Eight Years Later, I No Longer Love You

Once it was all done, I let out a long breath. I closed the laptop and started going through the cabinets. First, the years of handwritten test notes. Then the old books. I stacked them one by one and packed them into a moving box lined with foam. The couch in the living room. The one we'd tracked through three different West Elm stores to find. Out on the balcony, a half-built LEGO Mech still stood there. We'd worked on it for six months. He built the head. I built the body. Then a version deadline hit, and the remaining arm never got attached. I didn't touch any of it. My phone buzzed. An iMessage from Adrian. 【Willow, did you not test last night's bug?】 I glanced at it, didn't reply, and kept packing. I didn't have much. In eight years, holding down the two of us financially, I had barely bought a single piece of clothing for myself. But the holes in his projects, I'd lost count of how many times I'd filled those in. All of it was about to become past tense. The phone started vibrating like it was possessed. Adrian was calling. The second I picked up, he blew up on the other end. "Are you done playing around? You pick now to bail on me?" Keyboards were clattering wildly in the background. I could faintly hear someone shouting about an error. I didn't say a word. I dropped the last old book into the box and slowly zipped it shut. "Are you even listening?" "Yes." I said it flatly. He must have taken that as me caving, because his voice came back harder, in that tone that left no room for argument. "Drop whatever you're doing and get over here. Clear these bugs. Sophie's been running tests, but she doesn't know the codebase like you do." Sophie's soft voice drifted through from the other side. "Adrian, don't yell at her. I'm slower, that's fine. Worst case, I just don't sleep tonight." Sophie. The Little Fox. Adrian went quiet for a second, and when he spoke again, his voice had noticeably loosened. "She's the one who actually knows this piece. Who else is going to run it?" I looked at the keys hanging by the entryway, and it hit me how absurd the whole thing was. Like a bad joke. Eight years. Chasing clients and hitting quotas at my own company by day, then coming home to sit up with him through version after version. And in his eyes, all of it had become something I simply owed him. "Adrian." I finally spoke. "I ran those tests because I wanted to." Before I could finish, Adrian was already shouting again. "Willow, we are one step away from launch. And you're picking this moment to hash it out with me?" On the other end, Sophie chimed in again. "Please don't take it the wrong way. I really do just want to pull more weight for the studio." Adrian cut her off, irritated. "This has nothing to do with you. She's like this. Give her a couple of days and she'll come around." "If she won't come, I'll fix it myself." Click. He hung up. I let out a small laugh. I slipped off the promise ring I'd worn on my ring finger for five years and placed it in the little box in my drawer. The second it left my finger, it left behind a faint pale band on my skin. Turns out, some things hurt to take off, once you've worn them long enough. Adrian. I'm out of your world now. ---

Adrian hadn't been home in days. The first day, he sent one line. 【Don't start with me before the show. You'll throw off my head.】 After that, nothing. I saw a story he posted on Instagram, of a conference table buried under coffee cups and takeout boxes. The caption read: 【Final sprint. No one drops the ball.】 Someone in the comments teased him: 【Adrian's basically moved into the studio at this point.】 His reply was casual. 【Beats going home to someone throwing a tantrum.】 In his eyes, I was down to one word. Annoyance. I turned off my phone and pulled the office keycard out of the drawer. He'd given it to me in the second year of his startup. Back when I would clock out of my day job and go straight to his studio to test bugs all night. He used to say it all the time. Without me, there'd be no him. Now, I was going to hand that card back. I'd just reached the door of the conference room when they started playing the scene reveal. "Oh my God. It's gorgeous." Someone gasped under their breath. I looked up. Streams of shooting stars were pouring down through the night sky, falling into a hillside carpeted with wild daisies. The light motes rolled along the petals, like tiny fireflies. A little fox lay curled in a treehouse, the whole scene hushed and warm. On the wooden plaque next to the treehouse, two letters were faintly carved. SW. "You don't get it. That's Adrian's private easter egg for Sophie." "Heard the credits for this show added Sophie as one of the art leads." "Wild, honestly. Three months in and she's already doing the lead dev interview alongside him." Laughter spilled out through the glass door in waves. Sophie was sitting right next to Adrian. Around her neck hung a delicate silver fox pendant. The chain was fine and bright, and the pendant sat perfectly in the hollow of her collarbone. She was holding a half-finished cup of warm taro milk tea. When the teasing started, she ducked her face a little behind the cup, but her shoulder leaned toward Adrian. Her voice came out soft. "Come on, you guys. I just doodled a fox one day. I didn't think Adrian would actually put it in." It didn't sound like a denial. It sounded like confirmation. Adrian was looking up at the big screen, and when he heard her, he glanced sideways at her with a light, easy smile on his lips. He didn't explain. He didn't move over an inch to give her space. In his world, this was nothing. Someone with sharp eyes noticed me in the doorway and murmured something. The laughter in the room slowly died down. Sophie looked up, her fingers still wrapped around the cup, and came over to push the door open. She called my name, quiet. "Willow, what are you doing here?" Adrian followed her out, his brows knotted. "What are you doing at the studio?" He shifted so he was standing a little in front of Sophie, as if worried I might throw the tea in her face. I looked past him, at the screen behind him. That meadow had no quests. No monsters. Just moonlight. Wild daisies. Shooting stars. And an entire fairy tale written for someone else. I held out the keycard to Adrian. "You don't need to give me access anymore." Adrian's brow furrowed harder. "Willow. What are you trying to pull now?" I didn't answer. I turned around and stepped into the elevator. Just as the doors were closing, I heard Sophie say, softly, "Adrian, maybe you should go smooth things over with her?" Adrian scoffed. "She'll get over it and come back." I lowered my head and slipped my phone into my bag. The elevator doors sealed shut. ... At nine that evening, a courier dropped a large black garment bag at my door. There was a note attached. 【These suits are a little dirty. Hand-wash them and press them, then hang them up. I need them in a few days.】 Same tone as always. I unzipped the bag. Two suits inside, thick with the smell of smoke and heavy coffee. I frowned and dug through the pockets. A receipt fell out. Tiffany, custom order. Silver fox pendant necklace. Buyer: Adrian Cole. Dated the seventeenth of last month. That was the day I'd asked him if we could take a set of anniversary photos before our eighth year hit. He said the studio's cash flow was tight. Don't waste money on things that don't matter. Turned out, the fox pendant was what mattered. I stuffed the receipt back in the pocket, zipped the bag up, and dragged the whole thing to the entryway. Then I sent Adrian an iMessage. 【Handle it yourself.】 Once the message went through, I picked up a pen and crossed today off the desk calendar. One more day until I was gone. ---