My Boyfriend Carved Jack-o’-Lanterns For All Five. Except Me Chapter 08

My Boyfriend Carved Jack-o’-Lanterns For All Five. Except Me Chapter 08

Caleb saw me, Rushed over.

He’d lost weight. Dark circles under his eyes.

The paper bags in his arms were soaked.

A pumpkin gift box poked out from the corner.

“I made up the pumpkin, the bookmark, the graduation plushie. And photos.”

He held them out.

Every one had my name.

Lyra.

The three words I’d waited so long for. Now, crammed together. Foreign.

I didn’t take them.

Caleb’s hands froze midair.

“Lyra. I know I was wrong.”

“I moved out of that apartment. We can find a new place.”

“There’ll be another festival. From now on, whatever it is, I’ll save you a piece.”

He spoke fast. Like reciting an answer he’d prepared.

I asked, calm.

“Why save me a piece?”

He froze.

“What?”

“Because in your heart, I’m still the last one you remember.”

His face went white.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?”

I looked at the things in his arms.

“The pumpkin was made after you noticed I was missing.”

“The bookmark after the shop owner asked. The plushie after I brought it up.

“The photos. The flowers. The graduation letters. The apartment we agreed on.”

“Each one, alone, is small.”

“So every time I was hurt, you thought I was being petty.”

“But over three years, you made countless choices.”

“Every time, the one left out was me.”

Caleb’s lips moved.

“I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

“You didn’t think.”

I cut him off.

“You just believed that even if I minded, I wouldn’t leave.”

Rain dripped from his hair.

He was silent for a long time. Then, quiet.

“Give me one more chance.”

“I’ll change.”

“I’ll keep my distance from Daisy.”

Even now, he thought Daisy was the problem.

But with anyone else, the ending would be the same.

What made me leave wasn’t one person.

It was that he never treated my feelings as something to take seriously.

I took the couple bracelet from my bag.

The day I left, I’d put it in the drawer.

Later, when the company cleared dorm packages, I found it had slipped into my document pouch.

I placed it in his palm.

“Caleb. We’re over.”

He grabbed my wrist.

“I don’t agree.”

“Being together takes two people.”

I pulled free, inch by inch.

“Breaking up doesn’t.”

Panic finally surfaced in his eyes.

“Then what were those three years?”

“Three years I loved you. For real.”

I paused.

“And three years it took me to see you clearly.”

He stood in the rain with his late gifts.

I turned. Walked toward the office.

Behind me, the paper bags hit the ground.

The pumpkin carved with my name rolled out. Packaging covered in mud.

I didn’t look back.

What didn’t have me then. I didn’t need now.

Three days after Caleb left New York, Leo came.

Julian and Daisy with him.

They booked a private room near my office.

Five gifts on the table.

Five cups. Five bookmarks. Five festival souvenir cards.

Even five chairs, neatly placed.

Leo pushed a graduation plushie toward me.

“Your major. Your name. All correct.”

I glanced at it.

“Thanks. But I don’t need it.”

His hand stopped.

“Lyra. We’re family.”

“You can’t throw away a family just because we made a few mistakes.”