The Ring Was Never Mine
Language: en
The night before Valentine’s Day, I found a velvet jewelry box tucked into the inner pocket of Ethan’s winter coat. Engraved along the inner band of the silver ring were two words: "Lila. Forever." Beside the box was a folded slip of paper, yellowed at the creases, bearing a vow in his unmistakable handwriting: "Ethan will marry no one but Lila." I stood in our walk-in closet, staring at the cursive ink, and wondered what I had been to him for the past three years. A placeholder? A comfortable compromise? When I turned around, Ethan was leaning against the bedroom doorframe, his…