In the two minutes it took me to change my wallpaper, the proposal was over.
The group of friends began to celebrate wildly. I found myself tapping my fingers on the table in time with their music.
The restaurant owner, caught up in the joyful atmosphere, announced that all drinks were on the house for the rest of the night.

The kindness of strangers can so easily break down the last of your defenses.
I had found more warmth in this single moment than I had in the past three years.
The girl, overcome with emotion, hugged her new fiancé and cried tears of joy.
Watching them, I found myself crying too. Someone in the world was happy.
Whatever came next for them, at least in this moment, they had pure joy.
After I left the restaurant, I stopped following any news from New York.

But the Wilson family was too notorious to avoid. News about them was everywhere.
A business alert popped up on my phone.
It seemed James had fallen out with the Johnson and Smith families.
He had gone back on his promise to transfer the hotel and casino shares to Chloe, taking them all back.

The two families, unwilling to lose such a massive asset, were using all their power behind the scenes to spread rumors about the Wilson family's treachery.
The comment sections were a bloodbath.
The Wilson family's legitimate businesses were facing an unprecedented crisis of faith.
Partners were tearing up contracts, willing to pay enormous penalties just to cut ties with them.
Suppliers at the port had cut off their raw materials, demanding that James give them an explanation once the dust settled.
The New York underworld was only so big.
The smaller families didn't dare cross the Wilsons, but they were even more afraid of the combined pressure from the Johnsons and the Smiths.
It was obvious that Liam Johnson was pulling the strings.
I stared at the news on my screen, more confused than ever.
James had secretly sent Chloe tens of millions of dollars over the past three years.
What was a hotel and some shares in comparison? What was he playing at?
Now that I was gone, shouldn't he be celebrating with Chloe?
He had put on an act for three years, keeping Chloe out of the country so I wouldn't find out she was never being punished.
Now that she was finally free, why wasn't he busy making it up to her?
What was this reversal about?
Before I could figure it out, a call came through from an American number.
I answered it out of habit. But a second later, I heard that familiar voice on the other end.
I hung up immediately and blocked all incoming calls from the United States.
But James wasn't giving up.
A flood of international texts started pouring in, one apology after another.
At first, I deleted them one by one, but he was sending them faster than I could delete.
I finally just cleared my entire inbox.
When texts didn't work, James turned to email.
Within an hour, I had over 99 new emails.
The glaring red notification on the app icon gave me a headache.
In the end, I just uninstalled the app, desperate to cut all ties with him for good.
Back in New York, James stared at his phone, watching his messages disappear into a black hole.
He was on the verge of a complete breakdown.