Five Years of Later, Zero Regrets When I Left

My boyfriend, Ethan, was a hardcore pragmatist.

He despised anything remotely romantic, labeling it as useless.

For our fifth anniversary, I asked him to take me to the new Michelin-starred restaurant in town.

He shot the idea down immediately, annoyance written all over his face.

"A single dinner there costs half my monthly paycheck. Can we act like adults and stop falling for shallow consumerism?"

"We'll talk about it later. I'm swamped right now."

I waited one day. Then two.

The dinner never happened, and I stopped bringing it up.