“Hi, I’m Loriana Moores. Dominic’s first love. I didn’t expect that even after all these years, even after getting married, he still hasn’t forgotten me. I saw his tattoo today… my nickname, still there. He kept our old photos too. And the letters… The diaries he wrote just for me. He still calls my name in his sleep, did you know? I guess first love never really goes away.”
My chest tightened until I could barely breathe. My fingers hovered over the screen for a long time before I typed back:
“What do you want from me?”
A minute passed. Then another.
Finally, she replied.
“Nothing. I just want back what’s mine. He’s about to wake up. Want to bet that if I tell him I had a nightmare, he’ll stay with me for five days straight? He won’t even text you.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t need to.
Ten minutes later, Dominic’s message arrived.
“Baby, something came up. I’ll be on a business trip for a few days. Call my secretary if you need anything. Take care of yourself and the baby.”
My vision blurred. I started laughing, the kind of laugh that hurt your ribs. My tears fell anyway, hot and soundless.
He really was that predictable.
….
For the next five days, he vanished. No calls, no texts, nothing.
But Loriana didn’t disappear.
She sent photos every day.
One of them was walking barefoot on the beach. Another sitting by a campfire in the mountains.
Another with their hands linked, driving through open fields.
“These were our old spots,” she wrote. “He still remembers them.”
I scrolled through every picture.
He’d taken me to those same places too. Back then, I thought he was building new memories with me. Turns out, I’d just been a body to fill an empty frame.
By the fifth night, I started packing.
All the jewelry he bought me. All the dresses he chose. All the shoes, the handbags, the perfume he said smelled like “his girl.”
Box after box, I sealed them up and pushed them into the storage room. I didn’t even cry this time. When he finally came home, his suitcase hit the floor with a soft thud. He looked around, confused.
“Baby? What are you doing? Why’s the closet half-empty?”
I didn’t look up. “Just getting rid of stuff I don’t need.”
He chuckled a little, like I was being dramatic again, then reached into his bag. “Look what I found for you.”