Justin’s breath caught in his throat when I stepped out the door.
He bolted after me. “Rhian! I’ll start over! I’ll do anything to be worthy of you! I swear I’ll make everything go back to how it was!“}
I pressed the tips of my fingers to my temple, exhaustion washing over me.
“Drive.”
Lance chuckled low, then accelerated, Justin’s cries fading into the rearview mirror and swallowed by the night.
…N
Over the next few days, my inbox filled up with friend requests.
There’s no need to check. I already knew they were all from Justin’s fake accounts.
I blocked every single one.
Except, I forgot about Stacey.
She came at me first with a message:
[Don’t be a bitch.]
Attached was a photo of her and Justin sleeping together. The bed frame looked rotten, the straw mat turned slick with sweat and grime, and neither looked clean or comfortable.
I replied:
[Relax. Your man? I wouldn’t want him in this lifetime.]
She blocked me immediately.}
But later that night, saw the screen light up, and she’d unblocked me.§
This time, just one message:
[I’m sorry]
No context. No explanation.
My gut told me it was Justin using her phone.
So I blocked her, too.
Meanwhile, Andrea continued to send me every piece of gossip she heard. She arrived at the university with a new dose of drama each day.”
Apparently, Justin had gone back to school.
But it was ugly.§
Physically and mentally, he was well past his prime. Years of late nights, smoking, drinking, and stress had worn him down.
O
Justin could no longer outpace the high schoolers and was falling behind. He was stunned to realize that the subjects he used to breeze through now couldn’t even be finished in two hours.
That year, he scraped into a bottom–tier first–tier school. But he didn’t quit.
The following year, he barely got into Cedar Valley State, a small public university that is not a top school. Yet his real goal was my school, the National Institute of Applied Sciences.
Last I heard, he was still trying.
One evening, I came home and ran right into him on the sidewalk.
He looked different.
The street–smart swagger he once had had faded, softened by years of study. But some things–like how time had lined his face–couldn’t be erased.
We sat there–two people who once walked side by side–now standing beside each other but miles apart.
“Where’s Stacey?” I asked, more out of curiosity than anything.
He poured me a drink, paused, then drank it down and refilled it with orange juice.
“Broke up,” Justin said plainly.
I noticed the faint ink remnants on his neck, where Stacey’s initials once were–almost completely faded, leaving only a memory behind. “I thought she was the one you loved the most?” I asked.
He let out a humorless laugh, bitter and tight. “That wasn’t love. It was just youth and stupidity.”
He exhaled, looking at his hands. “Rhian… now I understand why you worked so hard. You told me once, ‘Do the right thing at the right time.‘ I didn’t want to hear it. But now? I’d give anything to go back to my high school self. But I can’t. No matter how badly I want to catch up to you, it’s too late.”
“Justin, what did you just say?!“}
That voice cut through the air like a blade.
I instinctively stepped back as Stacey stormed up, face twisted with fury.
Her hands closed tightly around Justin’s throat.
“So it was for her that you went back to school? You’ll leave me and the baby behind? I swear to you, that’s not happening!”
O
bictin’s
istin’s face want still “What are you talking about? Rahu? Vou’re nrannant?”
Chapter 9
9:23 AM
So it was one that you went back tU SCHOOL? You leave me and the baby wenu? I swear to you, that’s not happening: w
Justin’s face went still. “What are you talking about? Baby? You’re pregnant?”
“You think it’s not yours?” Stacey clutched her stomach, melodrama dripping from every word. “This is your fucking baby, Justin!“}] “Bullshit!” Justin slammed the table and stood, his voice loud and angry. “Don’t think I don’t know you’ve been sleeping around with other guys!”
She retorted, “Oh, so now you don’t want to take responsibility?”
Stacey’s hand shot out, a fruit knife in hand, pressing it against her own neck.
“Go ahead and fucking kill me, Justin! Kill me and I’ll bless you both from the grave. Do it!“}]
