Stop Bothering Me, I Don't Love You Anymore

BETH:

"I thought we were going to spend the night with those monsters," Ariana sniffled while resting her head on Troy's chest. I simply stood there and watched them act all cozy with each other like I didn't exist.

First, they got me to rush out of my apartment just to bail them out of the station. Now they decided to delay me by sitting outside just to get a hang of themselves or whatever it is they were doing.

I cannot belief this is my boyfriend doing this to another woman when it should be me. It makes no sense but I couldn't even find the words to confront him lest I get called out for being jealous of his socalled 'sister'.

"You know I won't let anything happen to you," Troy said to Ariana with his arms wrapped around her.

It was ironic though because I was literally the one who saved their asses from spending the night in the police station.

"We should get going," I had to finally voice out. I was clearly frustrated from having to stand there for such a long time without leaving.

They both looked at me like I was intruding in their privacy and that actually made me annoyed. But I said nothing and just turned around to head to my car. It was left to them to come join me.

I sat inside my car with my head processing everything that happened with me today. I still cannot believe that I had to leave the comfort of my home just to rescue my boyfriend at this odd hour. And the fact that I had to extend that help to another only infuriated me more.

Eventually, I heard a knock on my car and I looked to the side to see Troy and Ariana standing by the passenger seat. They didn't look like any of them was ready to step in and it made me raise my brows questioningly.

"Why aren't you two getting in?" I asked in the calmest voice I could ever produce. It was surprising that I could pull that off despite my frustration.

Ariana suddenly grabbed Troy in a way that only someone in a relationship should. That was my boyfriend, you... you....

"I don't feel comfortable when someone else drives a car I'm in. You know that right, Troy," Ariana said as she looked up at him.

"Maybe you should take a walk then," I suggested. I don't even know when then came out of my mouth but it felt good to say.

"Take a walk by this time of the night? What are you saying, Beth? You shouldn't be saying things like that," Troy said in a confrontational tone. I didn't miss the frown on his face.

I wanted to rebuff but the words felt heavy in my mouth. Maybe it was because I couldn't comprehend why my boyfriend of three years was standing up for another woman when it should be for me instead.

"Get down. I'll drive," Troy finally said again, breaking the brief silence.

"What!?"

"I said, get down. I can't let you drive this car. You know how traumatized Ariana is since her brother's incident. I can't let her get into another situation where she would be so scared."

"But it's my car..." I stated, pointing out that obvious.

Troy didn't even say anything else and just strode aggressively to the driver's seat where I was already buckled up. I was tok stunned to even move. I just sat there and watched him.

He opened up the door and was standing face to face with me. I don't know if he said something but my mind was already off the radar to even think about anything that might have come out of his mouth.

All I know is that I felt the seatbelt unbuckle with Troy leaning towards me. Next thing, I was being pulled out of the car a little too aggressively while I refused to attempt any form of resistance.

I stood by the sidewalk for more than a minute to see the bitch kiss my boyfriend on the cheek in appreciation for what he did as she joined him in the front seat. I just couldn't believe what was unfolding.

"Are you going to leave me out here?" I had to ask after I snapped out of my reverie when the car engine got ignited.

"You can figure out your way home, Beth. I need to drop her home safely. Everything that happened tonight has taken a toll on her already," Troy responded and didn't give me room to respond before zooming off.

It didn't feel real. I don't even know how to explain what just happened. But the sum of it all is that my boyfriend just left me on the road at night to go drop off another girl after I saved him from spending the night in a police station.

With tears in my eyes, I whipped out my phone and began typing into it. It was to my mother.

'I'm ready to come home. That marriage you said you were working on, I'm down for it.'

BETH:

"Did you see the photo I sent you?" That was the first question my mother asked after I picked up her call and put it on speaker mode.

I couldn't use my hand to hold the phone because of how busy I was. I had my clothes littered on the bed with a big box with it. I was doing a lot of folding and unfolding and I knew it was going to take me a long time to finish up.

