A New Beginning in Munich

It was the ninth year of my engagement to Ryan Murphy.

At the emergency site, he held her in his arms and kissed another woman passionately.

Don't worry, Mandy, I'll never leave you.

I stood silently in the pouring rain, then turned and walked away decisively.

This time, I refused to look the other way.

"Let's call off the engagement, Ryan Murphy."

Early the next morning, I placed the betrothal letters exchanged by our families and the jade pendants on the table, handing them calmly to Ryan.

His hands, gripping the coffee cup with their prominent knuckles, froze mid-air.

He slowly set the cup down, leaned back on the sofa, and narrowed his eyes at me. "Mia Snow, what kind of game are you playing?"

I shook my head, my voice steady. "I'm serious."

To emphasize that this was a carefully considered decision, I added.

"It's a choice I've been contemplating for a long time."

Ryan turned his face away.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the sky was a murky, oppressive grey.

He nodded, stood up, and said dismissively, "Fine. Have it your way. I have work. The letters are in the safe. Get them yourself."

I murmured an "Mm," walked past him into the room, and opened the safe with practiced ease.

One engagement letter exchanged for the other.

I held the pendant, tracing the aged paper of the letter, and slowly stood up.

Over these nine years, I'd thought countless times about ending this, only to regret it just as often.

Not this time.

I took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

From today on, Ryan Murphy and I were finished.

At the end of the hallway, I was surprised to see Ryan.

He stood quietly by the entryway, as if waiting for me.

I walked toward him slowly, intending to ignore him and leave.

But Ryan grabbed my wrist, frowning. "Mia Snow, yesterday was a misunderstanding."

I looked at his knuckles, not raising my head.

A misunderstanding?

Yesterday, when he promised Mandy he would always be with her?

The time before that, when he took all the blame for Mandy, helping her keep her place on the rescue team?

The time before that, when he drank for Mandy, calling her his girl?

Were all of those misunderstandings too?

I pried his fingers off my wrist and calmly opened the door.

It didn't matter anymore.

We were done.

That afternoon, back at the hospital, I ran into Mandy at the nurses' station.

She stood there chatting with the head nurse, laughing brightly.

Seeing me pass, Mandy stuck her leg out to block me, a challenging look on her face.

In the past, I would have listened to Ryan.

Given way to her, apologized, walked around.

But now, I stepped hard on her foot.

Mandy clearly hadn't expected that. She yelped in pain, pulled her foot back, and shoved me hard, furious.

"Mia Snow, have you lost your mind? Do you know who you're stepping on?"

I steadied myself, my expression calm. "I know."

"I stepped on the foot of Ryan Murphy's savior."

Five years ago, Ryan's grandmother had a stroke. Mandy performed the emergency procedure that saved her.

Grandma was Ryan's world. He was grateful to Mandy.

Somehow, that gratitude warped into Ryan's unconditional compliance.

Mandy's wants became Ryan's top priority.

The first time Ryan stood me up for Mandy...

It was probably our third engagement anniversary.

Ryan's friend had quietly tipped me off that Ryan planned to propose that day.

Ryan was... well, a typical guy.

I didn't want to start the next chapter of my life in some utterly unromantic setting.

So that day, I spent a month's salary to reserve the best table at Sunset Grill.

I sat in the center of that beautifully arranged, romantic restaurant, surrounded by flowers and soft applause, using my steak knife to slice into an exquisite little cake.

A ring lay exposed in the sweet air.

I was overjoyed.

The next second, Ryan got a call from Mandy.

Without a moment's hesitation, he left me there. Alone.

My smile froze on my face.

My "Don't go" died on my lips when I saw the coldness in his eyes, changing to a plea, "Can't you go later?"

He frowned, glanced at the cake as if suddenly remembering something, but still said harshly, "Mia Snow, stop being difficult. Mandy's alone at a bar being harassed."

Maybe a woman's intuition is always sharp.

Watching him walk away that day, I suddenly felt... Ryan didn't belong to me.

But even with that strong premonition, I kept letting myself sink back in.

Falling for him again and again, throwing myself into the fire for love, time after time.

How many times did Ryan stand me up for Mandy?

So many I've almost lost count.

Mandy's shrill voice cut through the entire floor.

"You knew and you still dared"

I snapped back to the present and calmly interrupted her. "What's it to me?"

Before, Ryan didn't just protect her, he made me yield to her.

My unconditional compliance only fed Mandy's sense of entitlement.

