Do You?

Three days into our cold war, I ordered a box of extra-thin condoms and had them shipped to my boyfriend’s apartment. Then, after getting dressed to the nines, I knocked on his door. “Liam,” I began, my voice sweet, “I think I might have a package here…” Before I could finish, a cold laugh echoed from above. “Is this really necessary, Ava? Weren’t you the one who slapped me and told me to get lost?” His long arm was braced against the doorframe, blocking my way. He then turned and yelled into the apartment, “Babe! There’s a hot girl trying to seduce me out here! You gotta come chase her off!” 1 I thought he was joking. I rolled my eyes. “So, what you’re saying is, three days into a fight, some random girl just magically appears in your bedroom? Dream on.” I slipped under his arm with ease and, out of habit, opened the shoe cabinet. When I saw the pair of cute, fluffy pink bunny slippers, a laugh escaped me. “Why’d you buy me these? You know I like green…” “Babe,” Liam’s voice, lazy and low, cut me off. I was about to answer him, wondering when he’d gotten so cheesy after a fight. But then I looked up. Standing in the middle of the living room was a girl in a slinky little slip dress. She blinked her big, innocent eyes at me. “Why… are you wearing my slippers?” I froze, my mind struggling to catch up. I could only watch as Liam, my usually aloof and detached boyfriend, shrugged helplessly before walking over and wrapping his arms around her. “She just showed up out of nowhere,” he said, his voice laced with a gentle apology for her. “If I’d known it was my ex, I wouldn’t have even opened the door.” He turned to me, his expression suddenly serious. “You need to explain yourself, Ava.” Before I could get a word out, he was striding toward me, his face a thundercloud. He glared down at the one slipper I’d already put on. “Could you have a little respect for boundaries?” he snapped, his voice sharp. “Who just puts on other people’s slippers?” I braced myself against the wall, my right foot half out of the slipper. I couldn’t even look at him. Humiliation and a raw, stinging sense of betrayal washed over me, and tears welled up, spilling down my cheeks before I could stop them. After a long, agonizing moment, Liam seemed to notice my distress. His posture softened, a reluctant compromise. “Forget it. Chloe’s a bit of a germaphobe. She won’t want them now that you’ve worn them.” He gestured dismissively. “You can have them.” I forced myself to pull it together, pasting on a brittle smile. “My package… I forgot to change the shipping address.” The girl, Chloe, finally seemed to snap out of her daze. She smiled, tapping her head in a cute, self-deprecating way. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t look at the name. I just assumed they were Liam’s.” Her eyes crinkled. “I’ll go get them for you right now.” The second she turned her back, I scrambled to change back into my own shoes. Liam was still staring after her, a dazed look on his face. I raised my hand. And I slapped him. Hard. A bright red handprint bloomed on his cheek. He worked his jaw, a slow, deliberate motion, and then a small, humorless smile touched his lips. “You blocked my number, deleted me on everything… that means we’re done, right? You told me to get lost, so I did. Am I not allowed to get lost in someone else’s arms?” He took a step forward, backing me into a corner. His eyes dropped to the lace of my dress, to the rapid rise and fall of my chest. “And now you show up here late at night, dressed like that.” His voice dropped to a low, intimate murmur. “What, did you come to make up?” Before I could answer, his expression went cold. He took a step back, creating a chasm between us. “We’ll call that slap even for everything I did wrong in the past.” He glanced toward the bedroom where Chloe had disappeared. “She’s already a little sensitive about the fact that I’ve been in a serious relationship before. So, it’s better if you don’t show up again.” Just then, Chloe returned, holding the shipping box. “I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice soft and timid. “I didn’t realize this was yours… I thought Liam bought them, so I opened it and put them away. I’m not sure how many you ordered… do you want to count them to make sure they’re all there?” Before I could take the box, Liam leaned over her shoulder to look inside. The next few seconds stretched into an eternity. When I heard Liam’s low chuckle, I felt like a prisoner finally hearing the executioner’s bell. “Seriously, Ava? It’s been three days,” he said, his words trailing off suggestively. “Are you that… desperate?” He snatched the box from Chloe and shoved it into my arms. “There. All yours. Is there anything else? I’d rather not have my girlfriend get the wrong idea.” Under their combined, scorching gaze, my face burned. I wanted to say something, to defend myself, but the words felt pointless. It was over. I knew, with a gut-wrenching certainty, that this was the last time I would ever see him. So I said nothing. I just turned and walked away. In the elevator, I opened a message from my boss about a transfer opportunity to a branch in South Lake. Without a second thought, I typed back: I accept. The moment I stepped out of the building, I dumped everything in my arms—the box, the condoms, the whole pathetic attempt at reconciliation—into the nearest trash can. Just like Liam, I didn’t want any of it anymore. Back home, I curled up on my bed, staring into space, the acidic ache in my chest threatening to drown me. My best friend’s call was the only thing that pulled me out of the haze. “Ava, you are a legend!” she said, her voice buzzing with excitement. “You went in there and tamed the beast! What happened? Did he see you in your battle armor and surrender immediately?” Before I could answer, she barreled on. “I saw his post! Oh my god, and you said he was too cool for cheesy stuff like amusement parks! But he went! For you! He even rode the merry-go-round! It’s so weirdly adorable. See? A little cold shoulder works wonders. You’ve got him trained…” “Are you sure you saw that right?” I managed, my voice thick. She laughed like I’d told the world’s funniest joke. “Of course! I’ll send you the video!” I opened the link, my heart pounding with a sliver of desperate hope. The moment the