Chapter 2
Suddenly, I remembered the first time I met him.
It was at an art exhibition.
Eiden was standing in front of a sunflower painting, wearing an off–white sweater.
His side profile was sharp and clean. He looked like he belonged in the painting.
At just one glance, my heart skipped a beat.
I had always been bold.
When I liked someone, I did go after for he without hesitation.
So I approached him and started a conversation, trying hard to find something to talk about.
He was very polite.
Even though I clearly didn’t know much about art, he still listened to me ramble for a long time.
Later, he told me he was just curious to see how long I could keep going.
But hearing that only made me feel more giddy.
He had to like me, right? Otherwise, why would he let me talk nonsense for so long?
This man wasn’t pretentious, wasn’t sleazy, and wasn’t showy.
And just like that, I let my hopelessly romantic heart fall for him.
But after four years, Eiden still felt like cold water. No matter how hard I tried, it never got warm.
He was bland to love, but I couldn’t quite throw him away.
Last month, on my birthday, Eiden gave me a necklace.
It was the one I had stared at for a little longer at the mall.
He really was thoughtful.
I asked him at the time, “Do you know why I like this necklace?”
“Because it’s pretty?” he guessed.
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“No. Because the pendant is shaped like a star.”
Even after I said that, he still didn’t understand.
I wasn’t surprised.
I had told him before.
When I was little, my dad got very sick.
Before he passed, he held my hand and told me he would become a star and watch over me.
Ever since then, every time I saw a star, I thought of my dad.
Eiden remembered many things about me.
But he never cared quite enough.
He remembered my weak stomach, remembered I didn’t like onions, remembered my mom’s and my birthdays…
All the textbook qualifications for a “good husband.”
But he never really cared about what I truly wanted.
He treated me very well, so well that everyone thought he was the perfect boyfriend.
But that kindness didn’t come from love. It felt more like obligation.
He seemed to have a checklist of “how to treat your girlfriend well,” and he checked off each task
like he was running a program.
And Eiden was just the executor of that program.
He came again the next day.
With breakfast, once more.
He sat there, dressed neatly in a suit.
“I really think we shouldn’t break up,” he said.
“Bexley, being together is good for both of us.”
“I promise I’ll be a responsible, qualified husband.”
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He sounded sincere–serious, even.
I nodded.
I believed him.
Eiden would become the kind of husband everyone approved of.
I smiled and said, “I remember you never wanted a dog, but you still agreed when I asked.”
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“That’s because you read a post titled ‘How to Make Your Girlfriend Happy.‘
I tapped his phone.
“And in your Notes app, you wrote: ‘If girlfriend wants a pet, don’t say
Eiden looked at me, puzzled.
“Weren’t you happy about that?”
“I was. But the problem is that those things you do for me, they’re not unique.”
Any girl who looked like “wife material” would’ve been treated the same way.
He still looked confused.
“But… does that matter?”
I stood up.
It had taken me four years to understand Eiden’s feelings, or rather, the lack of them.
He didn’t love me.
Maybe I could’ve kept lying to myself.
But then I heard from someone about his passionate first love.
When he loved someone, he was completely different.
He got jealous, threw tantrums, became flustered just trying to keep her happy…
He didn’t have it all together all the time.
The way he treated me, the attentiveness and the care, it all came from what he learned from that
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Chapter 2
failed relationship.
He had just applied those lessons to me.
And then, Eiden walked out again.
