NovelEnglish
Chapter 0149
Abby
I push open the door to the restaurant, the soft chime signaling my unexpected entrance. I feel the
weight of curious gazes on me—Daisy, Ethan, a few waiters. They’re all surprised to see me back so
early.
“Abby, what are you doing here?” Ethan asks, a mix of confusion and concern etching his face. “We
thought you weren’t supposed to be back from your vacation until tomorrow.”
“I just… wasn’t really feeling it,” I say, forcing a smile that probably looks more like a grimace. “I
decided to come back a little early.”
Ethan nods. Maybe he’s satisfied with my response, or maybe he just figures that it’s not his business.
But then my eyes lock with Chloe’s. The slight tilt of her head, the thin press of her lips—it all screams,
‘We need to talk.’
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“As happy as I am to see you home early,” Chloe says, lowering her voice, “I think we should talk.
Now.”
As soon as we’re enclosed in the privacy of my dimly lit office, Chloe locks the door and turns to me
with an expression that’s a cross between a detective and a protective sister.
“Okay, start talking,” she says, folding her arms across her chest. “What happened?”
I let out an almost inaudible sigh, feeling the burden of the past few days settle on my shoulders. But
I’ve resolved not to tell her—or anyone, for that matter. It’s too embarrassing. “Nothing happened. I just
decided to come home early.”
Her eyebrows lift. “Oh yeah? Just got lonely on your ‘solo vacation’, hm?”
I give her a half-smile. “Yup.”
“Alright.” Chloe sits down, leaning her elbows on the desk. There’s an air of annoyance about her. “Tell
me the truth, Abby. All of it.”
Part of me wants to keep up the lie, but I know that it’s no use. Chloe has always been too intuitive to
believe my lies. Taking a deep breath, I start to recount the events—how Karl and I went back to our
old home, the dinner, the email, everything.
“You’re telling me he bribed Adam into leaving you?” Chloe’s voice sharpens, her eyes ablaze with a
sort of indignant fury on my behalf.
“Yes,” I say. “Adam is gay. But that’s besides the point…”
Chloe clenches her fists. “Right,” she says. “What really sucks is that Karl was going to bribe Adam to
leave you regardless of Adam’s orientation.”
“Yep,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair. “And I really thought that Karl was becoming a better
person, too.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
Chloe leans back, sighing as she pinches the bridge of her nose. “It’s just so… shitty, Abby. We’re both
fools for letting him manipulate us into thinking he’d changed.”
“No kidding.”
“So, what did he say when you confronted him?”
“He tried to justify it by saying that he could tell that Adam didn’t have the same feelings for me as I did
for him. That he was helping me in the long run by doing this in secret.”
Chloe scoffs. “He could have just talked to you. Told you about his suspicions.”
I shrug. “I’m not sure if I would have listened to him. But yeah, telling me about it would be something
that a normal person would do, wouldn’t it?”
There’s a moment of silence. Chloe looks both furious and incredibly sad at the same time, which is
exactly how I feel. That, and I feel like an utter idiot.
“Did he apologize?” she asks, her voice low.
I nod. “Yeah. But it’s not good enough right now.”
“Will it ever be good enough?” Chloe’s voice is softer now.
“I don’t know, Chloe,” I say, pacing across the room to stare out the window. “I really don’t know. Right
now, I’m leaning toward no. He’d have to beg for forgiveness, and even then…”
Visit our social media platform to read fascinating stories every day and connect with the community!
