FINDING HER ENGRAVED WATCH IN THE BACK OF HIS NIGHTSTAND DRAWER
My fingers brushed against the cold metal at the back of the drawer pulling it forward slowly. It felt heavy, solid, nestled under stacks of old receipts, forgotten coins, and a single dusty sock. I pulled it out, the cool steel resting heavily in my palm, catching the dim bedroom light.
My breath hitched hard when I saw the tiny engraving on the back: “Forever Yours, Amelia”. Amelia. His ex-fiancée from ten years ago, the one he swore he had completely and utterly cut all ties with, like she vanished into thin air. The weight of it in my hand suddenly felt crushing, like a stone lodged in my chest.
“She means nothing to me, not anymore, trust me,” he’d said just last week, dismissing a photo that popped up on his phone with a casual wave. But here was her watch, hidden, not displayed openly. A faint, sweet perfume smell clung stubbornly to the leather strap, an alien scent, definitely not mine, definitely not from ten years ago.
This wasn’t just an old memento carelessly forgotten. This was kept safe. Secreted away like buried treasure. It wasn’t just about Amelia and their past; it was about the deliberate, active lie he was still living, clutching onto something he promised was gone forever. It felt like a physical betrayal pressing down.
I flipped it over again and saw another name etched smaller underneath Amelia’s.
👇 *Full story continued in the comments…*My eyes blurred, focusing on the second name, etched with a practiced hand, almost as if it had been added later, thoughtfully, carefully. The letters swam before my eyes, but slowly, painfully, they resolved themselves: “Olivia.”
My name.
Confusion warred with the initial shock. Why would my name be engraved under hers? A bitter laugh threatened to escape my lips. A twisted joke? A morbid reminder of who came before?
I stood, the watch still heavy in my palm, and walked to the living room, where he sat engrossed in a game, headphones blasting music. I stood silently, holding out the watch. He startled, pulling off his headphones, his face clouding with confusion, then a dawning horror.
“Where…where did you find that?” he stammered, reaching for it.
I pulled it back. “In the back of your drawer. With Amelia’s name on it.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Olivia, please, let me explain.”
“Explain what? Why you lied? Why you’re still holding onto something from a decade ago?” My voice trembled, despite my efforts to keep it steady.
He reached for my hand, and this time I let him take it, the watch resting between us. “It’s not what you think. Amelia gave me that watch the day we got engaged. When we broke up, I couldn’t bring myself to wear it, it felt wrong, tainted. But I also couldn’t throw it away. It was a reminder of who I was, the mistakes I had made.”
He paused, his eyes searching mine. “Years later, after we met, I was looking at it, and I realized something. Amelia was a part of my life, but so were you now. You were the future, the present, everything. So, I went to a jeweler and had your name engraved beneath hers. It was a promise to myself, a reminder that I was choosing you, that I was building a new future, a better one, with you.”
Tears stung my eyes, but this time, they weren’t from anger or hurt. They were from a dawning understanding. “You never told me,” I whispered.
“I was afraid,” he admitted, his voice raw. “Afraid you wouldn’t understand. Afraid you’d see it as a betrayal. But it was the opposite. It was a declaration, a commitment to you.”
He took the watch from my hand and held it out to me. “It’s yours now. Keep it, throw it away, do whatever you want with it. It doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is you, us, and the life we’re building together.”
I took the watch, the weight of it feeling different now, lighter, filled with a strange kind of hope. The past was there, undeniable, etched in metal. But so was the present, the future, and the love we shared. Maybe, just maybe, some things were worth fighting for.