He didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he took a deep breath and ran into hand through his hair again.
“You know I never wanted this. I never asked you to pay for everything. But you just kept doing it, and now you’re acting like I’m the one who asked for it.”
The words hit harder than I wanted them to.
“You didn’t ask for it, Daniel, but you sure didn’t stop it. You didn’t step in when she insulted me or when she made me feel like I was nothing more than a charity case.”
I let out a shaky breath, my heart pounding in my chest.
“And now you want me to feel sorry for you?”
Daniel stood there silent, his shoulders slumped, as if the weight of everything we’d been avoiding for so long had suddenly hit him.
But then he shook his head again, almost like he was trying to shake off the reality of it all.
“I don’t know what you want from me, Emily. I don’t know how to fix this.”
I looked at him. Really looked at him for the first time in a long time.
His face, the face I’d once loved, was now clouded with confusion and exhaustion. But I was done making excuses for him.
“What I want,” I said slowly, “is for you to choose me for once. But you can’t, can you? You’re too busy trying to please your mother, trying to play the victim in all of this.”
“I don’t want to be the victim,” he muttered, his voice low. “But I don’t know what else to do. Everything’s falling apart, Emily.”
I shook my head.
“No. You were falling apart. This was never about me and you, Daniel. This was about you not being able to stand up for yourself. You let her take control of everything, and now you’re blaming me for it.”
He took a deep breath like he was trying to calm himself down, but I could see the frustration bubbling just beneath the surface.
“Maybe we should just take a break,” he said, almost under his breath.
My heart twisted in a way I didn’t expect. It stung, but I held my ground.
“A break?” I repeated. “You think that’s what we need? A break? I’ve been living in a constant state of break for years, Daniel, and now you’re telling me we need more time apart to figure it out?”
“Maybe we do,” he shot back. “Maybe I need space to breathe, to think.”
I let out a harsh laugh, stepping back.
“You know what? Maybe that’s for the best. Because if you need time to figure out if you want to stand by me or stay under your mother’s thumb, then we’re already done.”
His face softened, but it was too late. The damage had been done.
“Emily, please don’t.”
But I wasn’t listening anymore.
I turned away, my eyes burning with unshed tears.