"What photo?" I asked in return. I may or may not have received a notification about two minutes earlier but I didn't even bother to check.

"Of Richard. I sent it to you a little while ago," she said.

"Oh," I muttered and was forced to finally pick up the phone.

Richard was the name of the man my mother has been trying to set me up with. She has been speaking highly of him to me for such a long time before I finally agreed to whatever it is she was planning.

I clicked open the picture mother sent and scanned the face of the man that she was ever so pleased to talk about. He wasn't that bad of a man. From the picture, I could deduce how tall he was including his good looks. However, it didn't do much to harbor any sort of interest in me.

"I've seen it, mother," I said, closing the picture and dropping the phone back on the bed.

"That's all you have to say? Not even a talk of how handsome he is because I know for sure that he's really good looking," Mother said, her tone filled with an ounce of tease.

I shook my head. "He's not bad. Not like he catches my fancy anyway," I told her.

"I'm so glad you're planning to come home after all these years. Although your father is still mad at you for leaving the way you did, I know he will come around when he sees you. I think he just misses not hearing from you over the years."

The sound of relief that exuded from mother's tone told me just how much she felt knowing that I was going back to them.

I left home about three years ago to go be with Troy after my parents totally disapproved of it. They claimed that he was not fit for me and I disregarded that idea. Since they didn't want us to be together, I had no other option than to run away without letting them know my whereabout.

Meeting Troy then felt like a jackpot. I thought I found the answer to it all. Not that Troy had everything that a man should possess but I stood by him because of how much I loved him.

I didn't think he would betray me like this. Didn't see this coming. I busted his ass out of the station after he and his socalled sister had been caught at a hotel during a raid gone wrong.

I should have asked him what was he doing in a hotel with a woman that he claimed he only saw as a sister and was only caring for her because her brother, his best friend, died.

I shook my head to take out the thoughts. "Yes, mother?" I said when I heard my mother's voice on the other end. I was completely zoned out to even know what she must have said.

"I asked when you were planning to show up," she obviously repeated what she said before.

I shrugged. "I haven't fully decided yet but it should be nothing less then next week. I'm trying to sort a few things out here. Once I do, I'll be home."

The idea felt so good that for the first time since I left home, I was actually eager to go back. Never felt this way before and I knew it was the right call for me at this point.

"I can't wait to have you home," Mother said in agreement.

"I'll call you later. Have a nice day," I said.

"You too."

The call got hung up from the other end and this gave me the chance to continue with the packing of my clothes.

I must have gotten lost in it to not realize that my boyfriend who didn't even bother spending the night here was finally back.

"What are you doing with your clothes?" was the question he asked from behind me that actually made me realize that he was in the room with me.

I stood frozen on the spot, to stunned to even turn around to look at him. I had the answer to give to him but the suddenness caught me completely off guard.

I had to say something before he got suspicious...

BETH:

"I'm trying to take out some of my old clothes," I stuttered but was finally able to say the words that I needed to say in order to remove any form of suspicion.

I was going to leave but I wanted to do it discreetly. I did not have it in me to actually explain the reason for my leaving which was why this was my resort.

I don't think he sensed anything amiss because he said, "We'll move into a bigger space soon when we we get married so you don't have to do all that sorting."

If I wasn't trying to stay serious, I would have laughed at what he said. Why? Because I couldn't believe my ears.

Troy was really talking about us getting married like he meant it. Like he was seriously talking about our future together. I should be elated hearing that. Probably over the moon. But I, for one, know that was a lie.

I have brought up the topic many times to him in the past and he always pushed it aside like I was bugging him for even bringing such up.

"It's too soon." That was what he never hesitated to say whenever I asked him the question before today. I guess he never really envisioned us together. And if he was now, it was too late for me.

"I'm going to take a shower," he said later after I basically ignored him while I tended to my clothes. I can't believe that he refused to say anything about what he did to me last night after I saved him.

All of a sudden, his phone started buzzing nonstop. Why didn't he put it on silent, bloody hell?

