Her Ex's Return

It was a get-together with old college friends, and my girlfriend smiled as she placed a piece of mushroom on my plate.
“Gary, you wanted the mushrooms—”
She trailed off.
I hadn’t ordered mushrooms.
And my name isn’t Cole.
Gary is the name of her ex-boyfriend.

1
At the reunion dinner, Elara placed a grilled mushroom on my plate, her smile bright. “Gary, you ordered the mushrooms.”
She started to say more. “They’re a little charred, just the way—”
Her hand froze mid-air, the sentence left hanging.
I kept my head down, slowly chewing the food in my mouth. I didn’t speak. I didn’t look up.
I hadn’t ordered the mushrooms.
And Gary wasn't my name.
Gary was her ex-boyfriend.
Across the table, sitting to my left, Gary himself paused, looking up at her.
I could feel their gazes lock for a tense moment, sparking with an emotion I couldn't decipher. Elara was the first to look away.
In a room with both her ex and her current boyfriend, she had called her new partner by her old flame’s name. The boisterous chatter around the table hit a sudden pause, the silence deafening.
My grip on my fork tightened until my knuckles were white, the metal biting into my palm. But the pain felt distant, a dull throb my mind was too numb to register.
After a suffocating moment, Leo broke the tension. “Hey, is no one drinking? Come on, bottoms up! Don't be party poopers!”
A collective sigh of relief rippled through the group. Laughter, a little forced, followed. “Who’s being a party pooper? I’m on my third glass!”
“Your glass is still full! You’ve got some nerve calling us out!”
Elara quietly moved the mushroom from my plate to her own, her eyes avoiding Gary’s. She then ladled a bowl of soup for me, her voice a careful imitation of casualness.
“Have something warm. You’re not dressed for this weather.”
I took the bowl without a word.
…
As we were leaving the restaurant, Elara stopped me.
“I’m just going to the restroom. Wait for me outside, okay?”
She hurried down the corridor, a sense of urgency in her steps.
I watched her go, a knot tightening in my stomach. After a moment's hesitation, I followed.
And there he was. At the end of the hall, Gary stood tall and handsome in a black overcoat.
Elara’s face was a mask of frustration. She was saying something, but they were too far away for me to hear.
Gary, however, grew more agitated. He closed the distance between them and pulled her into a fierce embrace.
From my hiding spot around the corner, I saw Elara’s hands hover stiffly behind his back. Her fingers flexed, then clenched into fists, a silent struggle. She never returned the hug.
After a moment, she pushed him away, whispering a few sharp words before turning to leave.
Gary called after her, his voice loud enough to echo down the hall, the words slicing through the air and finding me.
“But you don’t love him! You just called me to his face!”
“Elara, you’re not over me, are you?!”
Her steps faltered for a fraction of a second, but she didn’t look back. She just kept walking, swallowed by the silence.
On the drive home, an unspoken agreement hung between us. Neither of us mentioned what had happened at dinner.
I was afraid to ask if what Gary said was true. Deep down, I think I already knew the answer, and I couldn't bear to hear it confirmed.
She leaned over and gave me a chaste kiss on the corner of my mouth, just like every other night, before snuggling into my arms.
“Let’s sleep,” she murmured.
But I knew neither of us would.
That name, spoken by mistake, was a ghost in the room with us.
For someone as meticulous and composed as Elara to make such a slip, that name must have been on the tip of her tongue, a constant presence in her mind, turned over and over until it spilled out on its own.
I lay in the darkness, my eyes wide open until they ached, feeling the frantic, unslowing beat of her heart against my back.
It was strange. We were so close, yet it felt like an ocean raged between us.

2
The next morning at work, I overheard the receptionists whispering by the coffee machine.
“A guy came looking for Ms. Vance this morning,” one said, her voice low and conspiratorial. “Seriously handsome. Asked for Elara Vance by her full name. I wonder…”
She leaned in closer, savoring the gossip. “What do you think his deal is with the boss?”
The other girl whispered back, “What was his name? What did he look like?”
“I think… Gary something? Looked like a movie star, but he had this arrogant air about him. Not my type.” She made a face. “I much prefer our Cole.”
“Gary?” the other one gasped softly. “I think that’s her ex-boyfriend’s name! I overheard someone asking her once, back when he was supposed to be coming back from overseas.”
“No way! So what did she say? If she gets back with this Gary guy, what happens to Cole?”
“I don’t know! I didn’t stick around to listen. I got out of there fast.”
I leaned against the cool wall of the break room, the coffee in my hand long since gone cold.
Only after they had finished their discussion and left did I emerge.
But back at my desk, the words on the documents in front of me blurred and swam, twisting themselves into one name over and over again.
Gary.
The pen in my hand began to tremble uncontrollably.
I knew, then. I was scared.
Gary was back.
And I was terrified that, just like seven years ago, he would effortlessly steal Elara from me all over again.
Elara and I had grown up together. We were childhood sweethearts, practically joined at the hip from kindergarten through college.
I spent half my childhood at her house, and her mom adored me. She used to tease me constantly.
“Cole, honey, will you be my son-in-law one day? Please?”
No matter how many times she asked, I’d blush and look down, unable to answer.
The adults would laugh. “Elara, what about you? Would you marry Cole?”
And Elara, with a wide grin, would always shout, “Yes! I love Cole the most!”
Back then, I truly believed her. I believed we were meant to be together.
Until Gary appeared in our sophomore year of college.
He was in our class, a campus celebrity, just like Elara. He was the student council president; she was the vice president. He was the debate team captain; she was the star debater. They both had national scholarships.
Two brilliant stars, naturally drawn to each other. Elara still spent time with me, but our conversations increasingly revolved around him.
“Cole, Gary is just… incredible. I almost lost that last debate; he completely cornered me.”
“Cole, what does it mean when a guy says there’s a great restaurant he knows? Is he… asking you out?”
“Cole, what do guys even like for birthday presents? Can you give me some ideas?”
She would say my name, but her thoughts were filled with another man.
…
In all the years I’d known Elara, I had never heard her talk about buying a gift for another guy.
I forced a smile.
“Who’s it for?”
I can still see her expression now. A faint blush crept up her porcelain cheeks as she looked down, murmuring, “Who else could it be?”
“Gary, of course.”
She looked up, her eyes sparkling, reflecting my own ashen face. “Looks like you might be getting a brother-in-law soon. Aren’t you happy for me?”
A long moment passed before I managed to find my voice.
“I’m happy.”

