ROWAN My heart started pounding the second those words left his mouth.
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my face steady while my mind raced.
Oh shit.
I was done for.
Now he was going to fucking think I had been cheating on him when, in reality, I had never cheated on him.
Not once.
And even what happened yesterday couldn’t be called cheating.
We had already broken up.
Whatever happened after that was none of his fucking business.
“You don’t have to blame me as the cheat when you are also a cheat!” he fired at me.
I stared at him in disbelief.
Then he stepped closer, eyes locked on mine with sudden seriousness.
“What was the reason you thought made me cheat on you?
Not just cheating on you… but cheating on you with your own rival?
Why would you even think I did that?” Here it comes.
The bloody liar.
I could practically see the manipulation coming.
He was already trying to twist the entire situation around and make me look like the bad person.
Like I was the one who had cheated first, when I had never laid a hand on anyone else while we were together.
If I had actually been cheating on him, I would have understood why he was angry.
I would have been scared and would have known that I was the jerk who destroyed our relationship.
But I wasn’t.
Because I never did.
He kept talking, voice getting more dramatic.
“You turned me into a monster!!
You made me who I am!
After hurting my feelings and cheating on me, who were you planning on leaving me fo—” “Where did I go?” I cut him off so quickly that he stopped speaking.
I stepped closer.
“Where the hell did I go?” My anger was rising with every word.
“What proof do you have?” He opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him the chance.
“How did you know I cheated on you?” I pointed at him.
“Do you have a recording that backs up your lies and accusations?” “Did you see me cheating on you?” He remained silent.
“Did you catch me in bed with someone?” My voice cracked with anger.
“Did you fucking catch me in bed with someone, you jerk?” I stared at the man I used to look at with nothing but love, and all I felt now was pure disgust.
I was never going to agree that I cheated on him.
Because I never did.
Yesterday was not cheating.
Even if he somehow had proof that I was with a man last night, I still would not call it cheating.
We had broken up.
“If you don’t have anything reasonable to say—or another one of your fucking lies—then get the fuck out of my house.” I stepped aside and pointed toward the door.
“Because none of these tactics are going to work on me.” But instead of leaving, Kelvin suddenly dropped to his knees.
Before I could react, he wrapped his arms around my legs.
I froze.
His head rested against my leg, and within seconds, I felt warm tears soaking through my clothes.
“Please forgive me!” His voice broke.
“Forgive me, please.
Please!” I stared down at him, completely stunned.
“I thought you cheated on me,” he cried.
“I thought you didn’t love me anymore.” His grip tightened around my legs.
“I thought you threw our love under the bus by cheating on me with different men.” He was sobbing now.
“Because of that, I couldn’t hold the rage anymore.
I decided to pay you back by cheating on you.” “I never knew it was all lies.
I never knew you never cheated on me.” He continued crying.
“If you are really telling the truth… if you truly thought I cheated on you… then why was your next step to also cheat on me?” My voice cracked, but I forced the words out anyway.
“Not just cheat on me.
You had to cheat on me with my rival of all people.
And as if that wasn’t enough, you gave him all my research.
Did you hate me that much?” “Let’s imagine, for one second, that I actually cheated on you like you claimed I did.
What happened to confronting me?
What happened to coming to me and asking me if it was true?” I wiped the tears that had slipped down my cheeks, but more immediately followed.
“You could have asked me.
You could have looked me in the eyes and given me a chance to explain myself.” I shook my head.
“But no.
The next thing you could think of was cheating on me too and ruining me in the process.” “You had to give me double the pain.” I looked away, trying desperately to keep myself together.
At this point, I was fucking tired.
I was tired of the back and forth.
Tired of explaining myself.
Tired of defending something I knew I had never done.
And somehow, he was still trying to make me feel guilty for breaking up with him.
He was still trying to push everything onto me, as if my reaction to his betrayal was somehow worse than the betrayal itself.
“I am so sorry!” he cried from the floor, still holding onto my legs.
“I didn’t think of that!
My friend advised me to pay you back by cheating too.
I never knew you never cheated on me.
When I told my friend what I heard, they told me to cheat so you could feel the same pain I felt.” I stared at him in disbelief.
He said it as though that explanation was supposed to magically fix everything.
As though telling me his friends had encouraged him to be a bastard was somehow an excuse.
I let out a humorless laugh.
“So you were able to confront your friends about hearing that I cheated on you…” I paused.
“But you couldn’t use that same energy to confront me about what you heard?” “Does that even make any sense to you?” “Does any of this sound believable to you, Kelvin?” He opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him the chance to speak.
“And now you want me to forgive you with that weak excuse?” I shook my head slowly.
“Please leave me alone, Kelvin.” “I have made up my mind.
I am done.” The words hurt me more than I wanted them to.
We had been together for years.
And somehow, after everything we had shared, he couldn’t even trust me enough to question a rumor before believing it.
“You couldn’t even seem to doubt the fact that I had never cheated on you.” My voice trembled.
“You just believed some shitty rumor about me cheating without a fucking piece of evidence, and now you want me to turn around and embrace you?” I stared down at him.
His head was still resting against my foot, his shoulders shaking as he cried.
And that was when something inside me shifted.
I didn’t know what my heart was doing.
A small, unwanted part of me felt something that felt like pity.
I hated that.
I wasn’t supposed to feel pity for him.
I wasn’t supposed to spare him sympathy.
I wasn’t supposed to give him any grace after everything he had done.
He was trying to manipulate me.
That was what I kept telling myself.
But my heart… My stupid, traitorous heart… Was doing something completely different.
Then his voice broke even more.
“You remember how we started, Rowan?
You remember how I was there for you when no one else was?
I closed my eyes…
I didn’t want to hear this.
“Please, Rowan.” His fingers tightened slightly around my leg.
“We have been through thick and thin together.
Don’t let this little work of the devil…” I told my parents and my whole family about how much I love you and how I planned to marry you once we finished everything.
You were supposed to come with me this evening for a family dinner.
Please do not do this to me.
Please give me one chance to redeem myself.
Don’t let this be the end of us.
Come with me to the family dinner… please.
I will kill myself if you refuse to come.”