I scanned around the room to notice that he kept it on the bedside cabinet. The sound was driving me crazy already and I needed to shut it off. I cannot afford to be irritated while I plotted my way out of this shit hole of a relationship.

The screen of his phone revealed notifications of pictures from a certain somebody. And it was none other than Ariana.

I was curious to know what she must have sent to him repeatedly that would actually disturb my peace. And so I clicked on her message only to reveal something that I didn't expect to see.

There... Right there, I could see pictures of Ariana in a wedding gown clinging on to him. Yes, Troy was in the pictures she sent to him looking all happy as he held on to her like she meant the whole world to him.

My head eventually clicked what was going on. So, Troy always thought that it was too soon to get married to me but here he was, already married to a woman that he just got close to after the death of his best friend, her brother.

So I never meant a thing to him. Not even a bit.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Troy's voice got my attention as I looked to the side to see him only dressed in a towel wrapped around his still wet body. There was anger written all over his face as he rushed up to me and then yanked the phone out of my hand. The force he used was so much that I fell to the bed immediately.

"Don't you understand the concept of privacy anymore? Why would you be going through my—" He stopped when he realized what I was going through on his device.

I looked down at my hand to see that there was a scratch on it. The way he had forcefully collected the phone from me really did something and I only hoped I didn't bleed because of it.

"I won't touch your phone again," I said softly, my tone a bit apologetic.

I expected him to scold me or confront me again but instead, he began to explain himself.

"I– I was only helping Ariana out with some type of modelling. It does– doesn't mean anything at all. Don't get the wrong idea."

"You two don't look bad together," I said with a straight face when I looked up at him.

My statement actually made him mad. A deep frown etched on his face as he stared at me and it looked like he wanted to get a go at me.

"Why would you even say such a thing? There's nothing going on between me and Ariana and you know that. She's more like a sister to me. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

I didn't say anything to that. And the next thing, his phone beeped, making him look down at it.

A few seconds later, he said, "I've got to go. Ariana needs me."

But what about me, Troy? What about me?

BETH:

I thought I was going to start the day completely normal. But tell me why I woke up to workers moving in furniture to the building across from mine?

"What in the world is going on?" I grumbled as I forced myself out of the bed which I found difficult to sleep on the night before. Apt, I even slept alone without Troy beside me.

I stepped out of the apartment to take a look at the activities going on outside only to see that there was a moving company doing their job to the apartment across mine that had been vacant for some time after the last couple moved out.

I was going to step back inside and act like it didn't mean a thing until I saw Troy standing there. And to my surprise, he was there with Ariana, his arm over her shoulder as they both stood there inspecting what the workers were doing.

Comprehending the situation didn't seem too difficult because I saw Troy directing the workers on what to do. That was one area he liked to focus his strength on as he always stated that everything needed to be just right.

I wanted to head back inside and pretend like none of that was happening but it was too late because Ariana caught sight of me. She suddenly waved to me and it made Troy look up. He sure didn't look any pleased to see me.

"Hi, Beth," Ariana said after she crossed the road to come see me.

"Uhm, hi," I managed to say in return. It was really forced because I was in no mood to actually have a conversation with her if that was what she wanted.

"We are going to be neighbors now. Isn't that great?" She declared out of excitement but it didn't do anything to make me okay to see her. And to know that she was this close was going to be even a bigger problem for me.

"That's nice," I said.

"Troy is such a nice guy. He bought this place for me when I kept complaining about nightmares. Now that I'm closer to you guys, it's going to feel safer for me."

The more she spoke, the more the thought of ripping her head out of her body invaded my mind. I was finding it hard to gauge the level of dislike I had for her at this point and I only wished she would leave my front.

I nodded as if I understood her and then turned around to leave. The instant I did that, I heard a loud thud that actually forced me to look back at Ariana only to see that she was sitting on the ground like she had a fall.

I noticed the twist in her face that suggested she actually fell but how come? How did that happen?

