My Introvert Girlfriend Comes Alive for Someone Else

My girlfriend, Loretta Summers, is an introvert and quiet by nature. Even our daily conversations are limited to things like, "Have you eaten?" or "Are you asleep?" Then, at a New Year's class reunion, I see her chatting animatedly with a guy, Ivan Lane. That is when I realize— it is time for us to break up. Chapter 1 My girlfriend, Loretta Summers, was quiet and reserved. She rarely acted affectionate toward me. Most of the time, I was the one who initiated our conversations, and even then, they were nothing more than the occasional check-ins about everyday things. I always assumed that was simply how she was. I had never expected her to change. That was until the night she went to a reunion with her classmates, and I went to pick her up. I was standing outside the hall when I saw her. The same woman who was always so reserved and restrained around me was now leaning against another man, laughing brightly and talking with an ease I had never seen before. The guy lowered his head toward her. Their faces were so close it seemed like they could hear each other breathing. Suddenly, I remembered what she had been like when we first started dating. I had once impulsively tried to kiss her, but she instinctively pulled away. She said that she wasn't comfortable being physically close to a man. Because of that, we rarely kissed throughout our relationship. The furthest we'd gone was simply holding hands. Yet now, she was letting another man get that close to her. I swallowed the strange feeling in my chest and walked over. She was chatting with the guy about how much fun she had on her holiday. She was animated and talkative, completely different from the woman who barely spoke a word whenever she was around me. I listened in silence for a while before finally speaking. "Loretta, it's time to go home." She turned around in surprise. The moment she saw me, she froze. The guy sitting beside her raised an eyebrow. "Who's that, Lori?" Loretta lowered her eyes. "He's… my boyfriend." The man, Ivan Lane, smiled. "Oh, so you're Cassian Harper. Thanks for taking Lori home. She's had a little to drink tonight, so be careful on the way back. Try not to jostle her around too much." I said coldly, "You don't need to thank me. She's my girlfriend. It's my duty to take care of her." Ivan lowered his head, looking dejected. "I'm sorry. I didn't think before I spoke. Lori, don't be upset with me." Loretta frowned and glared at me. "Cassian, don't scare Ivan." "Scare him? What is he, a child?" She immediately defended Ivan. "Cassian! I don't want to argue with you in front of so many people. We're both older than him. Can't you just let it go?" Ivan lowered his head, his voice trembling as if he were about to cry. "Lori, it's my fault. I should've known better. Don't fight because of me." What a manipulative little shit. Still, Loretta wouldn't give an inch. The way she stubbornly protected him made me feel like I was the outsider here. I swallowed my anger and turned toward the door. "I'm going home." But when I reached the entrance, I stopped for a moment. Loretta caught up to me and slipped her hand into mine. "Let's go, Cas." I kept my expression blank and said nothing. During the drive home, she sat in the passenger seat, her eyes crinkled as she gently rubbed my arm. "Are you jealous?" I answered stiffly, "I'm driving. Sit properly." She gave me a soft smile. "Don't be mad. I just think of him as a little brother. He's kind of hopeless. He just joined the lab and doesn't know how to do anything yet, so I have to teach him. "Why don't I make you your favorite meatballs tomorrow? Consider it a thank you for coming all the way to pick me up tonight." I told her I didn't want any, but my heart had already softened. When we got home, I had just poured Loretta some water to help with the alcohol when she suddenly jumped to her feet. She shouted at her phone, "What? Your gastritis is acting up again?" I immediately had a bad feeling and stopped her as she tried to head to the door. "It's so late. Where are you going?" The worry on her face was impossible to hide. "Ivan just called me. His gastritis is acting up again. He's in so much pain that he can't even walk." Chapter 2 Loretta said, "I'm worried about him. I'm going to go check on him." "If he's sick, then he should see a doctor!" I retorted. "What are you going to do? You're not a medical student!" However, all she gave me was a disappointed look. "Cassian, how could you be so lacking in empathy? Someone's sick. Are you seriously going to be this petty?" Just then, I heard Ivan's deliberately weak voice through the phone. "I'm okay, Lori. Don't worry about me. I'll take care of myself. I don't want your boyfriend to get mad at you because of me." My temple throbbed with anger. Loretta pushed me aside and hurried downstairs. "My cab is waiting. I'm not coming home tonight." I watched her disappear through the door. For the first time, I thought this relationship wouldn't last. … I spent the entire night sitting alone at home. During that time, Loretta didn't send me a single message. Then, at 2:00 am, I received a friend request. After I accepted it, the person immediately sent me a photo. It was a picture of Loretta asleep, leaning against