From You to Another

"Gabriel Black and I had grown up together as childhood sweethearts, and when we reached adulthood, our families arranged our engagement.From the day the engagement was announced, I started counting down the days. However, Gabriel thought the whole thing was unfair.“Other people get to fall in love a few times in their lives. Why should I be stuck with just you my whole life? You should date a few people, too. Don’t shortchange yourself.”And he meant it.In the year after our engagement, Gabriel went through seven girlfriends. Every time he changed partners, I would simply smile and say it didn’t matter. After all, I thought he would always come back to me.That was until the eighth girlfriend came along. He brought her to the Black family’s annual banquet. She clung to his arm and called him Gabe.I quietly set down my utensils. Right there in front of both families, I took out the engagement agreement and slid it to the center of the table.“Gabriel,” I said calmly, “you were right. Staying loyal to just one person really is a loss.”Later, I stood before him again, this time with my hand linked with the only son of the Graham family. Gabriel smashed his glass on the spot. For the first time, his eyes turned red.“Erin, what do you mean by this?”I smiled and said, “Didn’t you tell me to try dating, too? Well, I did, and it suits me just fine.”"