Troy was suddenly running toward us looking all furious. He wasn't actually running as if he wanted to come to see me. He was running down because of Ariana.

"What did you do to her?" Troy barked at me firstly as he bent to help Ariana up from the ground.

I was confused. Did he just ask me what I did to her? Like he was really insinuating that I was the one who caused her fall?

I found myself completely speechless as I stood there transfixed on the spot. Nothing was making sense at the moment to me and I could not even bring myself to understand it.

"Don't blame her, Troy. It's all my fault," Ariana said to him after but it only increased my confusion further.

"Apologize to her this instant!" Troy told me, pointing a finger at me.

"For what?" I had to ask.

"Stop being so petty, Beth. Apologize for what you did."

It was there that I got a hang of the situation and even myself.

"Why the hell would I apologize for something I didn't do?" I asked, my anger laced with a bit of anger.

"Please, don't fight her because of me. I wasn't standing properly," Ariana used her ohsosweet voice to try to calm him down and it was actually making me mad because it was more like she was attempting to manipulate the whole situation.

"I never knew you were like this," Troy started to say, his eyes boring into me. "You are a vicious human being. You know what Ariana is going through yet you always find a way to make her feel like she is less important. You need to fix up."

Those words actually hurt me even though I acted like I cared less about what he was saying. Why would Troy say such a thing to me? I was supposed to be his girlfriend yet he was talking to me like I worth nothing in his eyes.

"Let's get you to a hospital," Troy said to Ariana and then carried her on his back.

I watched as he took her to the car we both owned and then drove off. It wasn't a good way to start the day.

BETH:

My sleep has been a mess for quite some time now. By now, I would think it get better but it hasn't. Troy only made it worse for me and I knew I had to go for a checkup before it gets to a point where I can't control what happens to my sleep.

I landed in the hospital an hour after the little incident that I cannot even make sense of as much as I would like to. But I wasn't going to let that overshadow my train of thoughts.

The heavens didn't seem to get my plan because why did I see the Ariana and Troy walking into the elevator as I approached it?

I wanted to turn back but I knew I couldn't risk it. Especially not with the way I was feeling. So I joined them and we got into the elevator without me saying a word to acknowledge them.

Out of nowhere, Troy asked me, "Are you sick?"

Without looking at him, I answered: "Just a bit of insomnia worrying me."

"Hmph. Remind me to get you something later. It might help reduce the lack of sleep you're experiencing," he said.

That sounded like the old him that was always thoughtful. It didn't move me however but it was nice to know that he still had a little bit of nice in him.

I think he was going to utter another word but Ariana suddenly whimpered like she was in pain which caused him to shift his attention to her. She couldn't even stand not being the center of it all for a few seconds and so had to force it back.

The elevator kept going up... Until it didn't.

The suddenness that came with a loud bang affected me. But what was worse was the lights that went out with it.

I was claustrophobic. And my fear kicked in the moment the lights went out. I had to crouch down in fear just so I could at least get a hold of myself as my panic made me start to shake terribly.

I was having a difficult time here. Why did the lights have to go out in this situation? Why did the elevator stop working? My mind is a mess right now and I hoped it would get sorted.

My palms were sweaty and damp as I held them together. I needed comfort but I couldn't even get one.

"Beth? Beth? Are you okay? Talk to me." I guess Troy didn't forget about my fear.

My response came out forced. "Y– Yes."

"Breathe with me. Close your eyes. It's going to be alright," he said, saying the same words that he said to me the last time something of such occurrence happened in the past.

I still remember when it happened. I didn't know how to react at that time so I found myself crying terribly. I was in a worse condition than this but guess who came through for me? Of course, Troy.

He had come down to my level at that time and embraced like I was the only thing in the world that mattered. At least that was how I had felt at that time. But now, he couldn't even offer to do such to me because of the woman beside him.

"Hold on, Ariana. Let me help Beth. She's scared of the dark," I heard Troy say to the woman beside him.

"But I'm scared too!" Ariana protested.

