Rejecting Ex's Marriage Plea

Upon returning for Professor Forrest Morris's birthday party, I was surprised to find my ex-boyfriend, Yisroel Parker, protecting me from drinking too much. Amid the guests' playful teasing, Yisroel awkwardly produced a marriage license. Kneeling before me with sincere emotion, he confessed his presence today was to propose.

Everyone expected me to seize the moment and dash to the courthouse with him. After all, I had pursued him ardently for ten long years. But they forgot how Yisroel had once wrongfully accused me due to a rumor spread by a fellow student, Amelie Thomas. Or how he mocked my grandfather, Pierce Henry, at his birthday celebration, enraging him so much that he suffered a stroke. The subsequent online harassment nearly drove me to despair.

Now, my old college friend, Ozzy Fox, looked at me admiringly. "Yisroel gave up his dreams and knelt for a whole day before his parents to switch his major to medicine, just to treat your grandfather. He's been waiting for you these four years you’ve been away. Isn’t it time to forgive him?" he said.

"Katherine," he added with a grin, "if you don't hurry up and say yes, the courthouse will close at five!"

I smiled slightly, shaking off the hands pushing me toward Yisroel. After four years abroad, I had severed my ties with my old circles. It was no surprise they didn’t know I was already married.

"Marriage is a serious matter," I said coolly. "It's not something to joke about."

As Yisroel's marriage license slipped to the floor, it opened, revealing familiar handwriting. It marked the day we had started dating, with bold letters below saying, "Yisroel Parker is finally with me!"

From the moment I met Yisroel, everyone knew of my infatuation. On my eighteenth birthday, I began my daring pursuit. Even though he blushed red and fled from each confession, Yisroel showed he cared in other ways. He remembered I liked my coffee with two sugars and hated garlic-flavored chicken. He would brave rainstorms to pick me up from part-time jobs or cross half the city on Thanksgiving to sing a birthday song under my window.

Afraid I'd get jealous, he'd awkwardly declare he didn't like girls, which led to endless teasing from his dorm mates. It was clear to everyone I liked him, and his special treatment of me was just as evident. Yet, he never officially responded to my declarations of love, claiming I was like a star—dazzling and out of reach. Still, he couldn’t bear the idea of anyone else having me.

With determination, we finally got together. On that day, he gave me the keys to his apartment and his marriage license, promising I would be his only one for life. But that promise didn't last the summer.

Yisroel had taken a tutoring job and met Amelie Thomas, a sophomore from our college. Initially, I paid little attention and even offered Amelie advice on university life. Soon, I realized what she truly learned from me was