The Day I Stopped Sending Him Sunsets Chapter 02
Aaron sat on the edge of the bed and glanced at my serious expression.
He let out a helpless sigh.
“Nora, I’ve been working all day. I’m really tired.”
“I honestly don’t have the energy to listen to you talk about little random things.”
“Go to sleep first. Whatever it is, we can talk tomorrow.”
Aaron lay down stiffly beside me, turned his back to me, and closed his eyes.
The room went terrifyingly quiet.
Only his breathing slowly evened out.
All the words stuck in my chest until my throat hurt.
Tears slipped down silently.
It was the notification on my phone that pulled me back.
A text from the airline.
My ticket had been booked successfully.
A flight in the early hours tomorrow night.
I would leave Aaron and these seven years behind in this city.
I wiped my tears messily and curled up in bed.
The next morning, Aaron woke up unusually early.
He was in the kitchen, wearing an apron and bustling around.
When he saw me come out, he smiled at me gently.
“You’re up?”
“I made you breakfast. Try it while it’s hot.”
I was dazed for a second.
Unused to this, I still curved my eyes slightly.
“Thanks. I’ll finish every bite.”
“What did you make…”
My words stopped halfway.
On the table sat two boiled eggs with the yolks dug out, a pile of dry, dark toast crusts, and a few limp lettuce leaves curling at the edges.
Aaron untied his apron as he explained, “Hannah said she wanted one of my sandwiches. I saw we had ingredients at home, so I made her some.”
“She likes egg yolks and the soft middle of the toast, so I saved those for her.”
Then he pointed at the scraps.
“You’re pregnant. You shouldn’t be picky. Eat the rest.”
As he spoke, he took the milk I had bought for my calcium supplements and placed two bottles into his lunch bag.
“Looks like we’re almost out of milk. I’m taking the rest. Buy some more later.”
“And sorry, but could you wash the pots and dishes for me?”
“I have to drive Hannah to work. I’m running late.”
The door slammed shut.
I stood beside the dining table and looked at the pile of leftovers on the plate.
For a moment, I wondered if the procedure had left something behind in my body.
Everything hurt.
It hurt so much that I could barely breathe.
I collapsed into the chair and cried, wronged and in pain.
After crying until my eyes were swollen, I slowly stood up.
I hadn’t eaten a single bite of what was on the plate.
I dumped it all into the trash.
Then I went back to the bedroom and started packing.
I didn’t own much.
At the end of seven years, all my life added up to the weight of two large suitcases.
By noon, I finally realized I was hungry.
After thinking about it, I still sent Aaron a message.
[Are you free at noon?]
[I’ll come find you. Let’s have lunch together. There’s something very important I need to tell you.]
As expected, Aaron didn’t reply.
I checked Instagram.
Three minutes ago, he had clearly been commenting under Hannah’s post.
I gritted my teeth, copied the message, and asked him directly in the comments.
Aaron replied instantly.
[Busy. No time.]
A bitter ache spread through my chest.
I didn’t send him anything else.
Instead, I called him directly.
“Nora, didn’t I just say…”
“At twelve-thirty, I’ll be waiting at the steakhouse across from your company.”
After that, I hung up.
I didn’t give Aaron a chance to back out.
And I didn’t give myself a chance to back out either.
I sat in the steakhouse and waited until one-ten.
Aaron still hadn’t shown up.
Just as I thought he was going to stand me up and picked up my phone to call again, he finally arrived.
I had just opened my mouth when Hannah appeared from behind him.
“Hi, Nora. I saw your comment, so I came to crash lunch.”
“You don’t mind, right?”