Chapter 2: Six Years Meant Nothing
Marcus had imagined rejection before.
Not because he thought Nia would turn him down, but because he understood that proposing marriage meant making himself vulnerable in a way he had never experienced. He had rehearsed the possibility of her needing more time, of her crying too hard to speak, even of her telling him she wasn't ready.
He had never rehearsed the possibility that she would look him in the face and tell him their entire relationship had been a misunderstanding.
"Nia, please," he said, lowering his voice.
"Let's talk somewhere private.""
She shook her head.
"Why? So you can convince me I'm wrong?""
"So we can understand what's happening.""
"I understand perfectly.""
He glanced at the phones surrounding them. A young man in a navy graduation gown had moved closer to get a better angle. Another student whispered something to his friend, who responded with a disbelieving shake of his head.
Marcus felt their attention pressing against his skin.
He wanted to disappear.
But some stubborn part of him refused to leave without understanding why the woman he loved had become a stranger in the space of a few sentences.
He closed the ring box halfway, then stopped.
"Do you remember our first apartment?"" he asked.
Nia's jaw tightened.
"Marcus—"
"The one with the broken heater? The one where we slept in sweatshirts because the landlord wouldn't fix anything? You used to complain that your feet were freezing, so I'd put my socks on you.""
A woman standing nearby lowered her phone slightly.
Marcus continued, his voice growing unsteady.
"You told me that when you became an attorney, you wanted to buy your mother a house. You said you wanted us to have a little girl someday, and you wanted me to teach her how to ride a bike.""
"Stop.""
"You told me that when you finally graduated, we'd celebrate together because neither one of us could've made it without the other.""
"I said stop!""
Her sharp voice silenced the people nearest them.
Marcus recoiled slightly.
Nia looked around, visibly irritated by the attention.
"You're making this embarrassing," she said.
For a moment, he simply stared at her.
"I'm making this embarrassing?""
"Yes. You planned some big public proposal without even asking yourself whether this was what I wanted.""
"You told me you wanted to marry me.""
"I told you a lot of things when we were younger.""
The sentence struck harder than the rejection itself.
Marcus's mouth opened, but no words came.
Nia adjusted the sleeve of her graduation gown.
"Look, I appreciate what you've done. I really do. But I have my whole life ahead of me.
I'm about to start at one of the best law firms in New York. I have opportunities now that I didn't have before, and I'm not going to throw them away because you decided we're supposed to get married.""
"Throw them away?"" he repeated.
"How would marrying me throw anything away?""
She gave him a humorless laugh.
"Because I want more than this, Marcus.""
He looked down at his tuxedo, then back at her.
"More than what?""
"More than struggling forever. More than having to worry about money. More than being with somebody who thinks love is enough to build a life.""
The crowd grew quieter.
Marcus felt something cold spread through his chest.
For six years, he had believed their hardships had brought them closer. Now she spoke about those years as though they were stains she needed to scrub off her future.
"I've never asked you to stop chasing your dreams," he said.
"No, you just assumed I'd take you along when I got there.""
"I thought we were getting there together.""
"Well, you were wrong.""
She delivered the words without hesitation.
Marcus's hand began to shake around the ring box. He pressed his thumb against its edge, trying to steady himself.
"Tell me something," he said.
"When you were struggling with tuition, who helped you?""
Nia's eyes narrowed.
"Don't do this.""
"When you couldn't afford your textbooks, who bought them?""
"I said don't.""
"When your father told you he wasn't paying another dollar toward your education, who sat with you while you cried?""
"Marcus!""
"Who took extra shifts so you could focus on your exams? Who drove you to that internship every Saturday morning because you couldn't afford to get there?""
Her cheeks flushed.
"I never forced you to do any of that!""
"No," he replied, his voice breaking.
"You didn't. You asked me for help, and I helped you because I loved you.""
"And that's supposed to mean what? That I have to marry you out of gratitude?""
"That's not what I'm saying!""
"Then what are you saying?""
Marcus struggled to answer.
