I watch his expression shift from confusion to something darker.
“What a fucking asshole.”
A small chuckle slips past my lips. “You’re right about that.”
“So how did they react?” he asks after a few seconds.
“His mom wasn’t happy she’d been kept in the dark. Actually, saying she wasn’t happy is an understatement… she was livid. Luckily, my mom kicked them out before things could escalate too much.”
Adrian frowns slightly. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t he want anyone to know?”
I close my eyes for a moment and take a slow breath, because this is the hardest part.
“I’m going to give you the summarized version,” I whisper before continuing. “I fell for him when we were kids, but despite that, he never once saw me. Never loved me and he treated me like shit… to him, I was worse than gum stuck under his shoe.”
Adrian opens his mouth to say something, but I press a finger gently against his lips.
“Please let me finish. Otherwise… I don’t think I’ll be able to.”
He nods. “Okay.”
“He hurt me over and over again until I honestly thought I’d never fall in love again,” I continue quietly. “I became convinced love was a scam and for the longest time I kept my heart closed, afraid to give it to anyone, only to have it trampled again.”
I take another breath.
“He eventually chose someone else. Someone who, at the time, I thought was my friend. They got married and had children… I stayed out of their lives because those two had hurt me so much and I couldn’t bear watching them together year after year.”
“Again,” Adrian mutters under his breath, “what an asshole.”
I can’t help the soft chuckle that escapes me.
“I built my life around my career and the people I loved, but I never dated,” I add quietly. “Not until you.”


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