All Chapters of The One Who Stole His Every Goodnight: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I stayed in the guest room for seven days.On the seventh day, I got off work early. When I got home, the light in the entryway was still off. As I bent down to change my shoes, I spotted a pair I'd never seen before in the shoe cabinet. It was nude pink, brand new, and with not a speck of dust on the soles. My dark blue slippers had been squeezed to the very bottom layer, with one side stacked on top of the other. I took them out and placed them on the top layer.But when I came back the next evening, the dark blue slippers were once again back at the bottom, whereas the nude pink pair sat neatly on the top layer, toes pointing outward and perfectly arranged.In the kitchen cabinet, the coaster embroidered with "Exclusively Lena's" was still there. I pulled it out and set it on the coffee table in the living room.That evening, when Atticus came back with his briefcase in hand, his tie hanging loosely around his neck, he paused for a moment upon seeing the coaster on the coffe

After that, Atticus and I started giving each other the cold shoulder.My business trip was scheduled for six days, but I wrapped things up early. On the fifth day, I changed my ticket to the earliest train back home. When I pushed open the front door, a pair of heels I didn't recognize sat in the entryway. They were Elena's. Her magazines were spread across the coffee table, and a lace nightgown of hers was tossed over the arm of the couch. On the kitchen stove, a pot of soup sat simmering, steam curling out from under the lid.This time, I went straight to the master bedroom. The bedding had been changed again.My skincare products, which I'd put in place on the vanity, had all been packed into a clear storage bin and set on the floor. The bottles and jars were all squeezed in at odd angles. On the vanity, Elena's things sat neatly arranged, each bottle labeled with a sticker.The closet door was half open, and all my clothes had been pushed to the far edge. The space that ha

Two months later, I moved to a small town in the south. I took on some design jobs and started a studio with my business partner, Miles Brennan. Life was quiet. Every day, I got up at 7:00 am and made myself a breakfast of a boiled egg and a slice of toast. I would leave the house at 8:00 am and walk 20 minutes to the studio.In the evenings, I would head home after dark, sometimes picking up a slice of pizza on the way and having it out on the balcony. The day Atticus found me, I was at a building supply store, picking out tiles. Crouched on the floor, I ran my fingers along the edges of two tiles to compare them—one was matte and the other was glossy.Miles stood beside me, helping me carry sample boxes, taking them down from the shelves one by one and stacking them on the cart. I took a tile he handed me, held it up to study the grain, and smiled.When I looked up, still smiling, I caught sight of a man standing about 20 yards off. He was wearing a gray coat with the zipper u

A few months down the road, I moved to another city and started my own studio.The studio wasn't large. There were just two rooms—one was my office, and the other was a conference room for meeting clients. The conference room had windows facing the street, and on one of the windowsills sat a potted plant, its vines trailing down almost to the floor.One afternoon, I was in the middle of a meeting with a client in the conference room on the second floor when all of a sudden, my assistant pushed the door open and entered. I could clearly tell from her expression that something was off. She walked over to me and said in a lowered voice, "There's a man downstairs who's on his knees and holding up a sign. He says his name is Atticus and that he's your husband."The client looked at me, and I looked back at her."Please excuse me for a moment," I said, getting up and walking over to the window to look down. Atticus was kneeling in the middle of the plaza downstairs. There was nothing

Three years later, I settled in a coastal city and moved my studio here. It wasn't large, but business was steady.I lived alone and kept an orange tabby cat that was so plump its belly nearly touched the ground when it walked.On weekends, I would go for walks along the beach. There were always plenty of people there, whether they were families with children or couples holding hands.I'd take off my shoes and let my bare feet sink into the sand. The cooling waves would wash up over the tops of my feet and then recede, carrying the sand away from beneath my soles.I never dated again. It wasn't that I couldn't let go of Atticus. I simply felt that I was perfectly fine alone. I knew where everything in the house was, I put the dishes away myself after washing them, and on weekends, I could sleep in for as long as I wanted.Occasionally, I would have friends offer to set me up with someone, but I'd decline every time. Then, they would always ask if I was still hung up on the pas