He wanted to tell her that love was supposed to mean choosing each other, not keeping score. He wanted to remind her that when his own business idea had nearly collapsed, she had held his hand and promised they would find a way through it. He wanted to know why the woman who had called him her future now treated their shared past like an inconvenient debt.
Instead, he managed one question.
"Did you ever really love me?""
For the first time, Nia hesitated.
It lasted barely a second, but Marcus saw it.
He leaned toward her.
"Please. Look me in the eyes and tell me the truth.""
She did.
"You helped me when I needed you. That doesn't mean I have to spend the rest of my life with you.""
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
One of the graduates shook his head. A middle-aged woman standing beside her husband whispered, "Oh, that poor boy.""
Marcus felt heat gather behind his eyes.
He blinked rapidly, refusing to let the tears fall. He would not give the crowd the satisfaction of watching him collapse, though he could already feel the edges of his carefully constructed world breaking apart.
A tall man in a charcoal suit stepped away from a group of graduates and approached Nia.
Marcus recognized him.
Darius Cole.
He was one of Nia's law school classmates, a polished, confident man whose family owned several commercial properties in Manhattan. Marcus had met him twice at university events. Both times, Darius had greeted him with the kind of smile that never reached his eyes.
Darius stopped beside Nia.
"You okay?"" he asked her.
Nia's shoulders relaxed.
That small movement hurt Marcus more than he expected.
"I'm fine," she said.
Darius looked at the ring box in Marcus's hand and gave a faint, disapproving smile.
"Man, read the room.""
Marcus turned toward him.
"This doesn't concern you.""
Darius lifted both hands.
"Relax. I'm just trying to help.""
"Then help by staying out of it.""
For a second, Darius's smile disappeared. His eyes hardened, but he quickly recovered his composure.
"Sure.""
He placed a hand lightly against Nia's back.
The gesture was small, almost casual, yet Marcus couldn't ignore the way she allowed it. She had barely tolerated his embrace moments earlier, but she leaned toward Darius as if his presence offered relief.
Marcus looked between them.
Something inside him shifted.
"Is this about him?"" he asked.
Nia immediately straightened.
"Don't be ridiculous.""
"Then why does he look so comfortable standing next to you while you tell me six years meant nothing?""
Darius stepped forward.
"Watch your tone.""
Marcus laughed once, a broken, disbelieving sound.
"My tone?""
"You're embarrassing her in front of everybody.""
Marcus looked at Nia.
"Am I?""
She said nothing.
That silence answered a question he hadn't yet been brave enough to ask.
He turned back to her, his voice dropping.
"Just tell me one thing. Were you ever planning to marry me, or were you waiting until you got everything you needed from me?""
Nia's lips parted.
For a moment, the courtyard seemed to hold its breath.
Then she said, "I never loved you the way you thought I did.""
Marcus went still.
The box trembled in his hand.
He could hear the fountain, the distant laughter, the rustling of graduation gowns. Every sound seemed impossibly far away.
He looked at the ring one last time, remembering how he had pictured placing it on her finger. He had imagined her wearing it when she walked into her first courtroom, when she signed her first major contract, when she stood beside him in the house they would someday buy.
He had imagined growing old with her.
Now he couldn't even understand the woman standing three feet away.
Nia shifted her weight and turned toward Darius.
"I'm leaving," she announced.
Marcus's heart lurched.
After everything she had said, some foolish part of him still wanted to stop her, to ask her to give him five minutes, to find one sentence that could explain the last six years.
But as she began to walk away, he realized he had spent too long begging the world to believe he was worth choosing.
"Nia.""
She stopped without turning around.
Marcus wiped the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand.
When he spoke again, his voice had changed.
It was no longer pleading.
"Before you leave, there's something you need to know.""
Darius turned first.
Nia slowly looked over her shoulder.
May you like
Marcus held the blue ring box in one hand and reached inside his jacket with the other.
For the first time that afternoon, the expression on Nia's face revealed something close to fear.
