Chapter 7
Holy shit, I nearly pumped out of my skin when he did that.
Put I wasnt bullshitting him Julian kept refusing to sign the divorce papers, so my plan was to head back during summer break and file myself.]
1 figured I’d give him a call then and meet up to sort things out
Never expected him to hunt me down first.]
After I explained everything. Neil finally let go of me.]
His eyes were all red and watery. “You swear that’s the truth? You’re not just feeding me a line?“]
You have no fucking clue how worried Ive been since you blocked me. I was going absolutely crazy.“]
The way Neil was talking stopped me cold. This definitely wasn’t normal friend–zone conversation.[]
While I was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on, Neil dropped a bomb that confirmed exactly what I’d suspected.[]
I took a job as a forest firefighter here. Wherever you end up, that’s where I’m gonna be too.“]
He had feelings for me.]]
What the actual hell?
When he saw how shocked 1 looked, he awkwardly rubbed his buzzcut.]
“Yeah, I’m into you–but that’s my problem, not yours. I’m not trying to mess with whatever’s going on between you and Julian. I won’t pressure you or make things weird. At the very least, I won’t make a move until you’re officially divorced. For now, we’re still just buds.“|
I shoved Nell away hard, giving him a glare.
My voice turned ice cold when I answered: “Cut the crap. You and Julian are best friends. Nothing’s ever happening between us. Just go back to Boston. You’re wasting your time here.”
As soon as I said that, Neil’s face went dark. “We’re not friends anymore.“[]
He pulled out his phone and showed me some photos and texts.]
I couldn’t believe my eyes–they were pictures of Julian and Mia kissing.]
The messages were loaded with flirty back–and–forth between them.]
Looking at all this shit, I looked up at Neil, stunned.]
After a second of obvious regret, he spilled everything.]
A week after I ghosted everyone, both guys had turned every town near Boston upside down looking for me.]
When they finally dragged themselves home, pissed off and freaked out, they found Mia still hanging around–completely ignoring Julian’s order to get lost.
She was in the kitchen making homemade clam chowder, acting like she owned the place, serving them tea like some perfect housewife.}}
Bied couldn’t stomach it and threw some shade her way.
That ant judies off, and he jumped right to Mia’s defense, pulling her behind him protectively.
Hell lost i and whapped out surveilance footage from Hengmu Mall that he’d managed to get his hands on
The video proved I’d saved Miss aus, and her husband’s death was one hundred percent on him.]
julian just stood there the a statue when he saw the video, but before he could confront Mia, she panicked and bolted]
Watching her run out, Julian’s face showed that everything finally clicked.]
Completely ignoring Ned, Julian stormed straight to his study
He yanked some photos of him and Mia from his safe and smashed them on the floor
As juhan muttered under his breath, Neil finally got the whole story!}
Julian and Mia had been a thing back in the day!
After college, Mia’s parents hated that Julian chose to be a firefighter and forced them to break up!
fee they said wrew that and kept seeing each other on the sty
an eventually, when Mis hit the age where her family expected marriage, they started setting her up on dates.]
he ended up matched with some rich guy.[]
he Shred family loved him and pushed hard for Mia to seal the deal]
da dropped an ultimatum on Julian his job or her.
alian picked his career.
tia married the other dude.
became the one that got away for both of them–the relationship they’d always regret losing.]
tel finally saw the truth–Julian never thought of him as a real friend. He was just using Neil as a smokescreen.[]
Well laid out a timeline that finally clicked everything into place for me.]
got it now: Julian never loved me. It was Mia the whole damn time.[]
When he lost her, he just wallowed in guilt and regret.]
very single time Mia and I butted heads, he took her side.[]
ven when he knew I was right, his heart still belonged to her.
was just his rebound–the bandaid he slapped on after Mia got married to someone else.[]
once that hit me, I felt like such a fool for everything I’d given him.]
kicked Nell out instead of letting him hang around. Partly to save him from becoming the campus joke, but also because his confession left me completely thrown.] But Nell didn’t take the hint.]
Every night after work, he’d show up to start a fire and cook dinner.
I gave him nothing but cold shoulders, but he just soaked it up with a smile.
All the students were hardcore shipping us.]]
I tried shutting that down at first, but eventually I just stopped bothering.
That laziness gave juhan exactly the opening he needed.
Que afternoon, Nell had the day off and we were eating lunch when a student yelled from outside.]
Ms. Reid! There’s another hottie here looking for you!“]
