s Adam’s apple bobbed once, twice. “I did say you were easy to be with.”

“What else?”

“I also admitted… spending time with her felt lighter.”

The office fell silent.

He stepped closer. “But it was not what you think.’

I gave a bitter little laugh. “There it is again. Not what you think.”

Dario paled.

I had heard that line countless times.

It was not that serious.

It meant nothing.

I was only keeping her company.

It was just one weekend.

Those words just could carve a heart into pieces.

“I thought what we had was solid.” Dario’s voice grew hoarse. “I took it for granted that you’d never leave. So I saved my worst temper for you.”

He had finally spoken the ugly truth.

I watched him. “Yes. Because you knew I would wait,

Tears welled in Dario’s eyes. “I’m an idiot.”

I didn’t respond.

“Yell at me.”

“I don’t feel like it.”

“Hit me, then.”

“Dario.” I sighed softly. “You still don’t

He froze.

get it.”

“I used to fight with you because I still hoped for a resolution. I don’t argue now, because whatever you do no longer shapes my life.”

He stood there, all the fight draining out of him.

When the workday ended, I walked past him. Dario whispered, “What if I’d figured it out sooner?”.

I paused for a heartbeat. “I would have been happy, back then.”

He lifted his face. “And now?”

“It’s too late.”

This man who once loathed hassle and resented anyone claiming his free time looked for the first time like someone left behind by time itself.