Chapter 2
While I was undergoing skin graft surgery.
Jordan was busy taking his girlfriend’s kitten to get spayed.[]
A kitten getting fixed obviously isn’t more important than a skin graft.[]
But Olivia?
She’s more important than me.]
Even the doctor winced when he saw my burns.[]
“Third–degree burns.“]]
“Even if it heals, it’s gonna leave a scar.“]
I sat there quietly, listening.
Thirteen hours of surgery–and I came out feeling more dead than alive.
When I got home after the procedure,
Jordan glanced at my long–sleeved shirt and pants and said coldly,
“I thought you ran away. Why are you back?“]
I ignored him, dragging my weak body to the bedroom to pack.
I didn’t have the energy to argue.[]
Jordan, who was always smugly waiting for me to apologize, realized I wasn’t playing along this time.
He grabbed my wrist, hard.]
I gasped, the pain sharp and sudden, my face going pale.
“What the hell is your problem now?”
“Didn’t Olivia already say she was sorry yesterday?“[]
I looked at the man who once claimed he loved me more than anything.[]
Now defending another woman without hesitation.
All I felt was a deep, bone–level disappointment.[]
I yanked my hand away, gritting my teeth through the pain.
Then met his eyes, calm and cold.
“I never accepted her apology.“[]
I walked into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.
The wedding photo on the wall came crashing down,[]
Shattering like the mess we’d made of our marriage.]
Jordan and I went to the same high school.]
It all started like some cliché teen soap.
He was the golden boy–rich, popular, untouchable.
I was the scholarship kid, barely scraping by.
One day in the cafeteria, I spilled soup on him.
Chapter 7
The fallout was brutal–he humiliated me, told me to get on my knees and apologize in front of everyone.[]
Backed into a corner, I slapped him.[]
Hard.
And to everyone’s surprise… Jordan was into it.]
He thought I was “different.” []
Started chasing me relentlessly.]
I wanted nothing to do with him.
He thought it was adorable.]
His over–the–top confessions got us both in trouble.]
His parents froze his credit cards.[]
I lost my scholarship.
But he didn’t cave.
That rich, spoiled kid got a part–time job gaming for cash.
Too much time, too much stress-
That’s when the insomnia and migraines started.]
I hated seeing him in pain but didn’t know how to help.
Then my mom got really sick.
Jordan went home with me, running errands, helping with hospital visits.[]
Oddly, he slept like a baby every night.[]
Said the scent of the big oak tree in my backyard calmed him down.
I asked a friend–an herbalist–to help me create a custom aromatherapy sachet that smelled like that tree.
It worked.
His sleep got better.
And as his health improved, so did his career.
Eventually, Jordan decided to launch his own gaming company.
He saw the market potential and dove in.
To support him, I quit my $3,000–a–month design job.[]
I poured everything into his startup–concept art, design, branding.
When the game launched, the unique visuals and storyline blew up.
Sales went crazy.
At the celebration party, he wrapped his arms around me in front of the whole team, beaming with pride.[]
I passed out from exhaustion that night
Was in a coma for three days]
When I woke up, Jordan was by my side, red–eyed and swearing he’d love me forever.]
We got married the next day.
His business took off
414
Chapter 2
I kept working harder and harder.]
But no matter how slammed I was.[]
I’d go back to that little old house every night to make his sleeping sachets.
Seven years.
Every day.
Until two days ago.
The herbs ran out.
And I didn’t need to make them anymore.[]
