Chapter 8: Letting Go for Good

The text didn’t go through—"Message Not Delivered." I’d forgotten: Derek had blocked me again. His favorite move, erasing me from his digital life whenever we fought.

Swallowing my pride, I asked Jake to relay the message. The irony wasn’t lost on me; I’d always hated Derek using friends as messengers, and now here I was doing the same.

While sending the Facebook message, I landed on Jake’s public profile. The latest post was a group shot at Santa Monica Pier, the Ferris wheel glowing behind them. Derek and Ashley stood at the center, angled toward each other like a couple, Ashley’s arm draped casually over his shoulder. Derek looked more relaxed than I’d seen him in months.

The timestamp: 3:47 PM, last Saturday. When I was still waiting for him to come around.

I stared at the photo for a long time, then hit "like." Let him see I’d seen it. Let everyone see.

He’d always been too busy for me, too busy for travel or weekend trips. "Why pay to be uncomfortable?" he’d say, dismissing everything I wanted as pointless. I’d never gone anywhere, never checked off a single bucket list item.

Now, looking at that photo, I realized maybe I’d become scenery Derek was already sick of. He was gentle and warm to everyone but me. It was me who didn’t see he’d long since stopped loving me.

The story was over before I even knew we’d reached the last chapter.