video played, it felt like my heart stopped. The reason Liam and I fought was… complicated. In three years together, he had never once posted about me on social media. He avoided taking me to public places, especially on holidays or anniversaries. I would look at his cool, perpetually detached face and wonder, Does he even love me? But whenever we were alone, he was a different person—passionate, attentive, almost possessive. This time, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. At our most intimate moment, I asked the question that had been haunting me for years. “Liam, do you love me?” He was kissing my neck, his lips warm and distracting. “Does it matter?” he murmured against my skin. I didn’t understand. Was it so hard to just say the words? I pushed him away. He left, slamming the door behind him, without ever saying he loved me. My friend had found me drowning my sorrows and told me to give him space, that he was just wired differently. That’s why I had swallowed my pride and gone to his apartment. And now he was with someone else. In the video, he was wearing Mickey Mouse ears, a little lipstick heart drawn on his cheek. He looked goofy and happy and utterly adorable. It was a side of him I had never seen. “He has a new girlfriend,” I whispered into the phone, the words tasting like ash. Apparently, our mutual friends were just as confused. A few minutes later, my friend called back. Liam had deleted the post and re-uploaded it. This time, Chloe’s pretty, smiling face was clearly visible. I didn’t want to hear any more. I hung up and threw myself into researching the South Lake project. Then, at two in the morning, my phone rang. It was Liam. It was an unknown number. By the time I realized it was him, it was too late to hang up. His voice was urgent, laced with a desperation I’d never heard before. There was a raw, broken quality to it, like he was on the verge of tears. “Ava… I know I shouldn’t be calling you this late. But can you… can you please come over?” He paused, his breath hitching. “I’m begging you. Please?” My stomach dropped. I couldn’t imagine what could have happened to make the calm, self-possessed Liam Vance sound like this. A hundred different worst-case scenarios flashed through my mind. My body moved before my brain could catch up. “Okay,” I said, already pulling on a jacket and grabbing my car keys. I drove like a maniac, running two red lights. I even tripped and scraped my knee running up the stairs to his apartment. When I finally reached his door, breathless and frantic, the sight that greeted me stopped me cold. Liam was kneeling on the floor at Chloe’s feet, looking up at her with adoration. The living room was full of our mutual friends. When he saw me, he ignored the blood trickling down my leg and smiled, a wide, relieved grin. “Ava. You finally made it.” He turned back to Chloe. “See? Now can I make my promise?” He raised a hand as if taking a solemn oath. “I, Liam Vance, swear that I will never get back together with my ex-girlfriend, Ava Ross. No matter how she tries to seduce me, no matter how she uses our friends to pressure me, it will never happen! For as long as I am with Chloe, I will only be good to her, I will only love her…” The rest of his words blurred into a dull roar. I couldn’t tell if the pain was coming from my bleeding knee or the gaping hole in my chest. Chloe interrupted him with a playful giggle. “Okay, okay, that’s so cheesy…” She blushed, reaching up to cover his mouth. “Stop it… I know you didn’t mean to post the wrong video… Liam, you’re being so embarrassing. Were you like this with your ex? Just throwing ‘I love yous’ around like they were nothing?” And just like that, I was part of the conversation again. The polite, numb smile I’d been wearing vanished. No one noticed. Liam took her shoulders, his expression earnest. “No. I’ve only ever been like this with you. Ask her if you don’t believe me.” Every pair of eyes in the room turned to me. Pity. Sympathy. And from Liam and Chloe, a bright, eager expectation. “Are you guys done?” My voice was ice, and the cheerful atmosphere in the room instantly chilled. “A good ex is a dead ex. Haven’t you heard?” I had always been the compliant one, the one who deferred to him. When my cold gaze met his, I saw a flicker of panic in his eyes. I pretended not to notice and turned to leave. I was done being a player in their little drama. Over the next few days, my phone was flooded with messages from friends. Some were confused, others were indignant on my behalf. [Ava, don’t be mad. Liam’s just being immature. Chloe was his big freshman year crush. He never got to ask her out before she transferred abroad. You know how it is, the one that got away. He’s obsessed.] [You were the only girl he was ever serious with. He barely let other women touch him, but with you… it was different. It was physical. He’ll get over this little fling and come back. Just wait.] [He looked totally out of it after you left that night, like a ghost. And trust me, that Chloe girl is a piece of work… I think you two will get back together eventually.] I couldn’t deal with it. I stopped replying and focused on the move. South Lake was only a two-hour drive from my hometown. My parents and my brother would be thrilled. The night before I left, I got home from the gym and opened my apartment door to chaos. My clothes were ripped from the closet and thrown in a wrinkled heap on the floor. My makeup was smashed, the bottles and jars shattered into a glittering, expensive mess. I was shaking, about to call the police, when Chloe walked out of the elevator carrying a shopping bag. She met my eyes and smiled, a sweet, serene smile. “Oh, you’re back. Perfect. I couldn’t find the jewelry Liam gave you. Are you wearing it?” Seeing my confusion, she explained, her voice dripping with faux sympathy. “I saw all the stuff Liam bought for you on his Amazon account, and I got a little jealous… so he gave me his key and told me I could come and collect it. But you’ve used a lot of it, and I’m a bit of a germaphobe, so I had to…” Just as I was about to lunge at her, Liam rushed in. He took in the trashed apartment and my furious face, and rubbed his temples, a flicker of annoyance crossing his features. “What happened here?”

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