Romans & histoires The Love We Left Behind

I smiled bitterly, slid my phone back into my pocket, and returned home. Most of my things were already packed. I intended to walk away without leaving the slightest mark. Whatever I wanted to keep, I took. I threw away or sold the rest. In the end, all I had was a single 20-inch suitcase, a thick photo album, and a glass jar full of colorful paper cranes. The photo album held years of pictures of me, Lennon, and Frederick. They once said that we would take at least a hundred photos a year, so we would have something to look back on when we were old. However, they had already broken that promise for three years.

She opened the thread with Sienna. Looked at it in full — not just the four words from this morning but the whole history of it, scrolling up through years of it. The texture of a friendship in messages. Running late, save me a seat. Have you read this? You have to read this. I think I'm in love with him, Mara. I think this is actually it. That last one from two years ago about a man named Patrick who'd lasted four months and left Sienna crying on Mara's couch for a weekend. She kept scrolling.

Little did he know that I had taken Ayden and left for foreign shores a decade ago, back to the stronghold of our family. Derick, lost and searching, was instead found by Jasmine. 10 years had turned Jasmine into a shell of her former self, robbed of her fertility and plagued by a severe mental disorder. Once she found Derick again, she would not let go. From lovers to sworn enemies, they lost everything and lived only to torment each other. Soon after, tragedy struck in Derick's home: a shooting that left both dead. Rumor had it that Jasmine, in a fit of madness, decided if she was going down, Derick was going too.

She said, "Do you want to know why I decided to leave so resolutely? I understood the nature of your job and never forced you to take part in Isaac's schooling. I always played the role of bad cop, so Isaac saw me as a villain. In the middle of a crisis, you even confessed your love to Serena. "And after fooling around with her, you came back home and lay beside me. You have no idea how disgusting you are!" She said the final words through clenched teeth. The hatred behind those words spilled forth like a tidal wave. Her tears fell. At the same time, a fine drizzle began to fall onto the ground. It was as if even the heavens were mocking their love that was gone. It was so fleeting and easil

"Since we've run into each other after so long… how about we catch up? Go sit at the old place for a bit?" I was about to say no, but then he added quickly, "Tiffany, just hear me out. I'm not trying to win you back. I just want to talk." I paused but stayed silent. Then I heard his voice behind me. "I'll wait for you. I'll be there… no matter what." That evening, after dinner with my parents, I thought it over and eventually went. It was time to bring closure to the past—to end things with Noah once and for all.

It happened on the last shipment run I ever went on. My boyfriend and my best friend left me behind at the transfer station. I waited there for half an hour before they remembered they were one person short. Lawson called me, impatience all over his voice. "Why didn't you get in the truck?" "We're in a hurry for the celebration dinner tonight. We can't turn around." "Stop making a scene. Figure it out yourself." My mouth opened. No sound came out. Beth's voice carried through the line, clear and grating. "We're all adults here. Why does every little thing have to be handled for her?" "She has to grow up sometime." I listened to all of it and hung up without a word. The old me would have apol

On our trip, I had glued to Elias and said, "When we get there, let's buy a pair of love locks and lock our lives together." It meant nothing now. Without hesitation, I threw the box straight into the trash. ... The wedding music began. I linked arms with my father and walked toward the man who had promised to spend his life with me. Whether that promise would last or not didn't matter anymore. At least I was willing to give it a shot right now.

On our fifth anniversary, my fiance, Antonio Miller, the head of a powerful mafia syndicate, takes me to see the northern lights. Before we set out, our guide warns everyone to bundle up against the cold. Antonio immediately wraps his childhood friend, Simona Weaver, in his own winter gear, terrified that she'll freeze. When a blizzard hits, he piles every piece of warm clothing he can find around her. He never notices me standing nearby until I lose consciousness from the cold. When I finally open my eyes, Antonio's furious face fills my vision. "Camilla, why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?" We've been together for five years, yet when I wake up after collapsing, his firs

The night before the long holiday break, my father, Vincent Croft, my mother, Eleanor Danforth, and my older brother, Tristan Croft, gathered around my younger sister, Phoebe Croft, to discuss where they were going to go for vacation. Tristan held up his phone for everyone to see. "Let's go to the safari park. It's interactive, and the pictures will turn out great." Eleanor pushed Tristan's phone aside and placed her own in front of everyone. "The aquarium is better. It's clean, it doesn't smell bad, and the pictures turn out better than if we were to go to the zoo." Vincent smiled and ended their disagreement by saying, "Phoebe, look. Which one would you like? Whichever one you pick, tha

My mom's dying wish was to see me marry Callum Sinclair. Callum, who lived and breathed surgery, finally agreed to put down the scalpel and come with me to get our marriage license. But just as our number was called over the speaker, my best friend, Helena, stopped him. "The cryo-transplant in Cardiology has gone wrong. The heart muscle is rejecting irreversibly after rewarming." Callum walked away from the window at once. I grabbed his arm. "It's our turn. Sign first, then go. It's three minutes." Callum yanked his hand free. "A life is on the line. I'm a doctor. Three minutes is enough to kill someone." "But my mom is dying too. She wants to see me get married." My tears soaked t