Semua Bab Her last name, His claim: Bab 21 - Bab 30

I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t.Everytime I closed my eyes, I saw Nathan shoving Enzo. I heard the things he said and the weight of my own words too.“I’m done with both of you.”I’d meant it at the moment. God, I’d meant it.But now, sitting in the dark at 2AM, staring at my phone, still off. I wasn’t so sure.Part of me wanted to turn it on. See if they’d texted.The other part was terrified of what I’d find.I turned it on, and immediately, notifications started rolling in. Dozens of texts from Nathan and one from Enzo asking If I was okay.Nathan was drowning, pulling me down with him.And I didn’t know what I was doing anymore.I turned my phone off again and drifted off to sleep.I woke up to pounding on my door.For a second, I thought I was dreaming. Then it came again, louder.“Elena! Open up.”I dragged myself off the couch, still in yesterday’s clothes and opened the door.Maya, Judy and Olive stood there, arms full of coffee cups and a pastry bag.For a second, I wondered if t

I couldn’t sleep.Judy’s guest room was warm and comfortable, but none of that mattered. Every time I closed my eyes, I was back in my apartment, pinned against the wall, Nathan’s hands around my throat.So I stared at the ceiling instead, listening to the sounds around me.Around 3AM, I finally gave up on sleep and went to the living room.Judy was already there, curled up on the couch with a blanket and her laptop.She didn’t ask what happened. She just lifted the blanket and let me crawl under it beside her, like we were kids again. We watched movies until morning and that helped me more than any conversation could have.By morning, Olive and Maya were there. They knew something was wrong because they spoke to me as if I was made of glass and one wrong word could shatter me. I told Maya I couldn’t go to work, she nodded and disappeared into the kitchen to call in to work for me. I was left with Judy and Olive, who sat beside me like bodyguards.“You don’t have to tell us,” Olive s

I stood in the doorway of my apartment, staring at the space I’d avoided for over a week.It looked exactly the same. Same couch, same bookshelves. It felt different though, probably because I wasn’t the same person.“You sure you’re ready?” Judy asked behind me, carrying a bag of my stuff from her place.“Yeah,” I said. “I am.”The girls had insisted on helping me “move back in”, even though I’d only been gone a week and most of my stuff was already here. But they weren’t really here to move anything. They were here to make sure I was okay.“Alright,” Judy announced, dropping her purse on the counter like she owned the place. “Operation Reclaim Elena’s Life is officially on.”Olive rolled her eyes. “Did you seriously just call it that?”“I did. And it’s perfect.” Judy clapped her hands together. “First order of business: we’re getting rid of anything Nathan-related.”I squeezed my hands together. “I don’t know if I’m ready.”“Too late!” Judy was already pulling open my closet. “Oh my

Monday morning hit differently.I don’t know maybe it was the new haircut or maybe it was the fact that I’d spent the weekend dancing in New York without thinking about my ex-fiance once. Whatever it was, I walked into the library with my head held high and a smile on my face.“Look at you,” Maya said the second she saw me. “You’re glowing.”“Well, I had a good weekend,” I said, dropping my bag.“Yeah, it totally shows.” Olive appeared from behind a bookshelf. “You look like a different person.”“A hot person,” Judy added, walking up with coffee. “Here. I got you the good stuff. You’ve earned it.”I took the cup gratefully. “You guys are too much.”“We’re exactly the right amount,” Judy said. “So, catch us up. How was the rest of the weekend after we dropped you off?”“Quiet,” I said. “Good. I actually slept.”“No nightmares?” Maya asked gently.I shook my head. “No. I just slept. It was nice.”The three of them exchanged looks that I pretended not to see.“What?” I asked.“Nothing,”

I changed my outfit four times before I finally gave up and went with the first one. The cream sweater and jeans, simple and casual, just the way I like it. I didn’t want to treat this as a big deal.Except it was.Because in exactly fifteen minutes, Enzo was picking me up for our first official date as part of the "one month deal."Day one of thirty.Day one of either falling back in love with him or finally getting closure.To stay I was unaffected by all this would be the biggest lie ever. My brain was trying so hard to be rational and protect me, but my heart, that traitor, had no business with that.I stared at my reflection, trying to calm the nervous flutter in my stomach."This is fine," I told myself. "It's just dinner, just talking. You've done this before."Except I hadn't. Not really. Not like this.When we got married, we'd been together as friends for two years already. We'd skipped the nervous first-date phase entirely. We'd gone from "I like you" to "I love you" to "le