He sat down on the bed like his legs had gone weak.
“I was scared.”
“I know you were.”
That was the worst part.
I knew.
If he had done this out of pure cruelty, I could have hated him cleanly.
But this was who Marcus became when pressure closed in around him.
He became smaller.
Smaller, quieter, meaner.
And willing to cut away anything that made him feel exposed.
Even me.
Especially me.
I looked at him and thought about the version of myself who had left medical school because she believed love was an investment that would come back to both of us someday.
I had not just paid his tuition.
I had paid with the life I thought I could still reclaim.
The records would later show payments, transfers, dates, and signatures.
But the records would not show my anxiety when I withdrew from school.
They would not show how much it hurt to pack away all my textbooks and shut the lid on my future.
