Chapter 5
After I calmed down, I took a cab to the famous temple on Cherry Hil
rd waited three years for that baby. Now that it was gone, I wanted to pray for it.
And to finally break free from this relationship.[]
First thing I did at the temple was turn off my phone, cutting all ties to the outside world.
For seven whole days, my heart went through a cleanse, coming out of the darkness that had been suffocating me.
ne.0
I only turned my phone back on the morning before I was supposed to leave for my teaching gig.
Hundreds of texts and missed calls.
Some from Neil, others from Julian.
I opened Neil’s messages first.[]
[Sis, I know you got screwed over. The bosses will make this right.]]
Elena, take care of yourself no matter what. Don’t do anything stupid because of certain people.]]]
[Elena, where are you? Are you safe?]]]
Each word was full of worry, giving my broken heart a tiny spark of warmth.
After meeting Julian, Neil and I became tight – the kind of friends who tell each other everything.
Eventually, I discovered that whenever Neil “randomly” showed up, it was actually Julian who’d put him up to it.]
Julian wanted to help Mia behind my back, so he used being “busy” as his excuse.
To sell the lie, he used Neil as his cover, making me buy that he was actually swamped with work.
At first, Neil worried this might mess things up between us.
He tried to stay out of the picture whenever he could.[]
When I was pregnant, Julian took Lily to the zoo instead of coming to my prenatal appointment, leaving me to trudge through the snow alone.
After bumping into me, Neil drove me to the hospital, and that’s how we swapped numbers.
That one small act gave me one more person who actually gave a damn.]
Not wanting Neil to stress, I quickly shot him a text.]
After telling him I was okay, I headed for the train station.
I deleted all of Julian’s messages without even looking at them.]
We were done. Strangers from now on.]
Just as I sat down on the train, my phone rang.
It was Nel
When I picked up, his face was all red and sweaty.
He must’ve just wrapped up training when he saw my text and called right away.
Seeing me looking perfectly fine, he just shook his head and laughed.[]
Girl, you scared the crap out of Julian. Bet he’ll actually listen to you now.”
Neil’s teasing left me confused[]
After asking what he meant, I found out Julian was going crazy looking for me everywhere.[]
When I first took off, Julian thought I was just being dramatic.
Based on how long I usually stayed mad, he figured I’d cool off in two days and crawl back apologizing.
But when those two days came and went with no sign of me, he started to worry.
Thinking i just needed an excuse to come back, he tried calling me.]
But my phone was off all night.]
That’s when he freaked out.]
The next day, he rushed to find Neil at their team headquarters, desperate to figure out where I was.[]
Julian had no clue that after Neil picked me up from the hospital, we hadn’t talked since.]
Still desperate, Julian made Neil call me, but hit the same dead end.[]
Neil was so fed up he lost it, and they ended up throwing punches at each other.
That’s when Julian finally found out that even though I didn’t look badly hurt from the accident, I had lost our baby.]
He was kicking himself for not coming to me, and for hurting me because of Mia.]
Now he was checking every hotel in town trying to find me.]
Hearing all this, I couldn’t help but smirk.]
He wasn’t looking for me because he cared. He was just ticked off that I wasn’t trying to please him anymore.
th our relationship, I had always put myself below him.
But even with all that ass–kissing, I never got the love I deserved.[]
“We’re getting divorced. Whether he listens to me or not isn’t my problem anymore.“]
Neil froze, his eyebrows scrunching up before he tried to talk me out of it.
Julian knows he screwed up. He feels awful. Just give him one more-‘
re-“]
Before he could finish, Julian pushed into the frame.[]
The second he saw me, his eyes got all watery as he scrambled to explain:
“Elena, the car place called and said the car wasn’t totaled, so I figured you were fine.”
“Plus, after you and Neil pulled that stunt on me before, I thought this was just another lie.“]
“Elena, I was wrong. I was a total jerk. From now on, I’ll come running whenever you call.“]
Even now, he still thought I was the one who lied to him.[] ·
