Tit For Tat Chapter 26
Before my mother left, she stuffed my refrigerator full of food.
My father quietly left a credit card on the dining table.
I found it after they were already in the elevator.
There was a sticky note on it:
“Buy something you like. It doesn’t have to be useful, and you don’t have to save for anyone. “
I held that note for a long time.
That night, I sat alone by the window with a drink.
My phone buzzed once.
It was Adrian.
“I heard you moved. Congratulations. “
A few minutes later, another message arrived.
“I won’t come up. I won’t even ask for the address. “
“I just hope your new home brings you peace. “
I didn’t reply.
The next morning, the front desk sent up a bouquet of sunflowers.
No card, no signature.
Only one line on the delivery slip:
“This time, you choose the road. “
I put the flowers in the entryway.
Not because I was moved.
But because the flowers themselves had done nothing wrong.
After that, Adrian rarely appeared in my life.
Occasionally we would cross paths at a business reception, and he would only nod from across the crowd.
One time, I saw him leaving an event, clearly having had too much to drink.
When his friend who was helping him saw me, he instinctively started to call my name.
I heard Adrian say quietly,
“Don’t.”
“She doesn’t have to clean up my messes anymore.”
For a moment, something shifted in my chest.
Not forgiveness.
Just a distant regret for a relationship that could have ended differently.
If he had understood a little sooner that love isn’t a life-saving favor you can cash in again and again, maybe we never would have gotten to that email.
But the most frightening thing between people is often lateness.
Understanding that comes too late can’t undo the past.
I didn’t look back.