the headboard. I didn't need to ask who had taken it. "Sorry, Mr. Harper. Lori was so exhausted from taking care of me that she accidentally fell asleep beside me." I gripped my phone so tightly that my entire body seemed to ache. When I opened his social media profile, eight out of every ten posts were about Loretta. "March 5: It's my first day at the lab. I met the most beautiful lady. I really love the way she smiles." That was the day Loretta told me she had a lab meeting and stood me up on our anniversary. "April 9: I messed up my experiment again, but Lori was there to cheer me up. She even bought me drinks, hehe." That was the day Loretta had been distracted throughout our date. She had asked me to pay for a drink and have it delivered to her university, claiming it was for her roommate. "May 26: Lori complained to me that her boyfriend is way too controlling. He's always telling her what to do and restricting her freedom." That was the day Loretta got her period and begged me for ice cream. She already ate nearly an entire tub earlier, so I tried to stop her from eating things that might make her cramps worse. Apparently, that had turned me into a controlling narcissist. "June 19: Lori got her scholarship and gave me a new gaming console, hehe…" The console had not been cheap. I could still recall that the day Loretta received her scholarship, she had only treated me to a plate of spaghetti. The contrast was almost laughable. Back then, I had been happy for her and even transferred her five grand as a little reward. Looking back, I realized I was the real clown. "July 2: Lori knitted me a scarf. She said she wants to see me wearing it when winter comes. Hehe, I can't wait for winter now." In all the years we had been together, Loretta had never made anything for me. On the other hand, I had made countless little journals for her. I always assumed she was simply introverted and did not know how to express her affection. As it turned out, it wasn't that she didn't know how. She simply didn't want to. I closed my eyes, feeling as if my soul were drifting away from my body. The message notification chime pulled me back to reality. He had sent me another message. "Tomorrow, I'll show you who Lori really cares about." My expression darkened. I stared at the screen for a while before deciding not to respond. Instead, I took screenshots of all his posts about Loretta. Let's see what kind of stunt he planned to pull tomorrow. … When I showed up at work the next morning with heavy eye bags, my assistant, Harry Adams, jumped in fright. "Cassian, did you not get any sleep?" I forced a smile. "I'm fine." Loretta finally sent me a message, but she was asking to borrow money. "Cas, could you send me 3,000 dollars? I really need it right now." Chapter 3 "Ivan needs to get an endoscopy, but he doesn't have enough money to pay for it," Loretta explained. So naturally, she had to play the good guy and foot the bill? Just then, Ivan sent me another message. "See? Lori would go this far for me. All I have to do is act a little helpless, and she completely loses her mind. "As for you, you only got with her first because you're older than me. Take that away, and you're just some washed-up old man." I looked down at my phone, utterly exhausted. "I'm saving for a down payment," I responded to Loretta. Ever since the New Year, Loretta and I had been saving for a house together. We'd have enough to get married by the time she finished graduate school. I had been cutting back on my own spending all this time. I didn't actually have to live so frugally given my financial state, but I'd still been setting aside part of my income to cover her expenses. I paid for her tuition and her living expenses too. There was a long silence from the other end before Loretta finally replied. "You have plenty of savings. Do you really have to be such a miser when someone's going through a hard time? Besides, I never said I wasn't going to pay you back. Why are you acting like some heartless loan shark?" Those words actually made me laugh. "Fine. Since I'm a heartless loan shark, then don't ask me for another penny." I blocked both of them immediately. After work, I went to a restaurant alone and treated myself to a meal. It had been a long time since I'd allowed myself to splurge. But even after that bout of reckless spending, a wave of sadness washed over me. When I got home, Loretta, who had been gone for an entire day and night, had laid out a feast on the table for me. She wrapped her arms around me, saying, "Don't be mad. I've crossed a line today. I'm sorry." I stepped away from her. She continued looking at me with those innocent eyes, but for the first time, I felt nothing. Now, all I could think was that she wanted something from me. "What is it?" I asked bluntly. The way she was suddenly trying to please me was suspicious. Sure enough, hesitation flickered across her face. "I… I got a call from my dad today." I already had a pretty good idea where this was going. Loretta lowered her head, fidgeting as she avoided my eyes. "Dad said David is getting married and wants to buy a new car. He asked me to contribute some money." "Then give him some." David Summers was Loretta's younger brother. If it had been in the past, I would've told her that her