“Meanwhile, you were three steps ahead, glass in hand.”
I gave her a half-smile, eyes still pulled toward the skyline. It looked the same as it always had, endless and glowing, but somehow… brighter. Maybe it was just me, finally seeing clearly.
“It’s weird,” I murmured.
“I’m not even heartbroken, maybe a little bit. But I am… disappointed. Like I wanted him to pass the test, Jules.
I really did. I was rooting for Ryan.”
“Girl,” she said, mouth full of noodles. “He didn’t even bring an umbrella to the storm.
You made one phone call and he bailed like you were on fire. That man was in it for the perks, not the person.”
I laughed, really laughed, but there was a lump in my throat anyway. Not for Ryan.
Rather for what I thought we could’ve been.
For who I thought he might be.
“I think the worst part,” I said slowly. “Is knowing that he wouldn’t have survived the real storms. Like… if things actually got hard.”
Jules put her carton down and looked me dead in the eye.
“He’s not your storm shelter, babe,” she said.
“He was just the weak roof you hadn’t tested yet.”
And somehow, that landed harder than anything else.
People love to say, “You’ll know it’s real when things get hard.”
So, I made things look hard.
And what did he do?
Ghosted me. Ran.
Because it was clear that Ryan wasn’t in love with me. He was in love with the idea of me, the lifestyle, the convenience, the curated illusion.
But the second that cracked, even just a little, he folded.
Not everyone can handle the truth behind the shine.
But me? I’d rather be alone in a penthouse with my peace than hand over the keys to someone who only wanted the view.
Real love isn’t about who stays when the lights are on. It’s about who holds you through the flicker.
Ryan left before the first rumble of thunder.
And now?
I still have the view. The job that promises to take me places and the fridge that talks.
And most importantly?
I have the lesson.
So here’s to champagne, closure, and never again confusing potential with promise.
