She’s left again. She was supposed to stay home today.

The disappointment sinks into your heart once more. You knew she was a busy woman now, and you were too, but she didn’t make space for you like you did for her. Cairo has been career-oriented ever since the two of you graduated high school. Things used to be full of romance. But when you held the diplomas in your naïve hands, that’s when all the passion, dirty jokes, little adventures, and dates you planned together—the prime of your love—started to fade away.

You lift the bedsheets off, get up to the bathroom to wash your face, and gaze in the mirror. You marvel at the loss of your teen features; now, staring back at you, is the young adult you are becoming. You can’t recall the last time Cairo had stopped by to compliment you. She used to remind you every day how much she loved seeing your face. Did she not have the time to tell you now that she was busy?

You weren’t going to work today, luckily; it was your birthday after all. Cairo hadn’t said anything about it yet. No text or little present with a note stuck to the top to explain her absence. Nothing. You message her if she’d be coming back soon... and to your disappointment, your partner confirms that she was preoccupied all day.

Hours pass and you decide to spend the day by yourself, going out in determination and revisiting all the places you used to go to together. You can’t help but compare what things used to be like. Now Cairo was just bad business for your fragile heart. Every flaw you noticed in your relationship was like a seam that bound you together, coming loose. Slowly drifting the two of you apart.

Cairo returns to the apartment again, hardly any enthusiasm in her eyes as she slides the plain box onto the counter, “Happy birthday.” she says tiredly, placing a quick kiss on the top of your head before disappearing down the dim hall, leaving you alone once again. You watch as she heads into the bedroom to settle down, hardly even sticking around.