He's With Her When I Need Him

I'm admitted to the hospital for gastritis, but my boyfriend shoots to his feet after receiving a call. "Chelsea has a fever. I'll go check on her; I'll be right back!"

He runs off without waiting for me to say anything and doesn't return for the rest of the night.

That night, I see a short clip that Chelsea Calloway has shared. "I'm not afraid of any illness with you by my side."

I comment, "He is pretty good at caring for others."

Flipping his phone shut, my boyfriend, Cedric Whitley, hurriedly gave me a call.

"Madison, things aren't as they seem! I'm just accompanying Chelsea because she's all by herself. She'd be too pitiful if I left her alone, so I'm just here to keep her company for a while!"

"Yeah, I get it. You're friends, and this is what friends are supposed to do."

I cut off the call and lay back in the hospital bed, unable to catch a wink of sleep for the rest of the night.

Cedric and I had been in a relationship for three years. In the past three years, I had always been the one running after him.

Chelsea Calloway was his childhood friend, and according to Cedric, if there were anything going on between them, they'd have gotten together a long time ago, and he'd never have dated me in the first place.

However, I didn't quite understand why she was always coming between us. Shouldn't a relationship only be between two individuals?

After thinking things through, I sighed and looked up the offer letter in my email. I phrased my words properly and sent a reply. Then, I called Noah Aldridge, my manager, to inform him that I'd taken up the position abroad.

"Really? Madison, you're not kidding me, are you? Didn't you turn down the offer earlier on? Why the sudden change of mind?"

"No, Mr. Aldridge. I thought things through and decided that perhaps the new position in the overseas branch might be good exposure for me."

"Okay! Get yourself ready, and you'll set out in a month's time!"

I drew a deep breath after ending the call. Things were finally coming to an end.

…

It came as no surprise to me that Cedric stayed out the whole night. But I was no longer bothered by that.

When he visited me the next morning, he was still in the same set of clothes that he had on the day before. However, there was a faint scent of roses on him.

I never knew that visitors were allowed to take a shower in the hospital. This clearly wasn't the scent of shower gel that we used at home.

Perhaps it was guilt that got to him, but Cedric said, "I'm sorry. Chelsea suddenly had a headache yesterday, so I had to stay with her. Then, I accidentally dozed off. Please don't overthink things."

"It's alright. It's a tough job taking care of patients."

Cedric seemed taken aback by