Chapter 1
Elena stared at the man across the table and wondered when love had started to feel like a decision instead of a feeling. Everything had stopped feeling genuine – it felt forced. He had stopped looking at her the way he used to, and everything sank from there on. Somewhere between the breadbasket and the second glass of wine, Elena realized she didn’t remember what Ryan’s voice sounded like when he was excited.
He was talking now—his hands moving in those smooth, practiced gestures he used during meetings, over coffee dates, across perfectly curated dinner tables like this one. But all she could think about was how far away he sounded. Like she was underwater, and he was calling her name from the shore. She nodded when he paused, smiled when he looked her way, but the smile didn’t quite make it past her lips. She had a lot on her mind, questioning so many things. She wasn't sure if this was what she wanted anymore, if he was really the one – like she had told herself over the years. She knew he loved her, she could never question that, he just didn't know how to show it and when he tried, it still didn't feel right.
She questioned if she was the problem – she had a man who would do anything for her, a man who loved her, took care of her and a man who's been there for her since she could remember. So, what was wrong?
They’d been happy, hadn’t they?
Or maybe just... good at looking like it.
Elena tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and stared at the candle flickering between them. It danced like it was trying to tell her something. Something small and important. Something she didn’t want to hear.
“Are you happy?” she asked, almost to herself.
Ryan blinked. “What?”
She shook her head, brushing it off with a soft laugh. “Nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
She was tired. Not the kind of tired you fix with sleep, but the kind that sits in your chest and grows heavier every time you swallow a truth, you’re not ready to say out loud.
He reached into his coat. And when he dropped to one knee—right there in the middle of the room, surrounded by applause that didn’t belong to her—Elena smiled.
She smiled like she hadn’t just been wondering if she was in the wrong love story.
“Yes,” she said, her voice as steady as her hands were not.
The ring slid onto her finger like it belonged there. Like it was it was meant to be. The room burst into applause. A woman at the next table wiped a tear from her eye.
Ryan stood and kissed her, his hand cradling her cheek, and everyone around them clapped louder, as if volume could crown the moment with more meaning.
She smiled for the photos. Said thank you when the waitress brought champagne. Told Ryan she loved him.
She did. She thought she did.
But that night, in the quiet of her apartment, when the ring caught the light from her bedside lamp—something inside her went still. Feelings arose, feelings of guilt and confusion.
She turned her hand slowly, watching it glint. It was beautiful.
Classic. Flawless. Just like Ryan.
Just like the life they were supposed to have.
The life she thought she wanted.
But as she curled under the blanket and stared at the ceiling, all she could think about was how strange it felt to have no one to call.
Not to tell them the news, but to ask them what to do.
She used to have someone like that. Someone who would’ve known how she really felt, even if she tried to lie.
Someone who saw through her silences.
Someone who really understood her.
Someone who left.
Noah.
She hadn’t said his name out loud in years.
But it still echoed in her chest like a song that never stopped playing, no matter how many times she changed the station. Elena rolled onto her side, blinked up at the shadows on her ceiling, and whispered to no one:
“I think I said yes to the wrong ending.”
Ryan had gone to back to the office. There was an emergency he had to attend to and as always, she felt second and lonely. What was supposed to be the happiest night of her life – a dream come true, became a night filled with loneliness, confusion and maybe, regret.
She stared at the ceiling trying to think of something that would make her happy, happy about the proposal. Something that would make her look forward to marrying and spending the rest of her life with Ryan, wasn't love enough?
