All Chapters of Where Were You When the Storm Came?: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Ryan's POV"Where are you?" I asked."On the way to my place. Mel said it wasn't safe for me to go home alone," came the reply. "Oh, and she said she texted you half an hour ago telling you to grab a cab home on your own. Ryan, you're probably home by now, right?"The wind howled outside the window. My chest went cold, inch by inch.For three years, Melanie had poured every ounce of care she had into this coworker of hers. And now, the last scrap of feeling I had left for her had burned out completely."Yeah," I said. "I'm home."A home that would never have her in it again.The man on the phone sounded relieved. "Good, you're home. We'll be there soon too."The hurricane's about to make landfall, though. Mel wanted me to let you know she'll probably be staying over at my place tonight."I gave a flat, noncommittal "hm."A woman's voice came through from somewhere in the background, distant but unmistakably tender. "Are you cold? Should I turn up the heat?"Ted Rooney laughe

Chapter 2

I flinched and looked through the slats of the break room blinds. A huge section of the floor-to-ceiling window outside had shattered. Wind howled through the gap.Something flew through the hole and slammed hard into the break room door. I snapped out of my daze and shoved the couch against it.My mind went blank. When I came back to myself, I'd already dialed Melanie's number. The phone rang for almost half a minute before she picked up.Before I could even speak, she said, rushed, "Ryan, hang on, I'm a little busy right now..."I forced down the panic and said, my voice hoarse, "Mel, I'm at the office. The window out here just shattered. I..."It took her a while to respond. "What window? The one in the living room? Just go wait in the bedroom, you'll be fine. I'll get someone to fix it tomorrow..."I could hear the faint sound effects of a video game in the background. A second later, Ted whooped loudly, "Ha! I won again!"Melanie sighed, indulgent. "Fine, fine, I lost. A be

Chapter 3

By the time I got to the office, workers were already repairing the window. My coworkers were still shaken."God, thank goodness we left early yesterday. Can you imagine if we'd still been here?"One of them spotted me and gave a little wave. "Ryan, your girlfriend came to pick you up yesterday, right?"I smiled. "Nope. She was busy driving a coworker home."The office went quiet.Someone asked carefully, "So you took a cab home by yourself?""I spent the night in the break room."Everyone seemed to hold their breath. After a long moment, a coworker patted my shoulder, comforting. "Ryan, you're so strong."I didn't see why I shouldn't just say it plainly. After all, I wasn't the one who'd done anything wrong.Near the end of the workday, a message came in from Melanie.[I'm outside your building.]I paused. It had been nearly a year since she'd last come to pick me up after work. Even the times she promised to, she'd usually end up bailing because of something to do with Ted

Chapter 4

Melanie's eyes stayed fixed on the door. "Forgot to mention, that project Ted landed went through, and management's about to promote him. This is his celebration party."Melanie's attention was elsewhere. She didn't notice how cold my voice had gotten."Right, and you always complain that I never bring you along when I hang out with coworkers, so I figured this time I'd invite you.""Melanie, do you remember what today is?"She looked at me, blank.I smiled and nodded, then said, "Melanie, let's break up."Bang!"Congratulations to Ted on the promotion!"The confetti poppers and cheers drowned out my voice completely. Melanie had already rushed over to Ted and thrown her arms around him.I curled my lips in a mocking half-smile and walked out.I opened my phone and found a message my mother had sent half an hour earlier.[Your dad and I are boarding the plane. Ryan, as long as you're ready to move on, I'll finally be able to stop worrying.]The girl happened to be in Maison