3
And just like that, Elara and Gary were together.
They were a power couple, a perfect match that drew eyes wherever they went. No one who saw them could deny how good they looked together. They owned every room they walked into.
They dated for three years. Those were the three years Elara and I were most distant, almost strangers.
Part of it was me, deliberately keeping my distance. But a bigger part was Gary. His possessiveness was intense, and any contact between Elara and me would trigger a massive fight.
To keep the peace, Elara eventually deleted my number.
After being inseparable for our entire lives, we were finally torn apart.
I remember flying home for Christmas that year, alone. When I got to her house, her mom rushed to the door. “Cole! You’re back! Why are you by yourself? Where’s Elara?”
For some reason, a wave of unbearable sorrow washed over me. I ducked my head to hide my expression.
“She’s… on vacation with her boyfriend. They went abroad.”
Her mom froze. Her face was a canvas of complex emotions as she patted my shoulder and sighed.
They were together for three years. Gary and Elara were cut from the same cloth: brilliant, ambitious, and fiercely independent.
When things were good, their shared drive was a source of intense connection. But two proud, unyielding people were bound to clash.
Gary’s need to control Elara suffocated her, leading to constant arguments.
Whenever they fought, she would come to me. “What is his problem? He’s so damn annoying, worse than my own mother!”
I would just listen in silence. Anything I said felt wrong.
Besides, she never needed my advice. She’d vent, have a drink, and go right back to him.
The final straw was Gary’s plan to study abroad. He wanted Elara to go with him.
But Elara had just co-founded a startup with a few classmates. It was the dawn of the internet boom, a blue ocean of opportunity. She was determined to make her mark and urged him to stay, to build their future together.
He refused. The arguments escalated, becoming endless cycles of bitterness.
Finally, at his breaking point, Gary exploded. “Goddamn it, Elara, can you just stop fighting me on everything for once? Are you coming with me or not?!”
He laid down the ultimatum. “If you’re not coming, then let’s just end this now. Stop wasting each other’s time!”
Elara, pushed to her own limit, snapped back, her voice tight with fury. “Fine! Let’s break up. And whoever comes crawling back is a coward!”
The words hung in the air, stunning even Gary into silence.
He stared at her for a long, final moment.
“Fine,” he said, his voice cold. “You’ve got guts, Elara. I’ll give you that.”
And he walked out.
Elara’s pride wouldn’t let her chase him.
She never imagined he’d be just as stubborn. The very next day, he was on a plane, flying across the ocean.
This time, it was really over.
…
Elara fell into a dark place. She drank with me, with old friends, trying to numb the pain. She was on the verge of falling apart.
It was Leo who finally snapped her out of it, grabbing her by the collar and shaking her. “For God’s sake, have some self-respect! If you can’t live without him, then get on a plane and go get him! Otherwise, get your ass back to work! The company needs you. Stop being so damn irresponsible!”
Elara said nothing. She locked herself in her room for a whole night.
The next day, she was back to her old self. She went to work, reconnected with me, and even made me a partner in the company.
Three years after Gary left, on Elara’s birthday, I drank too much.
In a drunken haze, I saw her standing under the party lights, so beautiful she seemed unreal. The feelings I had suppressed for years finally broke free. I leaned in and kissed her.
She didn’t speak, just stared at me, the shattered lights of the room reflected in her watery eyes.
After a long moment, she closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around my neck, and deepened the kiss.
The next morning, I woke up, lit a cigarette, and struggled to find the words. But she came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist, her voice thick with sleep.
“Cole… let’s be together.”
My hand paused. I had to ask.
“Do you love me?”
She didn’t answer. She just held me tighter.

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