“Yes.”
“That is insane.”
“It was clear.”
“It was one sentence.”
“Yes.”
“I worded it badly.”
“You meant it.”
“You don’t know what I meant.”
I looked at her.
“You dressed for a private meeting with the ex you spent years describing as toxic.”
“I asked a normal question about coming with you.”
“You treated me like I was embarrassing for asking.”
“Then you explicitly told me I wasn’t invited.”
“If that is how you want to conduct the relationship, that’s your choice.”
“I don’t want to be in that relationship.”
She folded her arms.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The control.”
I felt tired suddenly.
“What control?”
“You can’t stand that I have my own life.”
“You’re punishing me because I did something without your permission.”
“I never said you needed permission.”
“You’re literally leaving because I met someone.”
“I’m leaving because you deliberately excluded me from a situation you knew would reasonably affect our relationship and treated my discomfort like weakness.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You’re proving my point.”
“No.”
I held out the apartment key.
“I’m accepting yours.”
She stared at it.
Something in her expression shifted.
Until then, I think she believed we were fighting.
Now she understood I had already moved.
Her voice became quieter.
“Wait.”
I placed the key in her hand.
“What did you do?”
“I packed.”
“No.”
“With the apartment.”
“It’s your lease.”
“I paid my portion through the month.”
“I emailed the landlord.”
“The joint utilities are handled.”
“Everything I left inside is yours.”
She looked at the key.
Then back at me.
Her face drained.
“You planned all that today?”
“Yes.”
“While I was gone?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“What else?”
I knew what she meant before she said it.
“The ring.”
My chest tightened.
She had not known for certain.
Maybe she had suspected something because of our conversations.
Maybe Emily had nearly slipped.
Maybe Chloe simply saw the answer in my face.
“What ring?” she asked.
I said nothing.
She stepped closer.
“Mark.”
I looked at her.
“I was going to propose tonight.”
The parking lot seemed to become completely silent.
Even traffic from the road disappeared in my awareness.
Chloe stared.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
Her lips parted.
“No.”
“The ring was finished.”
“Pickup was today.”
“I canceled it this morning.”
She actually stumbled half a step backward.
“You canceled it?”
“Yes.”