Chapter 13
heart”
I stared at him.
“Sometimes, I felt like I was split in two. I didn’t know which version of me was real.”
“So when you found out the truth, I panicked.” His hands clenched into fists at his sides. “I didn’t
know which version of me should react.”
Ah
So that explained everything.
Why some days he was warm, patient, and gentle.
And other days he was cold, distant, and cruel.
Why he whispered love one day and turned away the next.
“But I’ve been thinking about it for the past two days,” he said, his eyes firm and unwavering. “I love you. I’m willing to change.”
Put aside the arrogance, put aside the bravado.
Be your Pax Brown.
I was silent for a moment.
Then, slowly, I held out my hand. Palm up.
“Your phone.“He blinked in surprise.
But he didn’t hesitate. He handed me the phone without hesitation. “You are”
I entered the password.
The password was incorrect.
There was silence.
I tried again.
Still wrong.
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Chapter 13
Chapter 13
A silence stretched between us, long and heavy, thick with things unsaid.
Pax finally broke it, his voice quieter now, subdued in a way that made me wonder if he already knew how this conversation would end.
“I didn’t know she texted you.”
I didn’t react.
The screen in front of me was empty now–the messages erased, wiped clean, as if they had never
existed.
But the password?
That was a different story.
Once, it had been my birthday.
Now, it was hers.
I watched as Pax exhaled sharply, rubbing his temple like this entire situation was nothing more than an inconvenience, an annoyance he needed to handle before moving on.
Without hesitation, he changed it back to my birthday.
“This is ridiculous,” he muttered, more to himself than to me. “I’ll talk to her. This won’t happen
again.”
His tone was steady, assured, as if this was something that could be resolved with a simple
conversation.
Then, he looked at me–really looked at me. His gaze was searching, careful, trying to gauge where I stood, trying to read the emotions I was no longer willing to show him.
“Cecilia, can you trust me one more time?”
“I’ll handle everything. I promise.”
I stayed quiet.
My Card and My First Love
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Chapter 13
His fingers twitched slightly, like he was resisting the urge to reach for me.
After a moment, he sighed, his voice softening. “I booked a flight to Norway. Two days left.”
A pause.
“Can we?“I smiled, cutting him off before he could finish.
“Sure.”
His brows lifted slightly, almost imperceptibly. Like he hadn’t expected me to agree so easily.
Then, I saw it–the way his shoulders loosened, the quiet breath of relief that escaped him.
Because in his mind, this was progress.
This was me forgiving him.
This was things going back to the way they were.
“I’ll walk you upstairs,” he said, like he had done a hundred times before.
I didn’t protest.
We climbed the steps together, side by side, though the space between us felt wider than it ever had.
before.
“Baby, you should just transfer the lease,” Pax said casually, his voice taking on that familiar coaxing
tone.
“No need to stay in this cramped place anymore–you know I have somewhere you can live in ”
He reached for my sleeve, tugging it lightly, his touch gentle, almost pleading.
“What’s mine is yours,money,home.”
There was a time when those words would have been the sweetest thing I had ever heard.
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