MY GIRLFRIEND LEFT HER DIARY OPEN ON THE COUCH — I WISH I HADN’T READ IT
I flipped the first page without thinking, and suddenly the room felt like it was closing in, the words smudging as my hands started to shake.
“I can’t keep pretending this is enough,” she’d written, the ink bleeding softly into the paper. My throat tightened, and I could hear the faint tick of the clock on the wall, each second louder than the last. I kept reading, though I knew I shouldn’t, the weight of her words pressing harder with every line.
“You don’t even see me anymore,” it said, and I froze, the sharp smell of her coffee still lingering in the air from this morning. I wanted to stop, but I couldn’t, like I was watching a car crash in slow motion. “I’ve been thinking about leaving for months.”
I dropped the diary onto the couch, the leather cool against my fingertips, and stared at the wall, my breath shallow. That’s when she walked in, her face pale as she saw it in my hands. “You read it?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
Then the doorbell rang, and through the peephole, I saw him standing there with flowers.
👇 *Full story continued in the comments…*I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry. The flowers, vibrant red roses, were a brutal splash of color against the gray of the hallway. “I… I didn’t mean to,” I stammered, gesturing helplessly at the open diary. “I just… saw it.”
Her face crumbled. “Liam,” she whispered, the name a knife twisting in my gut. “He’s…”
Before she could finish, the doorbell rang again, this time insistent. He was leaning on it. I opened the door, the air thick with unspoken words. Liam stood there, the flowers held awkwardly in his hand. He was handsome, with a charming smile and eyes that crinkled at the corners. He looked at me, then at her, and the smile faltered.
“I, uh… I brought these for you, Sarah,” he said, his voice surprisingly gentle.
Sarah didn’t move, her gaze locked on me, a mixture of guilt and fear swirling in her eyes. The silence stretched, suffocating. Finally, she took a deep breath, her shoulders squaring.
“Liam, this isn’t a good time,” she said, her voice surprisingly strong. “I need to talk to him.” She gestured at me with a barely perceptible movement.
Liam’s face fell, and he seemed to shrink a little. He looked from her to me, and the understood dawned in his eyes. He looked absolutely crestfallen. He nodded slowly, understanding in his eyes.
“I… I understand,” he mumbled, avoiding my gaze. He turned, dejected, and walked away, the roses drooping in his hand.
The moment the door closed, Sarah turned to me, her face now a mask of resolution. “I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “About everything.” She walked over to the couch and retrieved the diary, her hand brushing mine as she did.
“The truth is,” she began, her voice shaking slightly, “I was going to leave. I thought I loved him, you know, at least for a while. I thought I’d found a way out of the problems that were building up between us.” She hesitated, searching my eyes. “But after seeing your face while reading my diary, how broken you looked… I realized I was being incredibly selfish.”
“I saw you, too, and the words you wrote… I was wrong. Maybe I just didn’t appreciate what we had.” She looked around at the familiar apartment, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I’m not sure I want to lose you, but maybe we can work on fixing things.”
I took a step towards her, my heart hammering in my chest. “Sarah… I… I love you,” I managed to say, the words finally freeing themselves from my constricted throat. “I’ve been distant, I know. I haven’t been showing you how I feel. I’ll change.”
She nodded, a faint smile finally gracing her lips. “Me too,” she said. “Let’s try.”
We stood there for a long moment, the silence between us filled with the weight of unspoken apologies and the fragile hope of a future. The clock on the wall ticked on, but this time, the sound wasn’t so loud. It was just the rhythm of a second chance.