The Summer Heat Was Thirty Degrees And His Lie Was A Hundred Chapter 09

The Summer Heat Was Thirty Degrees And His Lie Was A Hundred Chapter 09

Eventually, Savannah vanished from my universe, and Julian stopped his desperate attempts to corner me.

He disappeared from my life for a very long stretch of time.

Once my career stabilized, my mom predictably pivoted to pressuring me about my dating life.

Unable to withstand her constant nagging, I occasionally agreed to go on a few blind dates she’d set up.

One evening, I found myself sitting in a local café, waiting for a significant amount of time before my date finally strolled in.

I had already picked up my purse to leave, but forced myself to sit back down out of sheer politeness.

The man’s last name was Tanner.

He looked nothing like the filtered photos his matchmaker had provided.

The second he slid into the booth, he openly audited my appearance with a critical, transactional stare.

“So, you’re Chloe? Not bad.”

“Look, the matchmaker told me you’re not exactly getting any younger, and I’m looking to settle down fast.”

“If you marry me, you can just quit your job. Sounds great, right?”

“You can focus on popping out a couple of kids early and staying home to manage the house.”

The polite smile died on my face, and I stood up with cold precision.

“I appreciate your time, Mr. Tanner, but I don’t think we are a good match.”

His face twisted into an ugly sneer.

“Who the hell do you think you’re fooling? I know your history. You were

passed around by some guy for four whole years.”

“You should be thanking your lucky stars a guy like me is even willing to take you in. You’ve been completely used up, so stop acting like you’re some pure—”

A shadow blurred past me, moving with terrifying speed and precision.

Before I could even process what was happening, a heavy fist connected with the side of his face, sending him crashing to the hardwood floor.

He spat out a bloody tooth, rolling around on the ground and howling in agony.

I froze. It was Julian.

He stepped in front of me, shielding me with his body as he glared down at the man on the floor.

“Keep your disgusting mouth shut, you pathetic piece of trash.”

The man immediately called the police.

Julian spent the night in jail and faced misdemeanor assault charges because he refused to show remorse.

It took a massive chunk of his savings and a five-thousand-dollar civil settlement out of court before the guy agreed to drop the matter, leading the state to dismiss the charges.

On the day of his release, I drove over to the station to pick him up.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask you the other night—how did you happen to be at that exact café?”

Julian’s dark eyes locked onto my face, filled with intense, consuming focus.

“I resigned from my job and moved to this town two months ago.”

“I found out you liked to work out of that café, so I’ve been sitting in there almost every single day waiting for you.”

He let out a hollow laugh.

“I didn’t catch you a single time.”

“Until that evening. The things that bastard was saying to you were vile. I couldn’t just sit there.”

I felt a slight tremor of surprise, but it quickly faded.

I frowned. “Stop trying to make me feel guilty. It’s meaningless.”

“You’re a grown adult. Stop acting on such reckless impulses.”

At the end of the day, he’d landed himself in a cell because of me—so I couldn’t leave him stranded at the station.

Julian stared at me, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“Chloe… do you still care about me?”

I looked him dead in the eye, delivering each word with clarity.

“I stopped caring a long time ago.”

He flinched, his eyes rimming with heavy tears.

From the second he forced his way back into my life, my heart hadn’t flickered.

“Chloe, I finally understand how monstrously wrong I was. I’ve stayed away because I didn’t want to harass you…”

Julian’s voice cracked with a sob.

“But I can’t stop playing our memories in my head. I love you so much.”

“Look at the absolute trash your mom is setting you up with. Can’t you just give me one more chance?”

“I swear to God, I’ll be better…”

His sheer immaturity actually made me laugh.

“I’m not going to fish an old piece of garbage out of the trash just because I encountered a new one.”

“To me, there’s no difference between the two.”

Julian’s face turned completely white.

Tears spilled over his lashes, cascading silently down his hollow cheeks.

His mouth moved silently, trembling as he stood there looking broken and pathetic.

I took a deliberate, formal step backward, creating an unbridgeable chasm between us.

“If you want to keep wasting your life on these pointless displays, I can’t stop you.”

“But let me make this beautifully clear—I don’t care. No matter what grand gesture you pull, I will never look back.”

“That’s all. Goodbye, Julian.”

Without granting him another syllable, I turned on my heel and walked away. My exit was just as absolute as the night he’d walked out of my apartment holding Savannah’s hand.

Julian didn’t try to chase after me.

That was the absolute last time I ever saw his face.

Destiny was a strange thing. The world was vast, yet I’d somehow crossed paths with Julian and spent four years loving him. But the moment destiny ran out, even in a town as small as this, we never crossed paths again.

The final update I ever received regarding Julian came from a mutual acquaintance months later.

He’d lingered in our town for about half a year before giving up and moving back to his own city.

Because of his erratic resume and history of abrupt resignations, his marketing career had stalled out, leaving him unable to secure a corporate role.

Eventually, he resorted to driving full-time for Uber just to make ends meet.

His income plummeted, and the crushing financial pressure began to drown him.

Julian started pulling brutal, consecutive night shifts behind the wheel, and the isolation drove him to develop a severe drinking problem.

Unsurprisingly, he was eventually pulled over for a DUI.

He was hit with a two-thousand-dollar fine, twelve points added to his license, and a mandatory six-month suspension.

I heard that to survive the suspension, he’d taken up a minimum-wage graveyard shift at a convenience store.

I smiled and let the information slide.

Clinging to the ghosts of the past was futile.

Whether right or wrong, those chapters had burned to ash.

My horizon was wide and beautiful, and I intended to keep moving forward—never looking back.