I Saw Who He Really Was

I walked out of work, the air still and heavy like something was waiting for me. And there he was—Tom. Just standing there, like he’d been waiting. Outside my workplace. My space. My world I’ve been building. I didn’t feel butterflies. Just a weird knot in my stomach. Why now? Why here? My sister was with me. She clocked the situation straight away and decided to test him. Not for laughs—more like… to expose him. She started flirting with him, pushing boundaries. I just watched, feeling uneasy. Then she looked at him and said, “Why don’t you grab my boobs?” I froze. And he did it. He actually did it. In that instant, something in me shut down. I wasn’t shocked because I cared—I was shocked because it confirmed everything I already knew. I never loved him. And I definitely didn’t respect him now. He didn’t belong near me, not outside my job, not near the version of me I’ve worked so hard to grow into. I felt disgusted—not heartbroken. Disgusted that I ever even gave him a second thought. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to. I just walked away, knowing exactly who he was… and even more clearly, who I’m not.