Ex-Wife Moving Wife Giving Birth? Congratulations, You’re Single Now novel Chapter 92

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Chapter 4

Nathon Mikaelson.

His name was written on every single page of my diary–the one I kept hidden in my desk drawer, filled with all those pathetic, hopeful thoughts

I was too scared to ever say out loud.

I’d been in love with him for years.

So long that just hearing someone mention his name in the hallway would make my heart stutter.

The thought of being apart for four years–of not seeing him every day–had terrified me.

I didn’t want that.

But more than that…

There was that night. Christmas Eve of our senior year.

Nathon had shown up at my house just past midnight, still half–drunk from some party the football team threw after their last practice before break.

I was already in bed when I heard the tapping on my window.

When I opened it, there he was–grinning like an idiot, eyes glassy, his breath fogging in the cold December air.

“Come on,” he whispered, motioning toward the fire escape. “Let’s get out of here.”

I should’ve said no. Should’ve told him to go home and sleep it off.

But he looked at me with those eyes–the ones that always made me forget how to say no–and before I knew it, I was pulling on a jacket and climbing out onto the balcony with him.

We snuck through the streets, weaving past clusters of carolers and families heading home from midnight mass.

Christmas lights twinkled from every storefront window–red and green and gold reflecting off the snow–dusted sidewalks.

The air smelled like cinnamon and pine. Nathon kept stumbling, grabbing onto my arm for balance, laughing too loud every time someone shot us a look.

His breath came out in white puffs, mingling with mine in the freezing December air.

Every time he touched me, my heart would lurch.

We ended up at the school. The gates were locked, but Nathon hopped the fence like it was nothing, then reached back to help me over.

The football field was eerily quiet under the glow of the streetlights. Frost clung to the grass, glittering faintly in the moonlight.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the old oak tree near the bleachers–the one everyone said was older than the school itself.

And then I saw it.

Mistletoe.

Someone had tied a sprig of it to one of the low–hanging branches as a joke. It dangled there, swaying slightly in the winter breeze.

Chapter 4

Nathon stopped right underneath it.

He turned to face me, still holding my hand, his grin softening into something quieter. Something that made my chest ache.

“You know the rule,” he murmured, his voice low and rough from the cold–and maybe the alcohol.

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.

“Nathon-”

But he didn’t let me finish.

He leaned in and kissed me.

No hesitation. No asking permission.

Just his mouth on mine, warm and insistent, stealing my first kiss like it had always belonged to him.

My head spun. My knees went weak. I couldn’t breathe.

And when he finally pulled back, just enough to rest his forehead against mine, his hands came up to frame my face.

His voice was barely a whisper, but every word burned itself into my memory.

“Alina… let’s stay together forever, okay?”

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move.

“Same college. Same city. Same everything. One day we’ll get married. We’ll never be apart.”

His thumb brushed across my cheek, and I thought my heart was going to explode.

I thought–God, I really thought–that this was it.

That all those years of silent longing had finally meant something.

That he felt the same way.

I spent every single day after that replaying that moment in my head. The way his hands felt against my skin. The way his voice sounded when he promised me forever.

I counted down the days until college, imagining what it would be like when we didn’t have to hide anymore. When we could finally be us.

But I was wrong.

So, so wrong.

It wasn’t real.

None of it was real.

I was just a convenience.

A distraction.

The girl who’d always be there, always say yes, always make things easy for him.

Chapter 4

And the second Harper came into the picture?

I became disposable.

My chest felt like it was caving in. The pain was so sharp I had to press a hand against my ribs just to keep brea

All this time, I thought I was giving him up for us–for some future we were building together.

But there was no “us,”

There never had been.

He’d been lying. Or worse–he’d just been drunk and careless, throwing around promises he never intended to

And I’d held onto those words like they were sacred.

Like they mattered.

But they didn’t.

Not to him.

My phone buzzed again. Another message from Bonnie.

[Alina, are you okay? Please tell me you didn’t see that post.)

I stared at the screen, vision blurring

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