After rebirth, I no longer entangled
with my girlfriend of seven years
Chapter 1
So, I was secretly dating my sister’s best
friend for seven years.
Crazy, right?
But then, one night, after a few too many, she
kinda jokingly says to me, “Hey, Luke, I’m
gonna find you a better woman. Can you
just… stop being so hung up on me, okay?”
I kept my face cool.
I just calmly said, “Sure.”
See, last time around, I didn’t take her up on
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I insisted on marrying her.
Big mistake.
After the wedding, she basically ignored me,
iced me out.
And then, when I got into that car wreck and
was bleeding out, she was off in the Arctic
with her high school sweetheart, chasing the
Northern Lights.
That’s when I realized, real feelings can
change in a heartbeat.
You can’t force someone to love you.
When I said “sure,” Winnie just froze.
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I guess she wasn’t expecting me to agree so
quick.
We were in this booth at O’Malley’s.
The lights were low and kinda hazy.
Her face was flushed, but her eyes were clear
as day.
You couldn’t tell she’d had anything to drink.
I sat up straight, giving her a little smile.
Winnie suddenly got all serious, ditching the
chill vibe, “Luke, did you even hear what I just
said?”
I nodded. “Loud and clear.”
Used to be, if she said something like that, I’d
get all worked up, cut her off, and tell her not
to talk that way.
But now, I just shrugged it off.
Like it was nothing.
“Luke, you….
She didn’t finish her sentence. My sister,
Tess, came back from grabbing some air.
She saw Winnie and grinned. “Guess who I
just saw outside?”
Before Winnie could say anything, Tess went
on, “Your old flame, Ethan! He looked
wasted. Some loaded chicks were trying to
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drag him into a private room…”
Winnie practically jumped out of her seat and
bolted for the door.
A few seconds later, we heard a bunch of
yelling and something smash.
I just stayed put, munching on some orange
slices from the fruit platter.
Winnie always loved fruit, but hated peeling it.
I’d always peel it for her, super carefully, and
put it right in front of her.
Then she’d take a couple bites.
Tess would always tease me, “You’re way too
good to her, what about your sister? You
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must be in love with her!”
I almost spilled the beans a few times, told
her Winnie and I were a thing.
But she’d always throw her arm around me
and say, “Maybe Luke thinks I’m more like a
real sister than you are! Little brother’s gotta
look out for his big sis, you got a problem
with that?”
Eventually, I got the picture.
She didn’t want anyone knowing about us.
So I kept my mouth shut.
After seven years, nobody even suspected a
thing.
<
Tess was standing in the doorway, trying to
figure out when to jump in and help.
She glanced back at me, still stuffing my face with fruit, and joked, “Hey, Winnie’s getting
into it with someone. Aren’t you gonna go
play the hero?”
I swallowed the last bite of orange and shook
my head. “Nah. I’m not gonna get involved in
a catfight.”
Tess raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say
anything. She went out to help.
I sat there for a long time, until it finally got
quiet outside. That’s when I got up.
As soon as I stepped out of the booth, I saw
Winnie holding onto this guy’s arm.
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It was Ethan, her first love, the one she could
never quite shake.
He was drunk, leaning all over her.
She wasn’t pushing him away. She was
holding him tight.
Her eyes were a little angry, but also… she
looked worried.
Tess saw the scene and nudged me. “Think
they might get back together?”
She wasn’t yelling, but Winnie definitely
heard.
Winnie looked up, saw me standing there, and
got a little flustered.
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She explained, “I’m not trying to get back
with him. He’s just drunk. I’m just helping him
out.
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I just smiled and shook my head. “Sure,
Winnie. I get it. He looks pretty out of it. You
should probably get him home.”
Winnie frowned a little, like she didn’t like the
way I said her name, but she didn’t argue.
As she led Ethan away, she told Tess, “You
guys should head home too. Don’t stay out
too late.”
Watching them go, I felt a sharp pain in my
chest.
It was so messed up, so ridiculous.
<
Last time, I got everything I thought I wanted,
and ended up miserable.
On my birthday, all I wanted was for her to
spend the night with me.
She said, “I’m swamped at work. Can you
just… not bother me right now?”
Then I saw pictures of her and Ethan skiing in
the mountains.
When I got a stomach ulcer, I begged her to
come to the hospital with me.
She snapped, “I’m not a doctor! Go to the ER
if you’re in pain. What do you want me to do
about it?”
Next thing I knew, she was taking Ethan to
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the same hospital for a little sniffle.
Later, I planned a big surprise for our
anniversary, but got into a car wreck on the
way home.
The doctors called her, needed her to sign off
on emergency surgery.
She said, “Is he dead? If he’s not dead, leave
me alone.”
Right after that, Ethan yelled from the
background, “Winnie, check this out, the
Northern Lights are beautiful, so glad we
came!”
And then she hung up.
I was bleeding all over the place, fading fast.
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I remembered the crushing pain, the feeling
like I couldn’t breathe.
I clutched my chest and gave a weak smile.
Winnie, if you think my love is such a burden,
I’m done loving you.
That night, Tess and I didn’t stick around. We
went home early.
I woke up the next morning, still kinda groggy,
and checked my phone.
Ethan had sent me a message.
It was a picture of Winnie asleep in his bed.
He wrote, “Winnie stayed over last night.”
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I didn’t even flinch. I just replied with, “Cool.”
I really couldn’t care less.
He didn’t give up. A few minutes later, he
sent another picture.
This time it was breakfast.
He said, “Winnie made me breakfast! Check
out the heart–shaped eggs!”
Winnie had never once set foot in the kitchen
when we were together.
She always said she was a princess and
didn’t want to change her lifestyle.
I even took cooking classes to take care of
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her.
She always had a hot meal waiting for her.
Finding out she’d cook for Ethan made me
realize what a joke I was.
I saw the message, didn’t reply, and went
downstairs to make breakfast.
Five minutes later, Winnie texted.
She acted like nothing happened. She just
asked, “That lotus root thing you made last
time was pretty good. Can you make some
more today? I’ll be at the office.”
“Oh and don’t forget to leave out the
cilantro.”
