Chapter 11
By the third year of living in the UK, I’d fully thrown myself into academics–and landed a position as an assistant professor
Just before graduation, I went out for drinks with my best friend, Lucy.
“Guess who I ran into when I flew back last week?” she said, swirling her glass.
“Who?”
“Your two–timing ex.”
Her face twisted with disgust. “That asshole actually came to find me, trying to put on some sad, tortured–lost–love act.”
Hearing his name didn’t even stir anything in me anymore.
“He found you?”
www
“Yeah, and pretty much everyone else too. He was digging through every college and grad school contact he could find. But like you to us–we didn’t say a word. Your family kept everything on lockdown. He hit a wall fast. Honestly? Guy looked like he was losing it.”
I clinked my glass against hers.
told
‘Not really my problem anymore.”
“Exactly. He doesn’t deserve to be.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Oh–and get this. Before I left, he tried to make me bring you a wedding dress. Said he’s been waiting for you t whole time..Like, seriously? Who asked him to wait?”
I shrugged. “That chapter’s closed.”
I wasn’t bitter just because the ending didn’t match the beginning.
Some wounds don’t need healing–because they’ve already scarred over.
Some stories don’t need closure–because I found peace anyway.
I’d moved on years ago.
“But he still snuck this into my backpack,” she added with a huff. “What a sleazeball.”
She handed me a scrapbook
The one I’d once asked him to make.
this
Inside were our photos–back when we were just classmates, growing into something more. Every page documented our love, or what t thought was love.
The final page held a single sentence in bold, messy handwriting: Lydia, I love you.
Lucy pecked at the page and shot me a worried look
“Okay, wait–you’re not getting sentimental on me, are you?”
I closed the book and tossed it in the trash can beside us.
“Please. If I let that get to me, all the work I’ve done to heal would be a joke.”
Lucy let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Because honestly, there’s something way juicier I need to tell you.”
That’s when she told me what had happened to Mia..
Heard it turned into a full–blown scandal in the FrostFang Pack. She got caught red–handed messing around with someone’s husband
his wife walked in and slapped her across the face. In public.
Chapter 11
10.48%
Then Mia tried to pull a sob story livestream to win sympathy.
Backfired hard.
People started digging–and what they found? Not pretty. Her entire pursuit of Felix got aired out. Every creepy journal entry, every “I
gave him my first time” post, every pathetic attempt to paint herself as some tragic lover
Comment sections exploded.
[“So she knew he was taken and still went for it? Disgusting, “1
“Who talks about homewrecking like it’s romantic?“]
[“she confessed the night before the mating ceremony? Girl’s not just bold, she’s unwell.“)
I“If were the fiancée, I’d have slapped her too.“]
The entire internet started following the story like it was a soap opera.
The twist? Rumor had it–the bride ran away on the day of the mating ceremony.
The groom searched the whole damn city and still couldn’t find her.
People online? Cheering.
“Serves him right”
Lucy leaned over her drink. “Seriously. I hope you never, ever run into those two curse magnets again.
And, of course, right on cue–guess who showed up backstage after my doctoral speech?
Fellx.
He grabbed my wrist, eyes wide with desperation.
H
“Oh God, Lydia, I finally found you please. Just let me explain. ”
I pulled my hand free, staring at him without emotion.
“Why would that matter now?”
His expression cracked.
“You can’t just shut me out like this. Even criminals get a chance to speak. You can’t just sentence me without a word.”
I looked at the face I’d once loved.
“No ending changes just because you say ‘I’m sorry. No apology rewrites what’s already been done.”
Still, he wouldn’t stop.
“So that’s it? I don’t even get one chance to make things right?”
I tilted my head.
“Why would I give
ve you that? You said it yourself–you went after me just to spite Damon. You told people once you had me, you were
bored,
“Then you plotted to ditch me at the altar to humiliate me. Felix, what’s left to say?”
was wrong!” he blurted, voice cracking. “I never meant to hurt you. That day–I swear–I was going to go through with it. I only ever wanted you as my mate. You were the one. The only one.”
I let out a short laugh.
“Felix… that relationship ended three years ago. You should leave now.”
