_She loves me. _

I buy the ring.

_She loves me. _

It’s more than I can afford.

_She loves me._

I make her favorite dinner.

_She loves me._

The door opens and she walks in with a smile on her face.

_She loves me. _

We eat dinner, her smile still lingering.

_She loves me. _

I walk her out to the beach, but her smile has faded.

_She loves me? _

The sun sets and I get down on one knee; she begins to cry.

_She loves me_.

“Will you marry me?” She is silent.

_She loves me? _

Tears fall from her pain-stricken face. “I cannot”, she says. “There is another one; I don’t love you anymore.”

_She doesn’t love me. _

“I intended to break up today,” she admits.

_She doesn’t love me._

“Who?” I question with agony and wrath.

_She doesn’t love me. _

“Jack,” she confesses. Her coworker.

_She doesn’t love me._

I throw the ring into the ocean and walk away from her cries and pain.

_I do not love her._