He Thought I Was Being Good, I Was Just Getting Ready to leave Chapter 17

He Thought I Was Being Good, I Was Just Getting Ready to leave Chapter 17

I let Harrison have just enough of me, just like before.

Over that year, he slowly went back to his old self, starting with a guilty conscience and ending with the same entitled attitude.

In his mind, no matter how big the fight, it was just another ordinary argument.

I was still the same good girl he could push around. I’d get mad, and then I’d come back.

We went on like this for a long time, almost until I graduated.

The day before Harrison left to go home again, he seemed distracted. He kept tapping his fingers on the desk like he was making a difficult decision.

I glanced at him, then looked back at my book.

He smiled a little. “Wait till I get back. I have a surprise for you.”

Of course I knew what he was planning. I had a surprise of my own.

One week later, when Harrison flew in overnight and showed up at my door, the apartment door was wide open behind me, impossible to miss. And there was a shirtless man inside.

A stunning man with mixed features, almost painfully beautiful. My carefully chosen first affair.

Anyone with eyes could tell what had happened in that room the night before.

Harrison ground his cigarette out. He stared at me and Lucas from across the distance. Then he laughed.

Before he could explode, I patted Lucas’s face and told him to go.

Lucas looked at Harrison and raised an eyebrow. Then he started playing up the helpless act.

“He looks mean. No wonder you couldn’t get rid of him. I know some people in the local…”

I covered Lucas’s mouth and pushed him out the door. Harrison was not someone to mess with.

After Lucas left, Harrison didn’t come toward me.

I expected rage. But he just stood there with his back to me, one hand braced on his car. He stayed quiet for a very long time.

Finally, he turned around. His eyes were red.

He walked a few steps and bent down in front of me, trying to look into my eyes.

“Ella.” My name came out of his mouth like broken glass. His voice shook. “Do you have any idea what I was doing this past week?”

“I went back to the family estate. I sat down with my grandmother and my mother. I told them I wanted to get married.”

“I picked out your wedding gown. I had diamond rings designed overnight. I changed the design so many times I lost count because it wasn’t perfect enough for you.”

“And while I was telling everyone I was going to marry you, you were sleeping with someone else.”

He was a fool. When people asked him why he’d suddenly changed his mind about marriage, he’d shrugged and said, “I used to think I’d never get married. I just hadn’t met the right person yet.”

When he said that, the whole room laughed.

He used to believe he’d never want anyone that badly.

But people and things are the same. The longer you keep them, the less you can let them go.

He couldn’t stand seeing her smile at other men.

Derek was the only one who tried to stop him. But not for Harrison’s sake.

He said, “Stop ruining her life.”

Harrison wouldn’t agree. He and Ella, he said, were meant to be.

If she could really leave him, she wouldn’t still be here.

He thought, Ella just needs to feel secure. Fine. He’d marry her.

For two years, she hadn’t rejected him. She hadn’t pushed him away. He was stupid enough to think that meant they’d made up.

But no. She was just waiting for this moment.