She stole my promotions, my patients, my mentors, and yes, my fianc, more than once.

What she took before, I didn't want to dwell on anymore.

But I wouldn't yield to her now.

"Ryan and I have called off the engagement."

She stared at me, dumbfounded, as if she hadn't understood. "Wh-what?"

From her eyes, I saw sheer disbelief.

Understandable.

Ryan came from old money and influence, was handsome, the Rescue Squad Captain, with a limitless future.

Who would be foolish enough to let him go?

Maybe I was that foolish.

A high-quality man like that, who doesn't love me? To me, he was worthless.

My silence and calmness seemed to get through to Mandy.

Seeing I wasn't bluffing, her face lit up with undisguised joy. "Really? You broke it off?"

Her obvious delight didn't faze me. I looked straight at her and repeated calmly.

"Yeah. We called it off."

"You can be together openly now."

The moment I finished speaking, Mandy ripped off her white coat, tossed it to the head nurse, and hurried away.

I knew. She was going to find Ryan.

The head nurse looked at me cautiously. "Dr. Snow... are you... alright?"

I took a deep breath, forced a smile, and slowly said, "I'm fine."

After finishing four surgeries, I trudged back to my office, my stomach growling with emptiness.

A fellow surgeon at the adjacent desk noticed and wordlessly slid half her box of french fries toward me.

I accepted them gratefully, mumbling my thanks, and noticed her scrolling through her phone while muttering.

"Looks like Dr. Bennett is fallen hard, she just announced it on her Instagram."

I paused, pulled my phone from my scrub pocket, and opened Mandy's feed.

2,14 PM.

She'd posted a picture of her and Ryan's backs on a carousel.

The caption read, Blue skies, white clouds, and the happy you and me beneath the carousel.

I pressed my lips into a thin line, suddenly losing all appetite for the fries.

A framed photo of Ryan, looking heroically crisp in his rescue uniform, still sat prominently on my desk.

I reached out, popped open the frame's back, stood up, walked to the industrial shredder in the corner, and fed the photograph into it.

The machine whirred, slowly ground the image to dust.

Gone. Completely.

I walked back to my seat, snapped apart my disposable chopsticks, and shoved a few cold fries into my mouth.

At 8 PM, I was dragging my exhausted body through my apartment door.

My phone rang with a specific, dreaded tone.

I hesitated for a full thirty seconds before pulling it from my bag.

A familiar wave of loss and bitterness washed over me.

"Hi, Mom."

"I called off the engagement with Ryan Murphy."

After I finished explaining my reasons, my mother said,

"Oh honey, are you absolutely sure? You're 33 now. It's not so easy to find someone at your age..."

"Besides, this match was blessed by your grandma and Mrs. Murphy. NowOne is gone and the other's memory is fading, but we can't just disregard a promise like that. You must go and explain it to Mrs. Murphy yourself. If she agrees... then I suppose it's fine!"

I hung up and sat alone by the floor-to-ceiling window.

The cityscape glittered with countless lights, but not a single one was lit for me.

It seemed I was destined to navigate this life alone.

My phone buzzed again.

I glanced over, swiped to answer. "Hi, Dr. Evans."

My attending's voice came through clearly. "What's your decision on the Heidelberg fellowship? If you turn it down again, Mandy Bennett next in line..."

"I'll take it."

"Dr. Evans, from now on, any opportunity at the hospital that is rightfully mine... I won't be stepping aside for her anymore."

Dr. Evans launched into a relieved monologue, saying he was glad I'd finally stopped being so passive.

I offered a faint, bitter smile.

It wasn't about suddenly seeing the light. I had simply finally learned, what's rightfully mine, I will not yield.

What was never meant to be mine, I will no longer desperately cling to.

The next day was my day off.

But the phone jarred me awake far too early.

Ryan's voice was icy cold on the other end. "Have you lost your mind? You actually told your family we're calling it off? Mia Snow, you're 33! You're not some 23-year-old girl like Mandy. Can't you think before you act?"

My sleep-fogged mind sharpened in an instant.

"Ryan Murphy."

"You're in love with Mandy,aren't you?"

There was a prolonged silence on his end.

After what felt like an eternity, he spoke, his tone resolute. "Mia Snow, not every kind of affection means you should be together. Mandy and I... it's not what you image."

"You and I... we're the ones who are supposed to get married."

I stared at the ceiling, struck with the sudden, clear realization that the man I'd loved for ten years was... a coward.

