Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Our happy ending? You used to say that even if we never had a picture-perfect family, you and I could still be together, always."

"And you promised me that if you ever got married, you'd never let the world know who your wife was."

"And there's more-"

"Sheila." Timothy cut her off gently, calling her name. "Back then, I agreed to keep my wife's identity private because I understood why you turned me down-for the sake of your grandparents. I felt for you, I really did. You were struggling, and I couldn't bear to see you so upset. But now, I have a wife and a son. I just hope you can understand how complicated things are for me at this point, okay?"

"I can't, Timothy. I just can't. After all these years, don't you know I'm still-deeply, hopelessly-in love with you?"

"I'm exhausted, Sheila. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in ages. Can we please just stop talking about this?"

With every word Sheila spoke, Timothy only felt more certain that he'd made a mistake.

He had moved on from that almost-marriage a long time ago.

She had always clung to her role as the adopted granddaughter, and because of that, he'd treated her as kindly as ever. He never thought much of it—it was just habit. But now he realized that, to her, it must have looked like something more. He'd given her hope without meaning to.

No wonder Jessica misunderstood.

If even Sheila could get the wrong idea, how could Jessica not?

Jessica had insisted on a divorce and had brought up Sheila more than once, but because Timothy never had any romantic feelings for Sheila-none whatsoever- he hadn't taken Jessica's concerns seriously. He hadn't bothered to explain, and every time he planned to, something else came up. He thought there was still time, that he could clear things up later.

left Jessica in the dark for too long, and now it had all fallen

needed to deal with

"Timothy..."

now, her voice

felt guilty. After all, she'd once saved his life. Hearing her cry made his own heart

"Look, Sheila, I know exactly why I wanted to marry you back then. I was grateful. That's all. There was never any love-only gratitude. With Jessy, it's different. The moment I saw her, I knew I wanted to marry her. I was the one who proposed. To reassure you and keep you from overthinking, I might've made it

drained, almost too tired

finish. Sheila needed to hear

you never loved me? Not

when you

to marry you? Everything you did

out of love?"

Never. I was grateful, that's all I married you out

gratitude. Nothing more net

was

couldn't say

She ended the call.

dead, the dial tone buzzing