Chapter 5: A New Connection
In that moment, everything became clear.
He hadn’t invited me to give me a gift. He’d invited me to set me up with someone. My head buzzed with white noise, and my face must have shown my devastation, but I couldn’t control it.
I could accept Jake not loving me, but I couldn’t accept him eagerly pushing me onto someone else.
He knew how I felt about him. How could he be so cruel?
Or did he just want me to date someone else because he was afraid I’d keep hanging around him?
Jake seemed oblivious to my emotional state.
“You two actually met when you were kids. Don’t remember?”
I sat with my head down, not speaking. Alex didn’t seem bothered by my silence. “Autumn, you actually hit me once when we were little,” he said with a smile, showing a small scar on his forehead. “See?”
I looked up in surprise, and he continued:
“We were neighbors when I was new in town. Jake was the king of the neighborhood kids, and I kept challenging him. We’d get into fights, and you
always took his side.”
He rested his chin on his hand, his eyes crinkling. “You were such a little firecracker back then. You’ve gotten so quiet now.”
Suddenly I remembered everything.
Back then, all the kids listened to Jake. Only the new boy kept defying him. One time when they were fighting, I went to help Jake.
I was just trying to scare the new kid, but somehow I tripped, and the pebble in my hand hit him right in the forehead, drawing blood.
My mom spanked me that day and made me go to Alex’s house to apologize. His
parents were understanding, saying kids will be kids, and didn’t blame me.
After that, out of guilt, I could never refuse when Alex asked me to play. Eventually,
I spent more time with Alex than with Jake, which made Jake jealous. He
threatened
1/2
to end our friendship several times.
But Alex moved away a few years later. At first, I missed him and wrote letters, but kids forget quickly, and eventually, we lost touch.
I couldn’t believe that fierce little boy had grown into such a handsome man. “We ran into each other by chance the other day, got talking about you, and
decided we should all have dinner,” Jake said, handing me a gift box.
It was a rose gold Cartier watch.
My heart skipped. I’d casually mentioned liking it once, and he’d actually
remembered.
“Olivia helped me pick it out. What do you think? My girlfriend has great taste, right?”
My hand holding the box froze.
Olivia smiled. “I saw it when Jake and I were traveling together. I immediately thought it would look perfect on you. Do you like it?”
I suddenly found the situation darkly amusing.
Apparently, Olivia and I had similar taste–not just in watches, but in men too. She was actually a nice person.
She’d probably figured out long ago that I had feelings for Jake but had never been
unkind about it.
Instead, she’d subtly marked her territory, making sure I understood that Jake had never, not even a little bit, loved me back.
I forced the corners of my mouth up, using all my strength to make my smile look halfway normal.
“I love it. Thank you, Olivia.”
