Todos los capítulos de The Scandal In Room 214: Capítulo 71 - Capítulo 80

Jake POVSomething had changed. I couldn’t figure out exactly when. Maybe it had been after her father died, maybe before that. Maybe I had just been too distracted to notice.But lately, Candace felt different. She still laughed at my jokes. She still kissed me goodbye. She still let me hold her. Nothing about us looked different from the outside.It was the little things. Her phone staying in her hand longer than usual. The way she’d look at the screen and turn it over when I walked into the room. The pauses before she answered certain questions.The way she sometimes seemed somewhere else while I was talking to her. I noticed all of it. I tried not to. That was the problem. The more I told myself to stop paying attention, the more I did.One afternoon, I texted her.Me: What are you doing?No response. I waited. Ten minutes. Then twenty. I checked the time again.Me: Everything okay?Nothing. I put my phone down. Picked it up again. Still nothing. By the time she finally replied, a

Candace POVI barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Jake walking away, and I kept hearing his voice. I loved you. I turned over in bed and checked my phone again, but there were no calls, no messages, nothing. I had already called him more times than I could count, and his phone was still off.I stared at the ceiling, wondering what could have happened to him and whether he had done something stupid because of me. The thought made my chest tighten.I sat up and grabbed my phone again, his number still at the top of my recent calls, and pressed it. It went straight to voicemail, so I ended the call before the recording finished.My hands were shaking when a knock sounded at the door, and I froze until I heard Elias.“Candace?”I opened the door. He looked tired.“You haven’t been answering.”“I didn’t hear you.”His eyes moved over my face.“You haven’t slept.”“I couldn’t.”He stepped inside.“Have you heard from Jake?”I shook my head.“Nothing.”Elias’s jaw tightened.“I’

Candace POV I should have called Elias. I knew that as I stood beside my car, staring at the address on my phone while every reasonable thought in my head told me to turn around.I could call someone, tell the police, tell my therapist even, tell anyone who could come with me. I just shouldn’t go alone.But then I thought about Jake’s messages.Sometimes I think it’d be easier if I just disappeared completely.And then:Come alone.I couldn’t ignore it.I got into my car and drove.The address took me farther away from campus than I expected. The streets became quieter as I drove, and the houses grew more spread out. I kept checking my phone, but there were no new messages. I called the number, but it went straight to voicemail.I almost turned around twice.Then again…the guilt when I remembered his face the morning he left, the way he’d looked at me, completely broken. I couldn’t leave him alone with whatever was happening inside his head.Maybe I was being stupid by coming here, b

Candace's povI stared at Jake, trying to understand what he had just asked me. The word marry kept replaying in my head, but it didn’t make any sense coming from him, not after everything he had just shown me.He had spent days collecting photographs, messages, recordings, and whatever else he could find, and now he was standing in front of me asking me to become his wife as if that could somehow fix everything between us.“Are you seriously asking me to marry you?”He nodded. “Yes. I’m asking you to marry me.”I almost laughed, but nothing about this was funny. “You can’t be serious. After everything that just happened, you expect me to believe you’re actually asking me to marry you?”“I am serious. I’m giving you a way out.”“No.” I shook my head. “You’re giving me a choice I shouldn’t have to make.”Jake’s expression tightened. “You’re making this harder than it needs to be. I’m not asking you to do something impossible.”“You’re blackmailing me.”“I’m trying to get my girlfriend

By the time the sun came up, I had already made the decision three times and regretted it three times.I barely slept after leaving Elias. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard my own voice saying the words I had been trying not to say.I think I have to marry Jake.I hated how final they sounded.By morning, I still hadn’t changed my mind. That was the worst part. I didn’t even know if there was a right decision anymore. I only knew that Jake had seventy-two hours, and the clock was already moving.I spent most of the day avoiding my phone. Every notification made my stomach twist, and I eventually turned my phone face down on my bed just so I wouldn’t have to see the screen lighting up.I tried distracting myself. I watched television without paying attention to what was playing. I walked around my room, picking things up and putting them down again because I couldn’t settle my mind.Nothing helped.By evening, I knew I couldn’t keep running from the one person I actually needed to s