I Swear I Still Hate Him (Atlas Lawson) novel Chapter 125

Chapter 125

Emery’s POV

ས ༣, 6

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“Watch your step,” Atlas said, his hands gently guiding me as we walked. Honestly, I had no idea where we were going… from the moment we’d successfully snuck out, no parents in sight, thankfully, off to some business dinner, I’d been flying blind.

“You know I could just cheat and sneak a pic,” I said, squinting behind the makeshift blindfold.

“I trust you,” he replied, voice low, way too close to my ear. My heart launched into my throat.

God, that voice. Hot and Dangerous. I ignored it. Like always.

We took a few more steps, the air cooler now, and then…

“Okay,” he said. “Open.”

I pulled off the blindfold… and froze.

My eyes widened, mouth slightly open as I tried to wrap my brain around what I was looking at.

“No. Freaking. Way.”

Atlas was grinning beside me, hands in his pockets, like he hadn’t just casually blown my mind.

“You…” I spun to face him, jaw dropped. “Oh my God.”

He stepped closer, looking a little smug, but mostly proud. “I know you’ve been feeling low lately… and I just thought maybe this would help. Even just a little.”

“A little?” I turned in a slow circle, taking in the entire freaking empty planetarium. “Atlas, this is…this is insane.”

Right on cue, the ceiling lit up, and suddenly we were standing beneath a glowing galaxy. Stars burst to life above us, slow and dreamy, and I swear I forgot how to breathe for a second.

I tilted my head back, completely awestruck. “This is beautiful,” I whispered.

Then I looked at him. Really looked.

His gray eyes were soft, watching me like I was the galaxy.

“How did you even pull this off?” I asked, turning back to the dome.

He gave me that cocky little half-shrug. “I know a guy… who knows a guy.”

I laughed, still kind of stunned. “When you said you had a surprise, I thought maybe… ice cream. Not, like, a whole damn

• planetarium.”

Atlas grinned and held out his hand. “C’mon. There’s more.”

I blinked. More?

He led me down a short hallway and into another room, and when the doors opened, I stopped in my tracks again.

“Wow,” I breathed out.

The walls were alive. Swirls of blue and gold moved like they had a heartbeat, stars spinning and melting into one another, light pooling on the floor so it felt like we were standing inside the sky.

19:58 Fri, Feb 6 MM.

Chapter 125

I took a slow step forward, then another, afraid I’d wake up.

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Atlas watched me, not the stars. I could feel it. When I glanced back, he was smiling softly, hands in his pockets like this was no big deal and not something that might actually make me cry.

We stood in silence for a moment, watching the beauty of the space, stars, and planets. Then Atlas said.

“Hey, remember that presentation you did back in high school?” Atlas asked, his voice low. “The one about stars?”

“Duh. I totally destroyed you.” I said with a teasing smile.

He laughed, that lazy, quiet kind of laugh. “You beat me by one point.”

I smirked. “Still counts.”

His smile stretched, warm and real. And for a second, he just looked at me, not like I was standing here now, but like he was seeing the girl I was back then.

“Anyway,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Miss First Place… there was something you said that day that stuck with

me.”

I tilted my head a little. My fingers messed with the edge of my shirt. “Oh yeah? What’d I say?”

“You said stars don’t care how many others are up there with them,” he murmured. “That even when the sky’s full, they all still shine. None of them fade. They just do their thing. Bright and steady.”

My chest tightened, throat suddenly dry.

“And you said something about how even though they’re far away, like really far, they still matter, because we still see them. Their light still reaches us.”

Пooked away, swallowing hard. I didn’t even remember saying that, but it sounded like something I would’ve said back then. Back before everything changed. Back when I still felt like I could shine.

“You remember that?” I asked, my voice quieter than I meant it to be.

“Yeah,” he said. “Of course I do.” His hand reached for mine, fingers brushing against my knuckles before lacing with them. “And I think about it a lot. Especially now.”

I glanced down at my prosthetic, the guilt swelling in my chest like a wave I couldn’t hold back.

“I’m not that person anymore, Atlas,” I whispered. “I can’t even get in the damn pool without feeling like I’m drowning. I don’t feel like any kind of star. I feel like I’m just… there.”

His grip tightened around mine.

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong,” he said, stepping closer until our shoulders touched. “You are that person. You’re still her. And even if you can’t see it right now… You still shine.”

I looked up at him, eyes stinging.

“I mean it,” he said gently. “You’ve been through hell, and you’re still standing. That doesn’t make you weaker, Em. That makes you stronger. You’re still the brightest damn thing I’ve ever seen.”

My heart felt like it was cracking open in my chest.

He smiled softly, brushing his thumb across the back of my hand. “You don’t need to swim to be a star. You just have to be you. And that’s more than enough.”

19:58 Fri, Feb 6

Chapter 125

ཁྭ།, (6

EI 55 vouchers

A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. He caught it with his thumb, like he’d been waiting to do that.

“You’re my star, Em,” he said, eyes shutting. “You always have been. Even when you can’t see it…I still do.”

I bit my lower lip, forehead tipping forward to rest against his. We stayed like that for a second, just breathing the same air.

And then, so quietly I almost didn’t say it, I whispered,

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