Semua Bab Done with the Hide and Seek: Bab 1 - Bab 9

I threw the veil into Jeremy Dean's arms."Cancel the wedding. There'll be no wedding the day after tomorrow."He froze, like he hadn't understood me.Stacy Campbell laughed first. "Can't take a joke again?"I ignored them both and turned to walk out. Jeremy took a couple of steps after me, but Stacy grabbed his arm."Connie's throwing a tantrum. You want to go up there and get yelled at? Come help me pick a manicure for the day after tomorrow instead!"Jeremy actually stopped. He fell right into a conversation with her about nail designs.I laughed at myself and kept walking.On the way out, I read the message my manager had sent me. [Connie, a three-year training placement abroad doesn't come along often. Are you sure you don't want to think it over again?]Back when Jeremy first started his company, he had no money to hire anyone. I'd worked for his startup for free after my own shifts, pouring in nearly all my time and energy. Not long ago, when my manager first offered

At the office, my manager slid a form across the desk and told me to fill in all my personal information today, since the system would close down for the night.I opened the folder and found the most important document missing. I went cold all over and tore my desk apart, but it wasn't there.I'd filled out that application eight times, gotten it signed by senior leadership, and stamped with an official seal. Redoing it now was out of the question.I rushed home and searched everywhere I could think of. Nothing.I sank to the floor, sweat running down my forehead. Something occurred to me. I pulled out my phone, my fingers trembling."Stacy, did you hide one of my documents?"Her voice was all innocence. "Yep. It's the treasure hunt game. Go find it!"I lurched to my feet, my vision going dark at the edges.Jeremy walked in and saw the mess. "What happened?""Stacy hid an important document of mine!"Jeremy looked at the sweat on my forehead and frowned, then started helping

The voice on the other end of the line blared so loud it made my ear ache. Jeremy's furious shout came crashing through the receiver, with the noise of a crowd and the faint strains of a wedding march behind it.That song was supposed to be one we'd picked out together. Instead, it had been swapped for one Stacy liked. Hearing it now felt absurd."The officiant says the wedding's off! Is this some kind of joke?"Why didn't your parents show up?"All the guests are here! Where are you?"I stood at the airport in a foreign country, phone in hand. Sunlight poured through the towering windows, warm in a way that almost didn't feel real."Jeremy," I said calmly, "I told you yesterday. The wedding's off.""You..."I hung up and switched the phone to airplane mode. As the screen went dark, it felt like some small, cowering version of myself that had lived inside me for years had gone dark right along with it.The world finally went quiet.…Jeremy stared at his blackened phone scre

Jeremy's expression shifted. He stepped forward and reached for my hand.I stepped back. "Jeremy, do you remember a question I once asked you?"He went rigid."I asked if you actually liked me.""You never answered," I said. "But your silence was the answer."Jeremy opened his mouth, but nothing came out."Go home," I said, turning to walk back into my building. "Don't come looking for me again.""Connie!" he called after me, his voice edged with something raw. "You'll regret this! No one else is ever going to want you!"I didn't look back.That line would have terrified me once. Now it just struck me as almost funny.I heard about what happened to Jeremy and Stacy six months later.Jeremy's company's funding fell apart, and his investors pulled out. He'd always been arrogant when things were going his way, and he'd burned through more goodwill than he realized.Once his luck turned, plenty of people were happy to kick him while he was down. The startup that had once seemed

A year later, Benson and I officially got together.It wasn't some grand confession. Just an ordinary weekend. We walked out of a movie, and he took my hand, naturally, and I didn't pull away.His hand was dry and warm, and he held mine steadily enough that I never felt the slightest bit unsure. I never had to guess what he was thinking, never had to win his attention by pleasing him, never had to worry that he'd suddenly vanish or turn cold on me.He'd bring me hot food when I worked late. He remembered every single thing I liked and disliked. He'd sit quietly beside me when I was upset, without asking why.And when I got hit with a craving for ice cream right before my period, he'd pretend to scold me, "Aren't you worried about your stomach?" and I'd wrap my arms around him and pout, "Fine, fine, Benson, I won't eat any more."Eventually, we moved in together.He actually listened when I talked. He respected my decisions. He stood beside me whenever I ran into trouble, instead