Hurricane Night: My Boyfriend Chose Her

Stella's POV

Over the phone, I asked, "Where are you?"

Ariel Hewitt replied, "We're on the way back to my house. Tommy said it was too dangerous for me to go back alone.

"Oh, right. He said he texted you half an hour ago and asked you to take a cab home yourself. Stella, you're already home, right?"

The wind howled outside the window, and my heart slowly sank.

Over the past three years, Tommy Hart seemed to care most about Ariel, his female colleague, and gave her all his attention.

And the last of my feelings for him finally disappeared.

"Yes. I'm home."

A home where Tommy no longer belonged.

…

Ariel clearly sighed in relief over the phone. "I'm glad you're home. We're almost at my place too.

"But the hurricane is about to make landfall. Tommy wants me to tell you that he might have to spend the night at my place."

I merely hum in response, sounding indifferent.

Then Tommy's voice came through the phone. Even though he was some distance away, I could still hear the warmth in his voice.

"Are you cold? Shall I turn up the AC?"

Ariel said with a chuckle, "Tommy, it's summer now!"

She was right. It was summer, but I felt cold all over. No matter what, I couldn't stop trembling.

I ended the call and stared at Tommy's chat. There was no message from him telling me to take a cab home.

Maybe he did message me, but it just didn't go through due to the poor signal. That proved that he hadn't checked our chat again after sending that text.

Back then, Tommy wasn't like this. When we first started dating, he was always on his phone, except when he was sleeping or in class. He would text me about every little thing, even when a dog on the street barked at him.

Whenever I texted him, he would reply to me immediately. He said he didn't want to miss any of my messages, and he was afraid that if something happened to me, he wouldn't know right away.

And now, he was worried about someone else.

A bitter ache settled within me. The howling wind outside seemed to tighten its grip on my heart, squeezing it over and over again.

At 6:00 pm, the hurricane made landfall, and I was stuck alone in the office. I walked into the break room and shut the door before messaging my parents, who lived in another city, to let them know that I was safe.

Mom and Dad asked, "You're with Tommy, right?"

I thought for a moment before replying, "Yes."

The screen went black, and the room fell into darkness again. It was so quiet that all I could hear was the wind and rain outside.

Just then, my phone screen lit up, and my heart skipped a beat. I grabbed it and checked my messages almost without thinking.

In the next moment, my hopes sank. It was just a government safety reminder message. The last line read, "Please stay home with your family. No matter how severe the hurricane is, we'll get through it together."

Everyone was posting on Instagram, talking about how intense the hurricane was while sharing photos of their dinner that night.

My stomach grumbled, reminding me that I hadn't eaten anything yet. I rummaged through the break room and found a bag of cookies. I began nibbling on them while scrolling through everyone's food posts on Instagram.

As I scrolled, my finger froze on the screen when I saw a familiar profile picture.

"What am I going to do? My colleague's cooking is so good that it's ruined me for anything else!"

It was a photo showing a familiar spread of three dishes and a bowl of soup. They were Tommy's signature dishes.

In the frame, all I saw was his hand flashing a peace sign.

Tommy once said that, apart from his parents, I would be the only person he would ever cook for.

The only person, huh?

I liked the Instagram post and left a comment. "I suggest you ask him to be your boyfriend."

It wasn't long before Tommy sent me a message. "Stella, was that comment really necessary?"

Necessary?

What Tommy and Ariel did was far more ridiculous than anything I said.

Tommy had opened my chat, but he failed to realize that the other message had never gone through. He didn't even ask where I was.

My fingers tightened around my phone. Just as I was about to tell him that I hadn't gone home at all and was alone in the office, I heard a deafening blast from outside.