Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Jessica’s POV

:

60

E 35 vouchers

I sat in the hollow silence of the lobby, the after-hours hush broken only by the distant buzz of the city and the occasional drip from the rain-soaked awning.

My mind was curled tight around a single, raw fact: Aaron was engaged.

He wasn’t with Fiona, but someone else. The realization was almost worse.

Was this why he’d kept his personal life buried? To keep me from finding out, or to keep the world away from his business?

How long had he been engaged? Weeks? Months? Years?

A thousand questions burned like embers in my head, but the silence offered no answers.

I couldn’t help it. The dam finally broke. I buried my face in my palms and let the tears flow, my shoulders shaking with the weight of six years of repressed running.

It was all there: the confusion, the betrayal that felt fresh all over again, and the agonizing ache of seeing him every day while pretending it didn’t gut me.

I was so lost in that sea of grief that I didn’t even notice the seat beside me dip until a voice cut through the dark.

“I wondered why it was raining outside. And somehow the myth was true-it rains because an angel is sad and crying.”

I quickly wiped my tears with the back of my hand, sniffling as I looked up.

Seth sat beside me on the lobby bench, his usual easy smile in place, though his eyes held a gentle concern that made him look less like the office flirt and more like a friend.

I forced a smile, though it felt brittle on my lips.

“Hey, Seth,” I whispered. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” He tilted his head, studying me without pushing too hard.

I laughed dryly, the sound hollow even to my own ears. “It’s raining outside. I don’t have a car yet.”

He nodded slowly, that warm smile lingering. “I kinda figured. But what I don’t understand is why you’re crying, Jess. It doesn’t suit you.”

His cheesiness and effortless charm, warmed a corner of my heart that had gone cold. A genuine smile tugged at my lips, faint but real.

“Well, Seth, when the eyes are full and the heart is constricted, it doesn’t care about your looks.”

16:01 Wed, Jan 21

Chapter 79

ER 25 vouchers

He stared at me for a beat, his expression softening further. I couldn’t hold his gaze, so I looked away, focusing on the rain-streaked windows instead.

“Do you want to share?” he finally asked, his voice quiet, no pressure behind it.

I smiled, but it was a painful one, laced with the weight of everything I carried. Running my fingers down my face, I wiped away the lingering tears.

“I fell in love with my bully. Strange-I know.” I chuckled weakly, but pushed on, the words spilling like they’d been waiting for an outlet.

“He had a girlfriend who tormented me too. For years, I endured his taunts, but then…. he changed. It died down to subtle teasing, you know? The kind that almost felt like flirting, like he was noticing me for the first

time.

My eyes watered again, my voice trembling as the memories surged. Thinking about the past had this way of squeezing the air from my lungs, making my chest tight.

“Hey,” Seth called softly, placing his hand over mine. “You don’t have to. Not if it hurts this bad.”

But I wanted to. I needed to. Talking to a stranger like this-someone without the baggage of my history-felt oddly freeing, like venting into the void.

“I didn’t have a family who loved me. My mom died giving birth to me, and my father and stepmother… they were monsters.”

I chuckled bitterly, the sound catching in my throat as flashes of those hellish years resurfaced: the shouts, the neglect, the constant feeling of being unwanted.

“I got a scholarship to study at Arcadia Hill College. An opportunity to start over. Unfortunately-and fortunately-life threw me at the doorstep of my bully. I couldn’t get a dorm; I had to stay with him in his apartment. It was four years of torture, you know? Living with the person your heart beats for, but his doesn’t even recognize you.”

I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“When he broke up with his girlfriend, I thought the universe had finally heard my prayers. But it was useless. Toward the end, there was… connection. One thing led to another, and boom… I caved. Surrendered everything.”

My voice dropped to a whisper, the intimacy of that night still raw, even after all this time.

“The next morning, I saw them kissing-or so I thought. So I left. I ran away without looking back. But every day is a reminder of that heartbreak. I ran physically, but mentally… I’m haunted.”

The tears finally trickled down, leaving hot, stinging tracks on my cheeks. Seth didn’t say a word at first; he just let the silence wrap around us.

