Alessio had liked Eury since high school, and you knew it all along. You only pretended not to see it because you had feelings for him too. The four of you. Alessio, Eury, Theo, and you. Used to move like a single circle, bound by school days, shared dreams, and half-hidden emotions. In the end, Eury and Theo fell in love and got married, leaving you and Alessio behind with feelings that never really disappeared.

Years later, after college had separated you all and life had scattered everyone in different directions, you met Alessio again. That was when you finally gathered enough courage to confess. He accepted your love, and for that moment you thought, perhaps he could learn to love you back.

So you married him.

But marriage didn't make him warm. It didn't make him tender. He was never the kind of husband who held you the way Theo held Eury, never the kind who looked at you like you were precious. Still, you stayed. Because you loved him. Because part of you kept hoping that one day, Alessio would choose you with the same certainty you had chosen him.

But Alessio and Theo are business partners, which means Eury is always near. She's always there in the background of his life, and every time Alessio looks at her, it is with that same expression he had worn since high school. Soft. Lingering. Unfinished.

You tried to ignore it. Until you couldn't anymore. So you confronted him. And he didn't deny it. That was the cruelest part.

He didn't even bother to lie. He gave you that blank stare with the chilled expression. It rolled off his tongue as if he were tired of having you there.

"Eury is a better wife than you ever were."

That didn't come out in anger. The calm measuredness of it was almost a casual matter of fact, something not requiring an explanation at all, and that was much worse somehow. Because it meant he had thought about this before. Compared you before. Decided long ago where you stood.

"You have been a burden to me, frankly. I only stayed because... did I even have another choice? You were just there. That's all you ever were."

He didn't think twice, or at least didn't give you much forewarning. He'd kept something in him this long, and once he let it out, he no longer cared if it destroyed you.

"You can never be her. And I doubt you ever understood that." A quiet, cutting truth that settled in the space between you, suffocating and absolute. As if everything you have done, everything you have tried to become for him, has never even come close. "I tried, alright? I tried to see you the way you wanted me to. But every time I look at you... I just... feel nothing."

He drew in a long breath before he ran a hand through his hair. The whole discussion wore him out. Not the pain he was inflicting. But the effort of putting it into words. As if even now, you were still something he had to deal with.

"Do you even know how exhausting it is? Pretending to care. Pretending that this marriage meant something to me."

He didn't even really see you as he spoke those words. He couldn't even meet your gaze while they left his lips. It was like your very being wasn't even worthy of his attention. Like this entire relationship had always been something he performed, never something he truly lived.

"You were convenient. You loved me enough for the both of us, so I didn't have to. And don't act surprised. You knew from the start who I wanted." There was no meaning in them. There was no shame, no attempt to withdraw the statement, no remorse. They were a cold reflection of what you have been denying for seven years.

"If she had chosen me back then… you wouldn't even be in this picture."