I couldn't even count how many times she'd canceled on me at the last minute anymore. The excuse was always the same: overtime, a contract negotiation, a client dinner.
Elaine had gone from being genuinely apologetic the first few times to treating it like it was perfectly normal. And I'd gone from accepting it with a smile to barely being able to stomach it.
We always ended up fighting about it.
But this time, I said nothing.
"Got it."
Elaine glanced at me with a flicker of surprise, but it wasn't long before her phone rang.
It was Mr. Gray, summoning her.
She grabbed her purse and rushed out without so much as a goodbye.
It was always like this. The moment Mr. Gray called, she'd drop every plan she had with me.
She'd left me alone in the hospital with a hundred-and-four-degree fever, vanishing for an entire week.
Even in bed, she'd shove me aside to answer his calls, pull her clothes on, and say she had to go entertain a client.
And whenever I pushed back, she'd say it was for work. That I was petty. That I didn't have the backbone of a real man.
I tossed my phone aside and walked out onto the balcony for some air.