Chapter 3 Excuses

I stared at the screen. My heart was throbbing with pain. After so many years, Sebastian and I still did not look like we belonged together.

During our college days, he was top of the class, student council president, and the teacher's favorite.

As for me, I was ordinary. Decent grades, always buried in novels, the kind of girl people barely noticed.

After starting work, he got promoted three times within three years. He was the company's bright young talent while I was just a clerk, just another employee trying to make a living.

Everyone who knew us all felt that Hanna was kind.

She liked Sebastian too, but never accepted him because she was being considerate of my feelings. So they had called me delusional for chasing him.

Sebastian and I never acted like a couple in front of anyone, but he was always there to protect me and even got cut by a thug once.

We were only saved when the police arrived.

That night, he looked into my teary eyes and said, "Cassandra, don't walk alone at night anymore."

That single sentence convinced me that my feelings were finally being reciprocated. After that, we finally got together and even quietly got married. I thought we were going to have a happy ending.

Then, Hanna returned.

She joined a rival company and stole a project Sebastian had worked on for six months. She felt bad after it and introduced a few huge clients to him to make up for it.

One favor became another. Before long, they were talking almost every day.

Among our old classmates, people began calling them the pair who should have ended up together.

At first, Sebastian would hold me and reassure me, "They're just joking about high school. Don't take it to heart."

But he started working later and later. He would come home with perfume on his clothes that wasn't mine. He started going to the gym and buying clothes from brands he never cared about before.

Strawberry lollipops and dried mango snacks filled the car's console box. Those were Hanna's favorites.

The thing I could never forgive, though, was my miscarriage three months ago.

During the darkest time of my life, I could not reach him. He would not answer my calls.

I found out later that he went on a business trip, and Hanna was there too. Someone at his level had no need to attend that project personally.

I begged him to come back to me. His tone was soft and gentle. "Be good, Cass. This project is very important to me. Besides, Hanna is an old friend. We should help where we can. I hired a nanny for you. Take some good rest at home. We'll have the wedding once you're all better."

Sebastian brushed me off as if it was nothing. His promise of a wedding made me swallow every doubt and resentment.

I pretended nothing had happened. I pretended I did not notice how differently he treated Hanna.

I started looking at wedding dresses and venues, and imagined how we would look standing in front of everyone. It was not until today that I finally accepted the truth.

The reason we never seemed to fit together was not because of what people thought. It was because Sebastian chose someone else every time he had to make a decision. I was never his priority.

It was already evening when he returned home. When he noticed my gaze, he hid his hand behind his back.

He walked over, crouched in front of me, and met my eyes. "I was trying to shield Hanna last night. A broken bottle caught my hand. It's nothing serious. Her post was only to thank me. It's nothing. Don't read too much into it."

I avoided his hand and was just about to speak when the door opened again.