My Bf Gave Me A 5-month Ultimatum To Lose Weight After My Dad Died. I Lost The Weight, But Rejected His Public Proposal In Front Of Everyone. Was I Wrong For Humiliating Him?”

Back at Haley’s apartment, I finally turned on my phone. 37 missed calls from Justin. A dozen voicemails.

I played the first one. His voice was apologetic.

“Baby, please call me back. We can work this out.”

The second one was angrier.

“You can’t just walk away like this after everything I’ve done for you.”

The third one was desperate.

“I love you. I made mistakes but I love you. Please.”

I deleted them all. Didn’t listen to the rest. I’d heard enough of his voice. Heard enough of his excuses and manipulation and attempts to make me feel guilty for choosing myself.

Haley made tea. Scarlet ordered pizza. We sat in the living room and didn’t talk about Justin. Talked about other things. Normal things. My job. Scarlet’s new apartment. Haley’s terrible date last week.

Things that had nothing to do with 6 years of my life ending. Things that reminded me there was more to life than being someone’s trophy or project or disappointment.

That evening, my phone rang while Haley was clearing pizza boxes. Mom’s name lit up the screen. I answered and she asked how I was holding up. I told her I was okay. Staying at Haley’s. Trying to process everything.

She was quiet for a second, then said Justin’s mother had called her that afternoon. Asked her to convince me to reconsider because Justin was devastated and the public rejection was humiliating for their family.

Mom told her that Justin should have thought about how he treated me before getting down on one knee in front of a crowd. That she supported my decision completely and wouldn’t be pressuring me to go back to someone who only valued my appearance.

I felt my throat get tight hearing that. Mom said she was proud of me for choosing myself and that I could come stay with her anytime I needed space. I thanked her and we talked for a few more minutes before hanging up.

The next day I went back to work at the nonprofit. My desk was exactly how I’d left it 3 days ago, but everything felt different. My coworker Rachel noticed I wasn’t wearing my usual smile and asked if I was all right. I kept it brief and told her Justin and I had broken up.

She squeezed my shoulder and said she was sorry. Word spread fast in a small office. By lunch, three other co-workers had stopped by my desk with supportive comments and offers to grab coffee if I needed to talk.

My supervisor pulled me aside around 2:00 and said she’d noticed I seemed distracted. Offered me flexible hours for the next week if I needed time to process everything. I told her I appreciated it, but work was actually a good distraction. She nodded and said the offer stood if I changed my mind.

That evening, Antonio texted asking if I was ready to resume training. I stared at my phone for a minute then typed yes. We agreed to meet at the gym the following morning at 5:00 a.m. like usual.

I showed up in the dark parking lot at 4:50 and Antonio was already inside setting up equipment. He didn’t ask about Justin or the proposal. Just put me through a brutal workout that had my muscles screaming and sweat pouring. Deadlifts, box jumps, kettle bell swings, burpees until I couldn’t think about anything except breathing and moving.

When we finished, I was shaking and exhausted, but the anger and frustration that had been sitting in my chest felt lighter.

Antonio handed me a water bottle and said,

“Good work.”

After I caught my breath, we grabbed coffee at the place next door like we sometimes did. Sat at a corner table with our protein shakes and breakfast sandwiches.

Antonio looked at me across the table and said he was glad I said no to Justin. That I deserved someone who loved me at any size, not someone who only wanted me when I looked a certain way.

His words hit me harder than the workout had. I realized sitting there that our friendship over the past 5 months meant more than 6 years with Justin. Antonio had seen me struggle and fail and succeed and never once made me feel less than enough.

The next few days, Justin started showing up everywhere. Outside my workplace at 5:30 when I left for the day. Parked across from Haley’s apartment building when I got home. I’d see his car and my stomach would drop.

He left notes on my windshield asking to talk, saying he made a mistake, that he loved me and we could work through this. I threw them away without reading past the first line.

Haley noticed his car outside her building three nights in a row and said it was getting creepy. Scarlet called me the following evening and said I should stay with mom for a while. That just knowing where Haley lived and showing up there wasn’t safe.

I didn’t want to agree because moving back to my childhood bedroom felt like going backward. But Scarlet was right. I packed a bag and drove to mom’s house that night. She had my old room ready with fresh sheets and said I could stay as long as I needed. Sleeping in my twin bed surrounded by high school photos felt strange but also comforting in a way I didn’t expect.

A week after the proposal, Haley texted me a link. Someone had posted a video of the restaurant scene on social media. I watched myself say no and walk out while Justin stayed frozen on one knee.

The video had been shared hundreds of times around our city. Several people in the comments recognized us. Most of the comments were supportive, saying I did the right thing and that Justin’s proposal speech was gross. A few said I was cruel for rejecting him publicly, but those got ratioed by other commenters pointing out he chose to propose publicly, so he got rejected publicly.

The video kept getting shared. By the end of the week, it had thousands of views.

My phone rang 2 days later and I didn’t recognize the number. Answered it anyway. Justin’s brother was on the other end. Not Justin’s mother this time, but his actual brother whose name was also Justin but everyone called him JK.

He said he wanted to apologize for how his brother treated me. That he tried to talk to Justin about the weight comments months ago but Justin wouldn’t listen.