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“What?”

“Work troubles, I’ve got you covered, honey For a otten your heart broken” Her attempt at a joke only made me feel that much worse At ain

“Oh honey It is a guy, isn’t it?”

I nodded ” And I did I word voross, but everything else Hoe

“And now, I don’t knohat to do He destroyed everything I worked for Ruined the life I built there”

“Did he?”

“What do you mean? Of course, he did”

“You’re always so focused on being perfect On being the best You got fired and you got your heart broken Soe You were always so focused and determined I wondered what it would take to finally derail you”

“What do you mean?”

“Reh school, when someone had the audacity to ask you to prom?”

“Yeah…”

“And what did you say to me?” I tried to remember what our conversation had been The details eluded me

“You said, ‘Mo to be some arm candy to some asshole who only asked me because he saw ht he asked you because he saw you at the foundation auction, but that wasn’t true You didn’t want to believe it You never wanted to believe in anything other than the path you were on The plan that laid ahead for you And I knew one day you’d get derailed It was inevitable”

“It didn’t have to be I was stupid and I made a mistake”

“So, you’re human like the rest of us I’d hoped that you’d have e Gotten it out of the way It’s a lot easier to recover froer More resilient You’ve always held yourself to a ridiculous standard”