In Leo's eyes, that could only mean one thing—I was too afraid to leave him.
"Rose, I don't want to make this uglier than it has to be. Adela can't handle any more stress right now. Just go."
I turned and left.
I didn't pack a bag. There was nothing worth taking.
On the third night, the front door swung open.
The first thing Leo did when he walked in was check whether I'd packed.
When he saw my clothes still hanging in their usual place, the tension left his shoulders.
He'd always remembered what I told him when I was sixteen—that I'd never leave him. So once again, he was certain I wouldn't go.
"Rose, you should understand where I'm coming from. You can't get pregnant, so I had to find another way. Besides, my child would be your child too, wouldn't it?"
"And let's be honest—life is long. I'm a normal man. If you could take care of my physical needs, I wouldn't have had to go looking elsewhere, right?"
Every word out of Leo's mouth was more shameless than the last.
As if all of this were somehow my fault.
"Leo… do you actually still love me?"
His voice carried a thin edge of impatience.
"Of course I still love you. Why else would I have gone through all this trouble to keep it from you until now? Rose, you can't be this selfish. You can't let your condition stop me from having what any normal person needs."
So in the end, I was the selfish one.
My voice shook with barely contained fury.
"Leo, when you were eighteen, you didn't abandon me over this 'condition.' Seven years. And now you're telling me you need this."
He frowned, not a shred of shame on his face.
"We were students back then. All we needed was love, and that was enough. But we're adults now. Love alone doesn't cut it."
"But don't worry. Once Adela has the baby and everything settles down, I'll marry you. And then we'll have a child of our own."
When I didn't respond, he sat down beside me.
His tone softened a fraction.
"Come on, Rose. Everything I'm doing is for our future. And you don't need to worry about Adela—I've already apologized to her on your behalf. She said she's willing to forgive you."
He pulled my head against his shoulder.
"But she's going to be emotional for a while. I'm worried that seeing you might set her off, so just stay at a hotel for a few days, okay? I need to be with her."
In that moment, I knew with absolute certainty: the boy I'd loved was dead.