Does My Ex Have Someone New or a Rebound Relationship?

I saw the unfamiliar name under his photo at 12:18 a.m. It may have meant nothing. Naturally, I treated it like evidence in a federal case. My face got hot before I even clicked.

Three of Cups arrived and I hated how social it looked. People laughing, cups raised, the whole world apparently capable of moving on and wearing clean shirts. I sat there in an old T-shirt with toothpaste on the hem.

Seven of Swords made me suspicious of him, then of myself. Was he hiding someone, or was I sneaking around my own wound? Both options were available, which felt unfair.

Five of Wands was the comparison machine. Is she prettier? Easier? Newer? Does she laugh at the things I started finding exhausting? I did not like the room my mind built in less than four minutes.

The Devil was not sexy tonight. It was the loop. Click, compare, imagine, suffer, click again. A tiny casino in my hand. I kept losing and still wanted another round.

I wrote her name nowhere. That felt important. I refused to give my notebook to someone who may only have liked a photo after dinner.

The truth I did write was worse: I am afraid I was replaceable. That sentence made my chest feel hollow, like someone had opened a drawer inside me and taken out the useful parts.

At 1:03 I closed the app and opened it again. Then I laughed once, dry and ugly. Healing is charming until it meets Wi-Fi.

I put the phone in the bathroom and came back to the table without it. I lasted eight minutes.