..Then she looked at me. Sometimes when things are bad, I need to remember that bad doesn’t always mean finished. I never looked at those screenshots the same way again. Some people save memories because they’re happy. Others save them because they need hope
My girlfriend kept taking screenshots of our arguments. I thought she was collecting evidence against me. Every time we argued, I’d notice her phone come out.
Screenshot.
Screenshot.
Screenshot.
Eventually I asked: Why are you saving all this?
She wouldn’t answer. I started getting angry. Then one night, she showed me the folder. It wasn’t called “Arguments.”
It was called:...
..Things We Survived. Every screenshot had a note underneath. First big misunderstanding. The first time we almost broke up. First time he finally listened.
She said she wasn’t saving the fights. She was saving proof that we eventually figured things out....
I remember you falling asleep during movies. I remember the first time you got sick and I stayed awake all night.
Then he looked at me. If I lost the wedding day but kept all of this…
He squeezed my hand.
Maybe I didn’t lose the important part.
A relationship isn’t one perfect day. It’s thousands of ordinary ones.
My husband looked at our wedding photo and said, “I don’t remember that day.”
I thought our marriage was falling apart.
He couldn’t remember the ceremony. Not the flowers. Not the music. Not even the restaurant afterward. I felt devastated. I asked him what he did remember.
He looked confused...
..Why are you asking?
Because you don’t remember our wedding. He smiled.
I remember every morning since. I didn’t understand.
He pointed to the photo. I don’t remember standing there. But I remember bringing you coffee every morning. I remember you stealing the blankets...
..You followed me?
“I’m sorry.”
She didn’t get angry.
She just looked tired.
I asked quietly:
“Who was that woman?”
She looked back at the building.
“My mother.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She died six years ago.”
Then she explained.
The woman inside wasn’t her biological mother.
She was the woman who had raised her after her own mother died.
Years later, dementia had taken most of that woman’s memories.
Names.
Dates.
Faces.
Sometimes even the place she was sitting.
But there was one person she still recognized.
My girlfriend.
Every Thursday, she came to sit with her.
Not because the woman remembered what she had done for her.
Not because anyone was watching.
Sometimes they didn’t even talk.
My girlfriend would just sit there, hold her hand, and tell her about her week.
Before going back inside, she looked at me and said:
“She may forget me tomorrow.”
“But tonight, she knows I’m here.”
I didn’t know what to say.
I just stood there beside her.
And suddenly, Thursday nights didn’t feel suspicious anymore.
They felt sacred.
My girlfriend suddenly started leaving the house every Thursday at 10 PM.
She wouldn’t tell me where she was going.
At first, I tried not to overthink it.
Then it happened every week.
Same night.
Same time.
Same excuse:
“It’s complicated.”
One Thursday, I finally asked her directly.
“Are you seeing someone?”
She looked at me for a few seconds.
“No.”
“Then where do you go?”
She sighed...
..Inside, around twenty people were sitting around folding tables. She started putting food on the tables.
Nothing fancy.
Rice, bread, fruit, tea.
Then I noticed an elderly woman sitting quietly in the corner. My girlfriend walked over, pulled up a chair, and sat beside her.
She held the woman’s hand.
The woman smiled.
My girlfriend smiled back.
I suddenly felt ashamed for following her. When she came outside, I was waiting.
She looked at me and immediately knew...
“
..I will tell you when I’m ready.
That answer somehow made me more suspicious. So the following Thursday, I followed her. She drove about twenty minutes before stopping outside a small community center.
I watched her get out carrying a grocery bag...