Chapter 5

My mom and dad were seated in the private room, along with a young woman she didn't recognize. The young woman sat next to me. When Melanie walked in, the woman had just been serving me food.My mom sat across from us, smiling as she said to my dad, "Soph's just as thoughtful as ever. I only mentioned once that Ryan can't handle rich, heavy food, and look, she's already picked around every piece of cheese."My dad chuckled and nodded along.Whatever Melanie had been carrying hit the floor with a thud. Her mouth opened, and she actually stammered. "Mr. and Mrs. Jonas, Ryan, what... what's going on here?"That was the first time anyone in the room seemed to register she'd arrived. My mom's smile faded slightly, and she said nothing. My dad glanced at her, his expression cool.It wasn't hard to understand why my parents didn't like her. Two years earlier, they'd asked to meet Melanie for the first time. By then we'd already been together for over four years. She'd agreed readily en

Chapter 6

After saying goodbye to Sophie, my parents and I headed back to the hotel.Melanie's messages didn't stop all night. She knew I wouldn't pick up a call, so she just kept texting instead.[Ryan, are you mad because I asked you to help clear things up for Ted? I really didn't think you'd take it this seriously. I already had him delete the post.][Or is it about the celebration party? That was the whole department's idea, not just mine. If it bothers you, I won't go to anything like that again.][You can be mad. You can yell at me, whatever you want. Just please don't say we're breaking up.][You never brought up breaking up before, even when you were furious...]She was right. Back then, I couldn't bear to let go of what we had. I couldn't bear to let go of the girl who'd burned her hands teaching herself to cook so I could eat healthy, home-cooked meals. I couldn't bear to let go of the girl who'd racked her brain to make me laugh whenever I was sick and miserable. I couldn

Chapter 7

Third-Person POVMelanie sat at her desk, staring blankly at her silent phone screen. It had been two days since Ryan warned her not to text him anymore.She'd assumed he was just still upset, that once he calmed down, he'd reach out to her first. That was how it had always gone before. Even when he was angry, within two days he'd be back to joking around with her like nothing happened.But this time, she felt a panic unlike anything she'd known before.That day in the private room, the look Ryan had given her had been so cold. No trace of a smile, not even resentment or blame in his eyes. He'd looked at her like she was a stranger who meant nothing to him.He used to sulk. He used to pick fights and ask her, over and over, whether she'd stopped loving him. It used to annoy her a little, but deep down it had also given her a small thrill. It meant Ryan was crazy about her. It meant Ryan would never leave her.So she'd leaned on that love and stopped thinking things through. Whene

Chapter 8

The rest of the coworkers all froze.Melanie had turned Ted down? Are pigs flying?Getting rejected in front of everyone made Ted's face burn. He quickly arranged his expression into something innocent, his voice going slightly hoarse, wounded."Why not, Mel? Aren't you driving anyway...?"Melanie turned and shot him a look so cold it made his stomach drop."I'm picking up my boyfriend from work," she said, impatient. "Obviously I'm not free."At that, the whole office set down whatever they'd been doing and perked up, hungry for gossip.The coworker across from her hesitated, but curiosity won out. "Wait, Mel, didn't you always say your boyfriend was super independent, that he could get himself home just fine and never needed you to pick him up?"Melanie blinked. "Did I really say that?"Several coworkers nodded at once. One of the women seemed to remember something."I remember last year, on his birthday, you were saying in the office that morning you were going to take him

Chapter 9

The coworker rolled his eyes. "How should I know? Ask him yourself. All I know is he waited all excited for his girlfriend to pick him up after work, and she never showed, so he ended up stuck at the office all night. The window in our building shattered, and he hid out alone in the break room and toughed it out without even eating dinner. So what exactly were you doing that whole time?"Melanie shook her head. "That's not possible... why would he have been stuck at the office? I texted him..."Her hands trembling, she pulled up her phone and scrolled back through the chat log until she found the message she'd sent.[Ryan, something came up last minute. Grab a cab home on your own, and stay safe on the road.]Right beneath it sat a glaring red exclamation mark, warning her the message had failed to send.Her whole body swayed, the color draining from her face.The message had never gone through. Ryan never got it. He'd spent that whole night at the office waiting for her to come

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