6
A week later, it was my mom’s birthday.
I told Dylan very clearly not to invite Ashton.
I didn’t want any drama.
I just wanted one peaceful family dinner.
Of course, Ashton still showed up.
He came alone.
No Sienna.
No warning.
Just a gift bag in one hand and that calm face he always wore when he was about to ruin my mood.
“Aunt Laura, happy birthday.”
My mom took the gift, surprised.
Dylan laughed.
“Showing up solo? Where’s your girlfriend? You should’ve brought her. Mom would’ve loved to meet the girl you’ve been obsessing over since high school.”
My mother blinked and looked over.
“Girlfriend?”
Dylan answered for him immediately.
“Yep. His high school dream girl. He finally got her.”
“Ashton’s been secretly in love for years.”
“Pretty romantic, right?”
“Dylan,” Ashton said suddenly.
His voice was tight.
“I need to talk to you.”
Dylan frowned, but followed him out of the living room.
My mom looked from their backs to me.
For a second, I could’ve sworn there was pity in her eyes.
Then the doorbell rang again.
Ryan.
Of course.
He walked in carrying a ridiculously expensive gift and a smile too bright to be trusted.
My mom laughed.
“Well, this birthday’s lively.”
Ryan handed her the present and leaned in like he was telling her a scandal.
“I’m pursuing Chloe, so I figured I’d better make a good impression.”
“Aunt Laura, don’t be mad I showed up uninvited.”
My mother froze.
Then her entire face lit up.
I wanted to die.
“Ryan!” I hissed. “Shut up.”
But he only grinned wider.
“What? I like you openly. Why shouldn’t your mom know?”
“Now she can help keep an eye on me and evaluate whether I’m worthy.”
Then he turned to my mom with total shamelessness.
“Right, Aunt Laura?”
And my traitorous mother nodded like this was the most delightful thing she’d heard all year.
My whole face went hot.
But underneath the embarrassment, something strange stirred.
A warmth.
A softness.
A stupid little happiness I didn’t want to name.
Because for the first time, I understood something with painful clarity.
Real love wants daylight.
It doesn’t hide you.
It doesn’t keep you behind excuses.
It doesn’t leave you standing in shadows while it protects someone else’s pride.
I glanced across the room.
Ashton had returned.
He was looking straight at me.
The emotions in his eyes hit all at once.
Regret. Anger. Panic. Guilt.
Something desperate too.
And in that moment, the heavy fog that had been sitting inside me for weeks suddenly started to clear.
Like I could finally breathe again.
The dinner was wonderful.
Almost suspiciously wonderful.
Until near the end, when I slipped out into the backyard garden for a little quiet and Ashton followed me.
I sat down on the old swing bench under the tree and stared at nothing.
A second later, the swing moved gently.
I turned.
He was standing behind me.
His eyes were red.
There was alcohol on his breath.
“Chloe,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
The night air moved through the yard.
My heart still tightened when I looked at him.
But not the way it used to.
No more tearing pain.
No more feeling like I was dying.
Just an old ache.
A bruise someone kept pressing on.
I shook my head.
“It’s fine.”
“No,” he said immediately. “It isn’t.”
I stood up from the swing.
“We’re not together. We’re not anything.”
“From now on, you’re just a stranger to me.”
He stepped closer.
“Why?”
I actually stared at him.
Why?
That was the question he had?
I’d already said everything there was to say.
I’d stopped clinging to him.
He had the girl he’d wanted for years.
What more did he want from me?
“Chloe,” he said, coming closer again, “let’s not break up, okay?”
“If you’re mad, hit me. Yell at me. Do whatever you want.”
“Just don’t be this cold.”
His voice had this ugly, pleading edge to it.
The kind that would’ve destroyed me a month ago.
He kept moving closer, like instinct was carrying him.
Like he still thought he could fall back into the version of us that only existed when he reached for me.
“I already ended things with Sienna,” he said quickly. “Actually… it doesn’t even count. We were never really together.”
“You’re my girlfriend.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
He sounded almost aggrieved.
Like he was the one who’d been wronged.
Like I was supposed to be relieved by that confession.
“Ashton—”
“Chloe!”
My mother’s voice cut through the garden at the exact same time.
Ashton jerked back like he’d just woken up.
Mom hurried over and pulled me behind her.
“Your dad’s looking for you,” she told me. “Go inside. I need to talk to Ashton.”
I hesitated.
Then nodded and left.
I didn’t walk fast.
So I still heard fragments.
My mom’s voice—firm, calm, serious.
Ashton’s lower, messier, almost begging.
But I didn’t care enough to stay.
That was the strange thing.
Not caring felt so much better than loving him ever had.
After that night, Ashton disappeared for a few days.
Then he started showing up on campus.
Outside the library.
At the dorm entrance.
Near my classroom door.
Always holding something.
The little cakes I liked.
The flowers I used to mention casually.
Small gifts.
Exactly my taste.
Ashton was brilliant that way.
If he wanted to, he could memorize every preference a person had and make devotion look effortless.
But I wasn’t interested in investigating why he and Sienna broke up.
Or why he suddenly decided I mattered now.
Those were pointless questions.
I didn’t need answers to things that wouldn’t change my choice.
Still, after a month of him haunting my school like a tragic male lead who’d shown up too late, I finally got sick of it.
One afternoon, instead of avoiding him, I walked straight toward him.
His eyes lit up immediately.
“Chloe—”
“Ashton.”
My voice was calm enough to make him stop.
“Do you know the secret to happiness?”
He blinked.
Clearly not expecting that.
I kept going.
“The secret is this. If you have an apple, you care about the apple.”
“When you were with me, your heart was with Sienna.”
“When you got Sienna, you started remembering how good I was to you.”
“If you keep living like that, you’re never going to be happy.”
He shook his head quickly.
“No. That’s not it.”
“I thought Sienna was unfinished business. An old obsession.”
“But when I was actually with her, I realized she wasn’t the person I’d built up in my mind anymore.”
He looked wrecked.
His gaze dropped.
“I know I hurt you. I know I was wrong.”
“But I really do want to make it right now.”
“You loved me for so long.”
“Do you really want us to miss our chance?”
I looked at him for a long second.
Then answered honestly.
“The moment you chose someone else while we were still together, I stopped loving you.”
“And losing you?”
“I don’t regret it.”
“I’m grateful.”
He went pale.
I didn’t say anything else.
Just walked away.
That night, he sat outside my dorm until sunrise.
I saw him once through the window.
Then I pulled the curtain shut.