From Disappointment to Destiny

e German division. It was the job he had dreamed of, the one he had worked tirelessly for, a culmination of late nights, missed holidays, and a s

apartment, the one he paid for, surrounded by boxes of her university textbooks. "Don' t go, Ethan," she

nderstanding but disappointed. Ethan had sacrificed a piece of his future for her, believing their shared future was more important. He took a lesser role i

of them. He had bought her favorite wine and even a small cake. But the second plate on the table remained empty

w it. It wasn' t a post from Olivia, but from her younger colleague, Alex Stone. The picture was sharp, taken just an hour ago at a loud, crowded bar Ethan didn't recognize. Alex had his arm wrapped tightly around Olivia'

hung between the pixels on his screen. This was not a study group. This was a celebration. On hi

mbered selling his restored classic car, his one true hobby, to help pay for her post-graduate program tuition. He remembered the countless weekends he spent proofreading her papers while she went out with her "

en building a separate one without him. The pain was immense, a heavy weight that settled deep in his gut. But beneath the

x stick, a symbol of a celebration that never happened, of a day that was supposed to be about him but had been stolen by her carelessness. He didn't ligh

romotion letter, and read it again. This time, the words didn't represent a sacrifice, they represented an escape. He pulled out his laptop, opened his email, and wrote a short, direct message to Mr. Harrison