Chapter 65
“Well, good for you for finally seeing the light,” she says, voice tight, “but I can’t exactly bring myself to care about that right now.”
My throat dries.
“Your ex–fiancé broke into your bakery and hurt you,” she continues, voice rising, “and instead of telling me – so we could call the fucking cops on that bastard – you lied to me. Repeatedly. You brushed me off when I was concerned. And now you’re just dumping this on me like it’s casual dinner conversation? What exactly do you expect me to do here? Say thank you for finally telling me? For taking your sweet time keeping me in the dark while you were assaulted?”
“Tessa!” I choke out, but I don’t even know what I’m trying to
say.
Her hands slam onto the table. “No. Don’t Tessa me.”
I shrink back.
God, I really messed up.
“You know what?” Tessa says, pushing back her chair so fast it scrapes against the floor.
I jump up too. “Tessa, I’m sorry-”
“Save it.” She doesn’t even look at me. “You didn’t tell me for a reason. It’s fine.”
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It doesn’t sound fine.
She turns on her heel and heads to her room. I reach for her arm, but she sidesteps me effortlessly, walking away like I’m not even there.
Then – click.
Her bedroom door shuts.
My shoulders slump. The sting behind my eyes burns harder, but I refuse to let it spill over. Instead, I sink back into my chair, pick up my plastic fork, and force down the rest of Tessa’s terrible pasta.
I chew. Swallow. Repeat.
I don’t know if it’s the awful taste, the way my mind keeps flashing back to that night in the bakery, or the look in Tessa’s eyes before she left – but my throat tightens, and my vision blurs.
I blink fast. Not now.
I finish every last bite of her horrible cooking and clean up the dishes, rinsing them until my fingers go numb under the water.
An hour later, my stomach revolts. I barely make it to the bathroom before I’m throwing up everything.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, panting, waiting for the relief to come.
It doesn’t.
**
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Still, I send Tessa my usual check–in messages – the ones she never replies to – and open Instagram.
My vision swims for a second, but I manage to scroll. Nothing interesting. Nothing-
I pause. Squint. Zoom in.
Huh, isn’t this face kinda familiar?
It takes my sluggish brain a few extra beats to realise why.
It’s me.
My stomach dips. The post has hundreds of thousands of likes and nearly twenty thousand comments.
That can’t be good.
I blink hard, trying to focus, but my head feels like it’s full of fog. Still, my brain finally catches up.
In the picture, I’m holding one of the plushies I thought about giving Tess as a bribe, my face lit up in a big, open–mouthed smile. I look… happy. Like, genuinely happy. I don’t even remember the last time I saw myself like that.
Then I check the account.
Liam.
My fingers fumble as I tap on his profile. The timestamp says. he posted this over five hours ago.
I try to read the caption, but the letters won’t stay still. They blur, shifting like they’re running off the screen. I tilt my head, blink.
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hard, but it doesn’t help.
Why would he post me on Instagram? And he never said anything about it, too.
My heart picks up its pace and I scowl.
No, there’s nothing special about this. He doesn’t even care about me.
Not that I want him to. This is all just pen on paper.
For a moment, the alcohol fades enough for guilt to slip in.
The fight replays in my head, and my stomach twists.
Should I even have said any of that?
God. I was practically throwing gasoline on a fire. And what I said about Mar and Elijah…
Why did I even say that? I don’t even know what they think of him.
—
But the way he looked at me like he wasn’t surprised at all. Like he’s used to people thinking the worst of him.
And then he still apologised.
He looked… hurt.
And that does something weird to my chest, but I shake it off.
No. Whatever. He’s a complete jerk.
Even if… even if sometimes when he looks at me, it’s like the
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rest of the world falls away. Like I don’t have to be anything but myself
My chest warms up at the thought of him. Somehow he’s always right there when I need him-
I scowl. What the hell, Emilia? It wasn’t that long ago when he completely ignored your existence. For two weeks straight.
Chapter 66
Chapter 66
