She's Not A Rose

It took me three years to realize Charles was only making me fill in for someone else. That intense first love in my youth was nothing but a grand delusion.

I spent a while moping about it, then snapped to reality when I looked at my bank balance. That was when I discovered Charles hadn't come home that night. Normally, he never slept elsewhere. Even if he fooled around until dawn, he would still come back to sleep beside me.

I always felt annoyed, thinking he was ruining my rest. This time, he didn't come back, and I got madder.

Damn Charles for not even telling me he wasn't coming home. I waited all night for no reason.

Then, I realized it made sense. Charlotte was, after all, his true love. She wouldn't get the same treatment as other women.

I was happy about the peace and decided to get some sleep. While I was sleeping, I felt someone slide an arm around my waist. It was Charles.

"Honey, why didn't you wait for me tonight?"

He smelled strongly of booze, not fully conscious. He complained in a slurred voice as he nuzzled my neck from behind. Pretending to turn over, I shoved him off the bed. He hit the floor and just lay there, falling asleep.

I jumped out of bed and kicked him two times. Not wanting to share the same room, I moved to the couch in the living room instead.

His phone was on the table. A message popped up, like Pandora's box calling to me. I couldn't resist opening it. It was from Charlotte.

"Charles, I'm home. Thank you for seeing me off." There was only one page of chat history, apparently from earlier that night.

"Charlotte, don't listen to what they say. Chloe can't compare to you at all."

"I'm only messing around with her. You're the one I love most!"

Maybe his friends joked about my resemblance to Charlotte, and that made her unhappy. I scoffed at my own reflection on the phone's screen.

Charles, putting me down was just your way of flattering Charlotte, wasn't it? When Charles woke up sober, he went back to his aloof self. He had no intention of explaining the ten million dollars.

Seeing his calm, indifferent face, I was even less interested in poking around. Still, after thinking it over, I asked, "Why ten million this time?"

Maybe he'd say something honest.

"You've been with me long enough. That money's yours." He seemed nonchalant like he was swatting away some bothersome pet.

I was out of patience, so I cut to the chase. "It's because of Charlotte, right?"

He finally looked at me. "How do you know about her?"

"Doesn't matter. Since your true love is back, let's just break up. We can part on friendly terms."

"Stop joking around, Chloe. Charlotte and I are just friends."

"Friends? You mean the kind of friends who kiss each other?"

He stared at me for a few seconds, then chuckled. "So you're jealous. I only kissed her to help her out last night. Don't read too much into it."

I was beyond fed up. "Don't flatter yourself. I said I wanted to break up. Did you catch that?"

Something about that set Charles off. He shot to his feet. "Chloe, don't be ridiculous! Everything you have today is because I paid for it! You're living off me! If there's going to be a breakup, that's definitely not your call to make!"