Chapter 4: First Meeting, Lasting Curse

Chapter 4: First Meeting, Lasting Curse

“Tell my driver to bring it back. That filthy bag has to go.”

 

 

 

 

“I’m done with her. No more fake friends.”

 

Each sentence stabbed through me, sharper than any knife. The girls I thought were my friends—Addison, Penelope, even Cassie—were turning against me. And they believed the lies.

“My mom says her mom is a social climber. Kourtney’s just pretending.”

“She used to work in a nightclub, according to what I heard. How embarrassing.”

My vision blurred as fresh tears escaped, hot and unrelenting. I swallowed hard, desperate to steady my breathing.

What had I done wrong? Was spending on them, helping them, being there for them all just a mistake? Were they only with me because of what I could give?

I tried to call Addison. Tried to explain. But my number was blocked. My messages ignored.

Maybe it was better this way. If they were only using me for the perks, then I didn’t want fake friends anyway. But the pain lingered, deeper and more confusing.

And then there was Mom. Her cold smiles, her whispered phone calls. What was she hiding? Why did it feel like all the secrets were tied together in one dark web?

I felt exhausted. I collapsed onto my bed, clutching my pillow tightly. All I wanted was peace. Maybe tomorrow would bring clarity.

Hours passed, and sleep finally came—a restless, shallow drift into darkness.

But then I felt it.

A soft, cold touch brushed my cheek.

My eyes fluttered open, reluctant to leave the warmth of dreams. And there he was.

Travis.

The man I tried to forget but who haunted every corner of my mind. His blue eyes—clear, intense, unreadable—were fixed on me. His hand lingered on my cheek, warm despite the chill of the night.

My heart betrayed me, beating wildly in my chest, catching up to memories I thought I buried deep.

I pushed his hand away sharply, sitting up with trembling hands. “What are you doing here?” My voice was harsher than I intended, shaking despite my effort to sound firm.

He smiled softly, the kind of smile that once melted all my defenses. “I came to check on you. You haven’t eaten yet.”

The care in his voice ignited a complicated storm inside me—anger, longing, confusion.

“That’s none of your business,” I said, trying to push him away. But the vulnerability in my heart made the words hollow.

He reached out again, brushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “You’re still too thin. You need to eat. I don’t want to see you hurting like this.”

His words were a whisper, like the gentle breeze that carried the scent of jasmine from the garden below. They dragged me back to a night I could never forget.

That night was etched in my memory—the rooftop restaurant bathed in soft golden light, the city stretching beneath us like a dream. Travis had rented the whole place just for us, the stars twinkling above like silent witnesses.

He held my hand under the sky and said, “I don’t want to see you hurting, Kourtney. You deserve more than this pain.”

Back then, his promise felt like a promise of forever.

But forever ended when he left. Without a word. Without a goodbye.

Tears pricked my eyes again, unbidden and unstoppable.

I swallowed hard, trying to hold the flood back, but it was no use.

His presence, those memories—they opened wounds I thought were closed.

“So why are you here now?” I asked, bitterness cutting through the quiet. “Are you here to hurt me again?”

He hesitated, eyes darkening with something I couldn’t name. Then he leaned closer, breath warm on my skin, face inches from mine.

“Because I never stopped loving you, Kourtney,” he said, voice low and raw.

Before I could say anything, the door burst open.

“Kourtney, I need to talk to you—” Mom’s voice cracked through the room, then stopped cold.

Her eyes locked onto Travis. And in his hand—

He was holding something.

A necklace.

My necklace.

The one Dad gave me years ago—a delicate silver chain with a tiny heart pendant. I had thought I lost it forever.

“How did you get that?” My voice trembled as I reached for it, confusion and fear swirling inside me.

Travis smiled—but it wasn’t the warm smile from our past.

It was a secret smile. A guarded smile. A smile hiding a thousand untold truths.

Mom’s eyes narrowed. The room filled with sudden, suffocating tension.

“Where did you get that?” Mom demanded, her voice cold, like the steel edge of a blade.

Travis’s gaze didn’t waver. “That, Mrs. Forger, is a long story. One I think Kourtney deserves to hear.”

My heart pounded so loud I thought it might burst.

What was he hiding? What secrets did that necklace hold?

And more importantly—what did Mom know about it?

The air around us felt charged, electric.

I looked from Mom to Travis, then back to the necklace glinting in his hand.

Everything was unraveling. Everything was falling apart.

And I was caught in the middle.

I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t want to look weak. But no matter how tightly I clenched my fists or how much I forced my breath to steady, the ache in my chest swelled like a rising tide—heavy, suffocating, and ancient, buried deep inside my heart where no light could reach.

I was only nine years old then. Just a fragile child, wide-eyed and naive, unaware of the dark storms about to crash over me. Yet, something about that summer afternoon would mark the beginning of everything—my past, my present, and my future tangled in a cruel and unbreakable curse. It was the day I first met him—the boy who would haunt my dreams, shadow my every step, and forever be tied to the secrets buried deep within my family’s soul.