Not His First Choice Chapter 04
The next day I sat on the edge of the bed, one thought running loops in my head.
Eight years of points was enough for a goodbye.
In the cab on the way over, I thought about the first time I saw him, back when I was eighteen. Sun coming down from overhead. The way he’d smiled at me—warm, alive.
That image had lived in me for eight years. After today, it was time to delete it.
The country club lawn was carpeted in white roses. A giant LED screen scrolled:
“Happy 25th Birthday—Forever Adored.”
Lily came skipping over, beaming.
“Nora! You made it! I told Ethan he could talk you into it.”
Ethan followed. “Lily’s been waiting for you all week.”
Lily tilted her head. “What? Did you think today was your proposal? Ethan showed up to apologize yesterday just to get you to come here today. He said all that ‘taking care of everything’ stuff so you wouldn’t throw a fit and skip.”
She leaned in close, her voice dropped so only I could hear. “You didn’t actually think he’d propose, did you?”
I looked at her. Then at Ethan.
Ethan’s lips moved. In the end, he said nothing.
I pulled out my phone.
The screen lit up. The points app was still open on last night’s page.
Nine thousand five hundred points. Eight years of saving. Eight years of swallowing everything, all condensed into a string of digits.
My thumb hovered over “Delete Account.”
Ethan grabbed my hand. “Nora, don’t.”
He snatched the phone, jabbed at the screen a few times, and shoved it back. “Look.”
I looked down.
The balance had jumped from “9,500” to “10,000.”
He’d added five hundred points right in front of me.
“Enough?” he snapped, brows drawn. “The proposal, I’ll make it up to you later. It’s her birthday. Don’t make a scene, okay?”
I stared at the freshly rounded ten thousand and started to laugh.
A few taps, and he’d handed me what took me eight years.
So what had those eight years even been? Me tallying up points every day, tiptoeing around them both?
Lily leaned in to peek at my screen and covered her mouth, giggling.
“Oh, by the way, Nora—the old rules don’t count anymore. Starting today, ten thousand is a proposal. Twenty thousand for marriage. You can take your time. You’ve already saved for eight years. What’s another eight, right?”
She winked. “I was worried he’d stop treating me nicely after he got married. So I just wished for it—twenty thousand for the wedding!”
Ethan glanced at Lily and didn’t correct her.
“I promised her when we were kids. Whatever she wishes for, I make happen.”
“Nora,” Ethan said, voice edged with warning. “It’s Lily’s birthday. Don’t ruin it.”
“Okay.”
I lifted my phone, and in front of both of them, tapped “Confirm Delete.”
The app icon flickered once, then vanished.
Eight years of points, gone in a second.
I slid the phone back into my pocket, looked up, met Ethan’s eyes.
“We’re done.”
“Nora!”
He stepped forward, breath catching in a laugh, his voice pitched high then forced low. “Fine. You deleted it? Three hundred points off. You can save your way back up to ten thousand and come talk to me about a proposal then.”
I didn’t stop. I just kept walking.
His voice chased me. “You wanted to get married, right? Save it up yourself. This time I’m not adding it back so easy.”
Lily’s laugh floated after. “Ethan, wanna bet? She’ll be back in tears in a couple days. Just like last time.”
Ethan gave a quiet chuckle. “Eight years. She’s never had anyone else in her heart. She says breakup now, but she’ll go home and flip through the photos, scroll the messages, cry her eyes out. Three days, tops. She’ll be back with her suitcase.”
He thought I’d throw a tantrum, come crawling back like always, patch up the missing points bit by bit, keep chasing that ten thousand that never came.
At three a.m., Ethan closed his eyes, rolled over irritably.
His phone lit up. Out of habit, he tapped the points app.
He opened it, his thumb hovering over “Deduct,” ready to punch in “300.”
A window popped up: “This account has been deleted. Action unavailable.”