บททั้งหมดของ Built Like Karma: The Plus Size Girl's Guide to Comeuppance : บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

Jalen’s POV Present DayWell, that was something.After she who shall not be named stormed off to sulk in the car, I decided to stay and do something I hadn’t done in way too long, enjoy a real meal with my family. The kind where you laugh, talk shit, and feel like something in your life still makes sense. Because I miss this. I miss them. Especially now, when we’re celebrating something that should feel good with both my baby brothers becoming fathers. That’s major. That’s legacy.We sat around the table, plates loaded with ribs, cornbread, mac and cheese, the kind of food that makes your soul exhale. My dad leaned back in his chair, wiping his hands with a napkin, and said, “So, Jay… did you set up that meeting we talked about?”I wiped the sauce from my chin and nodded. “Yeah, we’re set for next Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Northshore campus of Bright Initiative Group. Hopefully, Vlade won’t act up.”Out the corner of my eye, I caught Amara smirking at Patrick like they were holdi

Aria’s POV I sighed as Nia carried Maya off to join her baby brother for a nap. The house settled into a soft, warm hush , that quiet that always hits late afternoon when the day starts winding down. I glanced at the clock. Almost 5 p.m.I grabbed a bottle of sparkling pink lemonade from the fridge and sank into the couch, exhaling. A few seconds later, I was thumbing through my phone, just killing time, when the algorithm decided to punch me straight in the gut.Talia.Five freshly posted photos.My stomach tightened, but of course, I clicked.The last one stopped me cold, a side profile of him, hand on the wheel, jaw sharp and shadowed in golden hour light. He looked like every sin I’d tried to forget. The caption?“Sorry ladies, you can’t have him. He’s all mine.”I stared at the image, my grip tightening slightly on the phone. My brain said: Shake it off. He’s the devil, remember?But my body remembered everything else.Even the devil can look like heaven.“Girl, who you lookin’

Jalen’s POVAs I walk into my room, Bosco follows behind like the loyal, burned out little soldier he is. I head straight into the closet and grab a pair of pajama pants and a white undershirt. I twist open the bottle of water and pour it into his bowl in the corner before heading into the bathroom.“Alexa, play some Neo Soul and R&B,” I say, needing something warm and nostalgic to drown out the weight in my chest. The smooth voice of Floetry bleeds into the air as I stripped down and stepped into the shower. I let the water hit me, just standing there under the stream, letting the heat melt off the tension. My mind drifts again back to the time I wish I could live in forever. Three whole days with the love of my life. The one who got away.FlashbackWednesday – The day before ThanksgivingText ThreadMe: Did you pack everything?Aria: Yes. I told my mom I was eating in the campus cafeteria for Thanksgiving, and she was appalled.Me: I would be too if I had to eat cafeteria food. Peri

Jalen’s POV Wednesday – 6:22 a.m.I roll over and sigh, not from contentment, but from pure frustration.She’s lying there beside me, all wrapped up in the sheets, wearing nothing but the flimsiest scrap of silk and lace that could barely be called a nightie.If the hell that went down three years ago had never happened, maybe I’d look at her differently. But it did. And the truth is, she’s the most disgusting person I’ve ever met in my life. Worse than the devil. The things she’s done for vanity, hell, for acceptance, are beyond unforgivable.I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, trying to keep the rage from boiling over. She groans softly and starts tracing lazy circles on my back with her fingertips."Jay, come on… I said I was sorry about what happened. I just didn’t want to be pregnant. We have six viable embryos, we can hire a surrogate to carry them," she says, her voice dripping with that fake softness I’ve grown to hate.I turn and glare at her.“Fuck

Jaylen’s POV Present Day Wednesday MorningThe morning feels like a bad rerun I can’t escape. Same shower, same shave, same blow-dry, same damn suit. Same heavy weight pressing on my chest before I even hit the door. Every day I wake up, it’s the worst day of my life. Every damn day.It’s been four years since Talia trapped me into this sham of a marriage, three years since I learned the truth about the so called miscarriage, and not one sunrise since then has been free from her shadow. She’s a slow poison I’m forced to drink daily. I haven’t been truly happy since my senior year of college, and that happiness was tied to someone I no longer have the right to touch, to even speak to the way I want.I catch myself in the mirror as I adjust my tie. The man staring back doesn’t look broken, but I know better. The suit hides the cracks. My routine keeps me moving, but it doesn’t fix a damn thing.By the time I step into the office, I’ve already forced my face into something that passes