The café was warm and loud, filled with clinking cups and soft jazz from the speakers. Ethan Carter sat across from Sophia Miller, studying the woman he had loved for the past three years. She wasn't dressed up — just a cream sweater and jeans — but to him, she was still the most beautiful thing in the room.
He smiled as he reached for her hand. "Sorry I'm late. Work ran over again."
Her hand stayed on her coffee cup. She didn't smile back.
"You're always late, Ethan." Her voice was calm, but her eyes carried the storm. "Always working, always tired, always broke. Do you realize we've been in this same spot for three years? Nothing has changed."
Ethan's chest tightened. He leaned forward, lowering his voice. "I'm trying, Soph. I'm saving, I swear. Things will get better once I—"
"Once you what?" She cut him off, her laugh sharp and bitter. "Once you get a promotion that never comes? Once you save enough to take me out of coffee shops and into restaurants where people don't stare at the prices before ordering?"
Her words stung, each one like a blade. Ethan swallowed hard, forcing himself to stay calm. "Sophia… I love you. Isn't that enough?"
For a moment, her face softened. He thought he saw hesitation in her eyes. But then she shook her head, blinking away the weakness.
"Love doesn't pay rent. Love doesn't buy security. Love doesn't give me the future I want." She pushed her chair back, the screech of the legs cutting through the café's music.
Ethan stared, his voice barely a whisper. "So… you're leaving me?"
Sophia stood, pulling her purse over her shoulder. She looked down at him one last time — not with anger, but with something worse: disappointment.
"I'm sorry, Ethan. But I can't waste any more time hoping you'll become someone you're not."
And just like that, she turned and walked away.
Ethan sat frozen, his hands trembling on the table. Around him, life went on — laughter, steaming cups of coffee, waiters moving about. But inside him, everything had collapsed.
Three years of love ended in a single conversation.
He thought he had lost Sophia forever.
But what Ethan didn't know was that this was only the beginning — and Sophia wasn't walking out of his life alone.