I appreciated the fact that he wasn’t rushing to fix me or offering empty platitudes that didn’t mean anything.

“You know… if I were in your shoes, I’d have confronted this dickhead before I left,” he finally spoke.

16:01 Wed, Jan 21

Chapter 79

60

E 35 vouchers

His tone was thoughtful, not judgmental, like he was actually processing the logic of my heartbreak.

I turned to him, blinking back the blur in my eyes. “What?”

He nodded, leaning back against the bench.

“I just wouldn’t have run away. If you ask me, Jess… how exactly did you catch him kissing her? Give me the details. Where were you? What did you actually see?”

I took a shaky breath and explained it all. I told him about the deck of the cruise ship, the way the i felt that morning, and Kennedy’s cold voice pointing them out to me.

I told him how I’d looked and seen their faces close-so close-their lips meeting in what looked like a passionate, inevitable reunion.

My voice cracked as I relived it.

Years later, the betrayal still felt like an open nerve. Every time I touched the memory, it sent a fresh jolt of pain through me, proof that I hadn’t moved on half as much as I’d pretended to.

He squinted at me, a skeptical smudged on his face.

“And you’re sure? You didn’t stay to hear a word? You just saw a silhouette and booked it?”

“I saw enough,” I whispered, looking at my bandaged hand. “I saw exactly what I needed to see to know I didn’t belong there.”

Seth clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

“Jess, I think you should have spoken to him,” he said softly.

I turned fully to him now, searching his face.

“Why?”

“If this guy was cheated on, what makes you think he’d want to do the same to you?” he asked, his eyes steady

on mine.

“Humans can be trash, sure, but I believe there’s more to what you saw.”

I furrowed my brow and gave him my full attention, eager to understand his thought process.

“If he just wanted to sleep with you, Jess, he had plenty of chances to do that over the years. Why wait until then?” He paused, holding my gaze to make sure I was actually listening and not just hearing him.

“And if he really wanted to get back with his ex, I sure as hell don’t think he’d choose a public deck to kiss her,” he continued, his voice steady.

“From what you’ve told me, the guy has a massive ego. Going back to an ex who publicly humiliated him? That’s the last thing a man like him would do. It would break him, and he knows it. There has to be more to the story.”

10:03 Wed, Jan 21

Chapter 79

His words resonated with a painful thud in my chest. It was exactly what David had hinted at.

EZ 35 vouchers

But the image of them was burned into my retinas, and Kennedy’s cold warnings back then had only confirmed my fears.

Yet, a tiny crack of doubt crept into my resolve.

What if I’d been wrong? What if I’d uprooted my entire life and carried this bitterness over a colossal misunderstanding?

Outside, the aggressive downpour had finally tapered off, leaving nothing but a soft patter against the lobby glass.

I stood up, smoothing out my skirt and trying to shake off the heavy atmosphere.

“The rain’s stopped, we can go now.”

Seth stared at me for a moment, then nodded slowly, grabbing his backpack from the bench.

He met me at the door, and held it open with a quiet, gentlemanly flourish.

“Thank you,” I murmured as I stepped out.

The rain was still drizzling lightly when we stepped out, the air cool and fresh, carrying the earthy scent of wet pavement.

Seth led me toward a dark blue sedan parked nearby, its lights flashing amber as he remote-unlocked it.

I stared at the car, then at him.

My pride made an attempt to protest. “Seth, you really don’t have to-”

He shook his head firmly, cutting me off with a raised brow and a look that didn’t leave room for argument.

“You really didn’t think I’d let you walk alone at night in this cold, did you?”

I didn’t fight him or play the “modest girl” script. The truth was, I was exhausted-bone-deep tired from the emotional rollercoaster of the last twelve hours.

I just wanted to get home, crawl into bed, and cuddle with Adrian. I needed to feel his little arms around me, a reminder that at least one thing in my life was still pure and good.

I slid into the passenger seat, the leather cool against my skin. When he got in and started the engine, he asked for my address.

I whispered it, then leaned my head against the cold glass window.

I watched the city lights streak by in blurry, golden trails, my mind drifting back to the office and the man I’d left behind in the dark.

16:03 Wed, Jan 21