Our Anniversary Trip Was Their Repeat Trip Chapter 08

Our Anniversary Trip Was Their Repeat Trip Chapter 08

She had a lot of things to worry about.

For example: “He had his assistant pick out my Valentine’s Day gift. It bothered me more than I wanted to admit. Even if he didn’t give me anything, that would have been better than having someone else choose it and turning a gift that was supposed to mean something to both of us into a

task to check off.”

“When he was with his ex, he picked out every gift himself.”

“I asked him about it. He told me not to give him a hard time and said being with me was

exhausting.”

“Was I really asking for too much?”

Ethan’s heart skipped half a beat.

He remembered that day.

I had left work early and gone to the restaurant we had reserved to wait for him.

But he had been trapped in an international conference call. I waited for four hours, and he didn’t rush in until the restaurant was closing.

I hadn’t argued. I told him I understood how hard he was working and that we could go home and

cook for ourselves.

He said he had prepared a gift for me.

My eyes lit up, and I was about to open it when Ethan said,

“I didn’t know what you liked these days, so I had my assistant pick it out. See if you like it. If you don’t, I’ll tell them to be more careful next time.”

My hand froze.

Ethan no longer remembered exactly what I had said then.

He only remembered pinching the bridge of his nose and looking at me with impatience and exhaustion.

“I’m swamped with work. What’s wrong with having my assistant handle things like this?”

“Olivia and I broke up because she wanted this and that until I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Claire, don’t make me feel like being with you is another exhausting burden.”

The glow from the city outside the car window had fallen across my face and caught the tears

gathering in my eyes.

I hadn’t said anything else.

The post went on, one painful entry after another.

“He says his last relationship drained him. I understand that. I don’t want to drain him, either. But does having to be understanding and reasonable mean I don’t deserve to be taken seriously?”

“He says his first love was difficult, but he gave her everything she wanted. When it comes to me, he always thinks one thing is pointless and another isn’t necessary.”

“He still uses so many things his first love gave him. He kept all their pictures. Even his passcode was still her birthday.”

“Whenever I asked, he always said it was just a habit or that he’d forgotten.”

“They shared so many firsts that, whenever we do something or go somewhere, his first reaction is sometimes to say that he and his first love already did it or had been there.”

“Once, he even called me by the wrong name.”

“I know it’s normal for someone to have a past. But he always makes me feel as if his past takes up too much space, leaving me to live forever in its shadow.”

Ethan froze.

He suddenly realized that the hurt I’d voiced had all happened in just the past few days.

But the pain I’d kept to myself might have been accumulating over countless moments during the

past two years.

Anyone who finally decided to leave must have already had many moments when they wanted to go.

He read every entry one by one.

Many people urged the writer to break up with him, and she replied,

“But I really have loved him for years. I can’t bear to let him go.”

“During the time we’ve been together, I’ve been happy much more often than I’ve been hurt.”

The scattered moments she had shared somehow made the relationship sound so happy.

Because he had made her a bowl of homemade soup. Because he had held an umbrella over her head

in the rain. Because he had held her in his arms when she woke from a nightmare.

And because of the moment she had fallen for him, which he knew nothing about.

Ethan didn’t notice that he had started smiling, too.

That changed when he saw the newest reply: “I’m going to break up with him.”

Ethan’s hand hovered above the screen and stopped moving.

He sat in the car for a long time, trying to find something to quiet the restlessness rising inside

him.

By the time he got home, it was already late.

The space that had once belonged to two people was now half empty, cleaned out completely.

He thought he should clean out the rest, too.

I didn’t see the messages Ethan had sent me in the early hours until I was on my way to work.

“I threw away everything that had to do with Olivia.”

“I’m sorry I let you hurt for so long.”

Ethan came to see me again. He said he had read my post.

“Neally don’t remember you from high school.”

To him, it had been nothing more than an insignificant episode from his teenage years.

“I wish I’d met you sooner.”

I stayed calm.

“It never bothered me that you didn’t remember me.”

“I was the one who loved you. It had nothing to do with you.”

Ethan sighed and let out a quiet, humorless laugh.

“Yes. It’s because I love you now that I regret it.”

Ethan laid all his feelings bare.

“When I first got together with you, you were right. Maybe I only liked you a little.”

“It wasn’t much, but I thought you were cute, and your eyes lit up whenever you looked at me. I figured there was no harm in giving us a try.”

“But the longer we were together, the more I came to like you.”

“Maybe because I’d gone into it thinking we were only giving the relationship a try, I never dealt with the baggage from my last relationship.”

“At first, I didn’t take us seriously enough, so I didn’t think it mattered.”

“Later, you rarely asked me for anything, so I started taking your effort and every compromise you made for granted.”

“That was why I felt justified. Caught up in my own emotions, I didn’t think it mattered that I left you alone in California while I went off with Olivia.”

“Claire, I’m truly sorry.”

“But I also know for certain that you’re the only person I love now.”

“I know I disappointed you. I’ll change. I’ll do everything I should have done for you. I’ll change