"Ryan Murphy, the first time you stood me up for Mandy was on our third engagement anniversary. That day, you decided you would marry me, and you also decided to abandon me for her."

"The second time you dismissed my feelings for her sake was at that karaoke bar, when you drank on her behalf. You kissed her to help her win some stupid game, telling me it didn't mean anything."

"The third time you sidelined me for her was when you knew how much I needed to be Chief Resident. You knew any attending on that rescue mission would get the promotion, and you still gave Mandy the top evaluation, against your own better judgment."

With each sentence, the heat behind my eyes intensified.

"Ryan Murphy, you're in love with her, and you've treated me unfairly. Do you need me to keep listing the times?"

The line went dead with a sharp dial tone.

Ryan couldn't even muster a single word of apology.

He truly had no spine.

Ryan left.

There was a major rescue operation out of town. Mandy went with him.

I didn't want to follow his updates, but Mandy flooded her social media with posts about it.

Finally, I'd had enough and muted her.

Hospital. Home. Gym.

My life settled into a simple, predictable rhythm.

Before, for Ryan, I'd crave time out of my insane schedule to make bone broth for him and his team.

I'd cook it, pack it up, and haul a dozen containers over to the fire station, all for a few casual "thanks."

Now, the time saved was enough for many full, uninterrupted nights of sleep.

No more worrying about dozing off during surgery, no more gulping bitter black coffee, or catching naps on hard on-call room benches.

A week later, Ryan returned.

He was waiting at the hospital entrance, blocking my path. He wore a black plaid coat, standing tall, hands in his pockets.

"We need to talk."

Ryan took me to The Sunset Grill, the same place from our third anniversary.

The same center table, the same flowers, the same soft background applause and live violin music. The ambiance was serene and elegant.

He slid the plate of sliced steak towards me, his voice rough. "I've thought a lot about what you said the other day."

"I can change."

"From now on, I'll be at your side."

I cut the steak into small pieces and ate, not responding.

"Before, I confused gratitude with love, and a friend with a fiance. I'll change, Mia Snow. Can you give me a chance?"

I looked into his earnest eyes, then at the 10-carat diamond ring he had placed before me, and slowly said, "Okay."

The tension in Ryan's face instantly dissolved.

The next moment, a familiar ringtone came from his pocket.

I knew it. It was the special ringtone he'd set for Mandy.

Ryan shot me a look of apology.

I lowered my head and continued eating my steak, pretending not to notice.

Before, whenever he took Mandy's call in front of me, he'd give me that same apologetic look.

I'd pretend to be understanding, tell him it was fine.

Ryan had comfortably trampled on my generosity, testing the boundaries again and again.

This time, he was doing the same thing.

"I have to take this. Mandy knows I'm her making things right with you. She wouldn't call if it wasn't urgent."

He explained, then answered Mandy's call.

Her panicked, sobbing voice came through the phone. "Ryan... I hit someone... well, I bumped into him, and he's demanding 0-00,000 to let me go! What do I do? There are so many men surrounding me..."

I saw the immediate flash of urgency in Ryan's eyes.

Just as expected.

He spoke into the phone. "Send me your location. I'm on my way."

Mandy kept crying, her terrified voice muffled as she agreed.

Ryan hung up, tried to reassure me with promises, trying to prove he meant every word he'd just said.

"Mia Snow, don't worry. This is the last time I get involved in her drama. From now on, I'll make it clear she should call the police, not me."

I didn't look at him, finishing the last piece of steak on my plate.

In the restaurant, the violinist was playing Liebesfreud.

It was romantic and elegant.

Fireworks suddenly bloomed across the night sky outside.

Every other couple in the restaurant smiled a little brighter.

Except for me. I was alone.

Whether it was six years ago or now, I was always the one left stranded here.

I thought, I probably wouldn't come back to this restaurant ever again.

A notification popped up on my phone.

I opened it. The message screamed with Mandy's smug, triumphant face.

See? A man this solid was always meant to be MINE!

In the video she sent, Daniel stood firmly in front of her, shielding her from the swinging purse of an angry scammer.

I remembered what Mandy had said to me when I left the office that afternoon.

"Ryan will apologize to you tonight. But don't get your hopes up, he'll still choose me. Always and forever."

Honestly, when Ryan apologized earlier, my heart had wavered.

I'd thought, if he really could just stay with me for the whole night...

I'd give him one last chance.

Too bad fate wasn't on his side. It sent me a grand fireworks display.

Celebrating the final death of any feeling I had left for him.