"After all, to make someone fall hard, you first have to let them climb high enough."
The System's methods of torment were as sophisticated as ever.
5
When I got home, I lay on my bed for the entire afternoon, lost in thought.
By evening, I finally opened my phone and was startled to see a new message from Ariana: [Arthur, are you home? Let's have dinner together tonight.]
This was the same Ariana who wouldn't pick up my calls when I refused to agree to the divorce. Now, she was the one reaching out, wanting to share a meal.
It felt surreal, almost like a cruel joke. But as soon as I remembered that she was planning to marry Marvin less than a week after we signed the divorce papers, a wave of nausea washed over me.
I didn't want to see her, nor did I want to have dinner with her.
So, while my stomach wasn't feeling too terrible, I took all the things Ariana had left behind and packed them up. I headed downstairs and handed the box to the cleaning lady, hoping to rid myself of the last remnants of her presence.
Once that was done, I realized it was getting late.
I turned on my phone, planning to scroll through some videos to distract myself.