Semua Bab The Hockey Star Regret : Bab 151 - Bab 154

COLEENThe office smelled faintly of coffee, printer ink, and the kind of old paper that made my heart feel full. My summer internship at Rutherford & Pine Publishing had only just begun, and already, I’d fallen in love with the chaos.I sat at my cubicle, sorting through a stack of manuscripts so tall it looked like it might collapse at any moment. The office buzzed with low chatter phones ringing, keyboards clicking, someone laughing near the water cooler.I wasn’t an editor. Not yet. I wasn’t even allowed to read most submissions past the first ten pages unless assigned. My job was simple: log the manuscripts, make notes if something stood out, fetch coffee, file documents, and occasionally run errands for the senior assistants. It was grunt work. Exhausting. Repetitive. But I didn’t mind.Every day I was surrounded by books by writers whose words had made it through this same process. The thought made even the paper cuts worth it.Around noon, I took a break in the small kitchen.

HAYDENThe restaurant was dimly lit, the golden glow from the chandeliers glinting off the champagne glasses and soft white linen. A string quartet played somewhere near the corner, the quiet hum of conversation filling the air, laughter, clinking cutlery, the occasional burst of applause from another table.But all I could think about was her.Coleen.She was laughing at something Alicia had said, her hand covering her mouth the way it always did when she was trying to hold it in. Her eyes sparkled, that same mix of mischief and warmth that made me fall for her in the first place.I still couldn’t believe I’d pulled this off.It had taken weeks of planning, countless phone calls with Mark, Alicia, and Jason even Coleen’s dad was in on it. Everyone had agreed she deserved a proper celebration, not just a diploma and a handshake.She thought it was just dinner with a few friends. She had no idea that every detail, from the soft pink flowers on the tables to the playlist I made of her f