And that was what he needed to completely ignore me while I battled my worst fear. The longer it took for me in here, the worse I became. My condition wasn't something I could handle alone. It has never been.

"T– Troy," I whispered his name, hoping he would have a little sympathy and just help me out.

That little hope was shattered as instant as it came as he said, "Ariana needs me."

Tears slipped down my cheeks as I continued my long battle alone. I buried my head in my arms and it actually made it better for me just by a tiny bit.

After what seemed like an eternity, the lights eventually came back on and the elevator started moving again. I didn't stand up from the position I was in until the elevator reached the final destination.

Immediately, I wiped the bead of tears that had fallen from eyes and then stood upright. I was still in shock from everything that I found myself staggering as I began to walk.

"You don't even care about me, do you?" I managed to say to Troy, my voice exuding the hurt I was feeling. I didn't wait for a response from him before I continued to walk away.

I still had an appointment to meet up with and would have to deal with any other thing later.

BETH:

"I'm home," Troy announced from the living room but I wasn't going to even give him an ounce of acknowledgement. Why was he trying to get my attention when he always sneaked into the house however he liked?

I stayed in my room while going through the picture that my mother sent to me. It was a picture of a wedding gown which had the caption: 'Do you like it?'. I haven't even reached home yet and my mother was already planning the whole event for me.

"Beth? Can you come down for a minute?" Troy called from the living room. I would ignore but it seemed he had something important to speak to me about for him to call me like that.

I walked to see him holding a bouquet of lavender. He also had with a bag of takeout. What was this? A peace offering?

"Here's for the insomnia. It should make you feel better," he said as he handed over the plant to me. I collected it while hesitating. "And this too," he said, handing the takeout to me as well.

I opened it to see that it was a box of seafood which actually made me shocked because he knew I was allergic to that.

"You know I can't eat this, right?" I said, my brows raised at him.

"My bad. I completely forgot," he said, scratching his head.

It was ridiculous to think that he would even try to give it to me when I was clearly not used to taking something like this. I guess he has really fallen out of love with me and was just tolerating my presence in his life.

He didn't need to worry for too long. I was going to leave soon and he could have his 'sister' alone to himself. I don't have the strength to be fighting for a lost cause and I wasn't even planning to do that in the first place.

But then I remembered something.

"What are your plans for tomorrow?" I asked him.

"Uhm, nothing really."

"Good," I said. "Tomorrow's your birthday. Come down from work early. I'm going to make you dinner."

As half decent of a cook I was, I wanted to cook him a meal to celebrate his birthday because I felt like it would be nice to at least spend a little time with him despite the obvious falling out we were having.

I knew he wasn't going to be so excited about that but then he nodded after a few seconds to regard my proposal.

It took a lot of strength to get me to start cooking the meal the next evening. I could tell that cooking was not my specialty and would never be but I just wanted to get something right for once. Maybe I would figure a way to understand why Troy was focusing more on the other woman.

No matter what I did, the food didn't taste any good. I got fed up a some point and just decided that it was okay to be served.

I kept my eyes on the time. Troy should be back from work by now but there was no sight of him till now.

He never showed up no matter how much I waited. Not even a text or a call to let me know his schedule.

I wanted to cry because this was not my expertise but I still cooked him a meal. Showing up would at least appreciate the effort I put into what I did.

I decided to put a call through to him and he picked up on the second ring.

"Are you coming home or not?" I asked.

"I can't," he responded swiftly. "I had to get Ariana to the hospital. She had a nasty cut."

So he was close by before and didn't even bother to check in with me. For heaven's sake, Ariana's new apartment was just right across the other street, one which he even paid for with his own money, but he still couldn't do the reasonable thing.

I was fed up at that point. Something told me he was lying so I hung up the call and went on IG to check the update on Ariana from my burner account after she blocked my main one.

On the burner account, I figured out that Troy was lying. At the moment, he was on a date with Ariana to most likely celebrate his birthday. They looked so happy together and it made me wonder what I did wrong.

