In a daze, memories of the early days with Leonard surged into my mind, overwhelming me.

We met on a blind date, and to my surprise, we connected instantly.

Both of us couldn't handle spicy food, and we didn't care much for strong flavors.

We shared a mutual love for movies and documentaries, and our home was always filled with the warmth of plants, cats, and dogs we tended to together.

I used to think Leonard and I were perfectly matched, foolishly believing he felt the same.

After all, he was always attentive and caring, even swearing in front of my late parents' gravestones that he'd treat me well for the rest of his life.

I never once imagined that Leonard's heart could belong to someone else.

People always said he was madly in love with me, and I clung to that belief, blinded by my own hope.

Everything unraveled the moment Megan, Leonard's first love, came back from abroad.

It was a stormy night, and we'd been asleep for hours when Megan called. Despite my desperate pleas, Leonard grabbed his coat and disappeared into the storm without a second thought.

Looking back, I should have known then just how deeply Megan still held his heart.

Instead, I let my guard down when he casually explained her struggles with depression, foolishly believing him when he claimed to be her only lifeline.

I thought, "Why can't Megan see a doctor, take medication? Why does she need to lean on someone else's fiancé?

Why did their meetings always have to be in the dead of night, just the two of them, alone? I refused to believe she had no ulterior motives."

Yet, at Leonard's insistence, Megan added me as a friend.

The two of them became increasingly blatant, constantly reminding me that they were just friends and didn't want me to misunderstand.

Yet, the supposedly pure-hearted Megan would accidentally send me suggestive photos.

Sometimes, it was a snapshot of a movie they were watching together.

Other times, it was Leonard cooking for her, his back turned but unmistakable.

Occasionally, it was Leonard's peaceful profile as he slept from exhaustion or their hands entwined.

Those carefully staged photos became the catalyst for countless fights between Leonard and me.

Each time, he'd rub his temples, exhausted, as if I was the one being unreasonable. "Hatty, I'm exhausted. Can't you just let this go?

"I'm just trying to keep Megan from killing herself. There's really nothing going on between us.

"Can you stop making this a big deal?"

But when Megan died, Leonard's devastation revealed what I had been too blind to see. There had always been something between them.

He even went so far as to cause the death of me and our child for her sake, a truly unforgivable act.

"After living through this nightmare once and being pushed to my limits again, I've shed any remaining illusions."

Leonard's love was never mine to begin with.

I had been deceiving myself about him from the very beginning.