Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 156392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 782(@200wpm)___ 626(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 782(@200wpm)___ 626(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
And somehow, I end up doing just that.
It shouldn’t be this way.
So what if I’ve had a crush on him for as long as I can remember? I’m young and should have been able to move on by now.
I should be able to recognize the toxicity and choose to run away from it.
From him.
Yet I keep being tugged back in with an invisible string. And the last thing I wish for is to cut it off.
After I put my bouquet in a porcelain vase, I go to the kitchen to grab a drink.
What I find, however, is Jeremy caging my best friend against the wall and eating her face.
“You guys are not helping at all,” I grumble as I swing the fridge open, grab a can of lemonade tonic, and mix it with a Diet Coke in a glass.
“Sorry,” Cecy whispers.
“She should apologize to me for stealing you all this time,” Jeremy shoots back as he hugs her to his side.
“Jer!” She hits his chest. “We talked about this.”
“I’m sorry,” I say after a pause. “I know it was hard for you to let her go, and if you didn’t love her and respect her wishes, you wouldn’t have allowed this. So thank you. I promise not to steal her time too much in the future.”
He raises a brow. “Apology accepted.”
“Ava…” She swallows. “You’d do the same for me, so don’t make it sound like it’s a hassle.”
“I don’t take you for granted, Cecy. I know I’m lucky to have you.” I sigh. “Now, I have to stop before I start crying.”
“Please don’t,” Jeremy says. “Or she won’t leave with me.”
“I won’t, you oaf.” I glare at him. “You hurt her and I slice your throat. Got it?”
Cecily laughs. Jeremy’s eyebrows are nearly touching his hairline by this point.
“Instead of worrying about her very happy relationship, why don’t you talk to that husband of yours and fix your own? We’ll all be a lot more relaxed.”
I take a sip of my drink and add more lemonade, just to turn it as bitter as my insides. “There’s no relationship to fix. And he’ll be my ex-husband soon.”
“How soon? Because his nightly visits to you don’t imply he’s considering you an ex.”
“Jeremy, why would you tell her that?” Cecily scoffs. “I told you it was a secret.”
“She deserves to know.”
“W-wait.” The glass shakes in my hand. “Eli visited?”
“Every single night,” Jeremy says. “Like clockwork.”
“Cecy?”
She puffs out a breath. “He didn’t want us to tell you and even the doctor thought it was a bad idea in the beginning because he might trigger you.”
“W-was he there last week?”
“Yeah.”
“The week before?”
“Yup.”
“The month before?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Did you miss the ‘every night’ bit?” Jeremy asks with drawn eyebrows. “Here I thought I had a bizarre best friend, but yours could compete with Nikolai’s level of weirdness, Lisichka.”
“Stop being mean.”
“I’m not mean. I’m truly concerned.” He waves a hand in front of my face. “Are you all right? Blink if you can hear my voice.”
“What did he do when he visited?” I ask Cecily, or more like blurt it out in a rush of words.
“In the beginning, he stood outside the entire night. Then he sat by your bedside and read books to you.”
“Oh my God.” I thought I was dreaming about him all this time, but he was actually there.
I was hurt and conflicted, and immeasurably heartbroken that he’d never visited, only to find out he did it religiously.
He’d come to see me for five whole months.
Every single day.
I thought maybe he’d moved on while I was floundering in my permanent feelings for him, but that couldn’t be the case if he was there all this time, right?
A weight lifts off my chest and crushing hope rushes through me as if someone has breathed new life into me. It mounts, coils, and whispers tunes of expectation into my bruised heart.
As absurd as that sounds.
For the rest of the evening, I keep thinking about him—more than usual, I mean.
My pride forbids me from going to him. Or perhaps it’s fear that this is all just wishful thinking. What if this entire thing backfires and I end up being the one who’s hurt?
I’m listening to Remi and Lan talk nonsense when my phone vibrates.
My heart nearly spills on the floor when I see his name.
‘Tin Man’ surrounded by two hearts.
I’m such a hopeless case. I didn’t change it after I left the house, probably because he never called or texted.
Tin Man
Happy Birthday.
My heart falls as I read and reread his words. I type ‘That’s all?’ and then delete it. ‘And here I thought you forgot I existed,’ then delete it. ‘Why do you still have the ability to break my heart, you damn twat?’
Delete.
He knows it’s my birthday, and instead of offering a present like everyone who’s sane, he chose to send me a dry text.