father was taking advantage of her. Now, I didn't care anymore. She froze, clearly not expecting such a cold response from me. Her eyes reddened. "Where am I supposed to get the money? I didn't even ask my family for a single cent while I went to graduate school!" I stared at her and asked, "What did you do about the 3,000 dollars today?" Loretta averted her gaze. "I put it on my credit card… Cas, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing while my junior was sick." A wave of exasperation washed over me. I suddenly realized why I felt so sad while eating alone at the restaurant. I was mourning a relationship that was already dying. My mind told me that this woman was no longer worth my efforts, but my heart was still clinging desperately to the last dying embers of what we had. I took off my jacket and said softly, "If you're willing to max out your credit card to help the junior you care so much about, then I suppose you can use it to pay for your own tuition and living expenses from now on." She looked at me in shock, but I continued. "Loretta, let's break up." Her eyes immediately reddened. "Are you still angry at me?" she asked. "How many times do I have to tell you? I only see Ivan as a little brother!" I shook my head. "I'm too tired to keep arguing about this." But she wouldn't stop. "Cassian Harper! I've done nothing wrong. How can you just take your anger out on me like this?" I sighed and retorted, "If both Ivan and I got sick last night, who would you have chosen to stay and take care of?" Chapter 4 Under the light, Loretta froze for a moment before mumbling awkwardly, "You're older. I'm sure you can take care of yourself." Perhaps she realized how bad that sounded, because she quickly added, "Don't read too much into it. It's not like that actually happened." However, I knew better. If something really did happen, she would choose Ivan without hesitation. I closed my eyes, my heart sinking. Her answer had told me everything I needed to know. Her favoritism was so obvious that it made me look like a pathetic clown. The last faint spark of feeling inside me slowly went out. I knew better than anyone that there was no going back for us. So, I politely asked her to leave my home. "We don't need to see each other anymore. You have Ivan. Go be with him." As for the mess her family had created, I wasn't interested in dealing with that anymore. Before she left, she packed her bags and glared at me. "Don't regret this!" I laughed quietly. "I won't." The posts on Ivan's social media were like a dull blade cutting into me. The longer I dwelled on them, the more it hurt. I spent some time in a slump. Maybe it was because I was already worn down emotionally, or maybe it was the consecutive days of overtime, but I came down with a high fever. Harry took me to the hospital. While I was receiving an IV, I saw Loretta again. Ivan was standing beside her. The two of them were leaning against each other, looking every bit like lovers. To the side, Harry suddenly looked unsettled. "What is it?" I asked. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Cassian, I think… I just saw them coming out of the OB-GYN department." My fingers stopped halfway across my phone screen. "...Don't worry about her." I had only told a few close friends about the breakup. Harry was one of them, and he had been furious about it for quite some time. I rubbed my forehead. When I got home, I unblocked Loretta and Ivan and scrolled through their social media for a while. As expected, they had posted photos of themselves traveling everywhere together. Every caption was filled with talk about how they'd met each other at just the right time, yet somehow spent years missing each other. The day after our breakup, Loretta had posted, "Only those that truly cherish you will believe in you and trust that you love them." I scoffed. Loretta had worked part-time throughout college to pay off her student loans. She could only afford to save money and spend so freely during graduate school because I had taken care of her living expenses after we started dating. Now, a few sweet words from Ivan were enough to have her completely infatuated with him. I had given her so much, but after we broke up, she implied that I never truly loved her. Why? I kept asking myself the same question over and over again. Why should my sincerity be treated like this? Why was it my genuine love that was thrown away? Why could Loretta fall out of love with me on a whim, use everything I gave her, then turn around and act like she was the victim? All that resentment came to an abrupt stop when I saw a new post from Ivan. It was a photo of them kissing. The necklace that Loretta was wearing was the expensive one I had given her for her birthday last year. They clung to each other like they could never bear to let go, as if they were a pair of star-crossed lovers. I suddenly remembered something from the past. I had gotten drunk and wanted to hold her, but she complained that I reeked of alcohol. After I showered and came back out, all she did was give me a perfunctory pat on the head before walking away. She explained that she simply wasn't comfortable being too intimate with a man. Now, I finally understood. It wasn't that she couldn't accept it. It was because the man was me.