"Enough is enough," I said to myself as I stood up from the chair. I carried the meal I had prepared and thrashed everything into the waste bin. It was going to waste anyway.

Over three years of commitment in this relationship and this is what I get from him. I don't deserve this. And truly, he doesn't deserve me.

BETH:

The three years I've been with Troy, I've had reasons to actually abort for him. I don't know what I was thinking when I did that but two times, he had told me he was not ready to father a child when I had informed him I was pregnant.

"I'm not financially ready to take care of a child," he had told me the first time I announced I was pregnant.

"I'm not in the right state of mind. We can't have a child now," he had said the second time.

The excuses were probably the most unreasonable but I had given into them because of how much I loved him.

Left to me, that should be enough sacrifice to keep our relationship going but I guess that wasn't enough to please him. Neither did it thrill him to know that I would do anything for him.

"Don't you think it's too late to be travelling? What's with the rush, Beth?" Mom asked me as I dragged my big box out of the room alongside a small bag that contained items that couldn't fill up the box. Both items were heavy but I managed to get them out of the house.

"It's better I do it now, mom. I don't want to draw any attention from the neighbors during the day," I stated right after I put the box and bag on the ground right behind the trunk of my car.

But that was a lie.

The truth was that I was planning my exit this late because of Troy. I didn't want him to see me as much as I couldn't stand him anymore. And what better way to make that known than to just walk away completely.

"It's not safe." I could hear the concern in my mother's voice as she spoke and I shared in that too. It was the dead of the night and the oddest hour to be on the road. However, I was doing it for me.

"I know, mom. But I promise to drive safely. I'll see you soon," I told her before hanging up the call.

The sigh that escaped my lips after that was from the realization that I had to get my box and bag into the trunk of the car. I sighed again before starting with the task.

The first thing I did was get the box into the trunk. It took quite a lot of effort but I eventually succeeded. It came with a lot of grunting and I even had to catch my breath before I put the bag, which was less heavier, into the trunk.

As soon as I stepped into the driver's seat, my phone beeped loudly. I looked at the screen of my device to see it was a message from my mom.

'Be careful.' That was what she simply wrote to me. And I could imagine her saying those words.

I read that and nodded. She was right. It was truly dangerous to be driving around by this time but this was the only time I could leave without being noticed.

My eyes darted toward the apartment across the street. The one that belonged to Ariana now that she just moved into it. I could tell the house was empty and it was apparently not from her having a nasty cut and needing to be rushed down to the hospital.

I shook my head and took my eyes off it. Then I looked toward the apartment that I was finally saying goodbye to after three years.

Instantly, I ignited the engine of the car and the reversed out of the car space. I was on the road in no time, finding my way out of the city into another one.

A thought hit me. There was no way I was going down without giving Troy something to worry about. I was leaving him, yes, but he needed to feel the impact of my leaving.

So, I parked my car by the side of the less busy road, picked up my phone, and then signed into my burner account.

I went on to Ariana's page on IG and took multiple screenshots of her with Troy. I also searched for some evidences I had on my phone from before then I went on to my main account and put up those screenshots with the caption: 'They look good together'.

I was going to turn off my phone after doing that but I decided not to. A call came in about five minutes after I got back on the road.

Lo and behold, it was from Troy.

"What in the world did you do? Why would you put up something like that? Have you gone mad?" Troy lashed into the phone right after I managed to pick up his call. It was on his fifth attempt that I finally did.

"Hello to you too," I said to him dryly.

"Do you know what damage you're causing? How this is affecting Ariana?"

Again with the Ariana girl. It was never about me. Never been about how I felt. But he never failed to mention the littlest of things that affected Ariana.

"I want you to put down that post this instant. And after you do that, you will apologize to Ariana. Do you hear me?"

I didn't know when I began to chuckle into the phone. I chuckled so hard that I almost forgot that I was on the road. Thankfully, my senses kicked back in time.

"Goodbye, Troy," I said and without thinking it twice, I put off the call and then switched my phone off.