Among All The Stars I Found You Chapter 03
She said it with such certainty.
My head snapped up, a chill running down my spine.
It was my most deeply buried secret.
She let out a short, sharp laugh, tapped on her phone, and held the screen up to my face.
It was a group photo of the three of us from eight years ago.
Juliette stood in the middle, with Preston and me on either side of her.
We didn’t have many photos together. That one was my favorite.
I kept a copy in my wallet.
I’d also framed it and put it by the door of our apartment, in the most conspicuous spot.
Juliette glanced at the photo, her voice light and cruel.
“Preston even asked me once why I put such an ugly picture by the door.”
“He had no idea about your pathetic little crush. See the shadow on the door? It almost looks like you’re leaning into him.”
My entire body went rigid.
She was clearly pleased with my reaction.
“What could I do? I needed a thoughtful little maid like you.”
Her smile widened as if she’d just remembered something.
“I saw the one you kept in your wallet ages ago. You even wrote on the back. ‘You are my North Star.'”
“Let me guess—who was that about? Don’t tell me it was Preston.”
She looked at me, her eyes glinting with malice.
“I told him you liked him, you know.”
“You should have seen his face. He avoided our apartment for a whole week.”
She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
“He still hasn’t slept with you, has he?”
“Even without his memory, his body knows to stay away from you.”
For a moment, my mind went blank.
Regret, humiliation, and a deep, aching grief crashed over me all at once.
I lifted my hand to slap her.
But a hand shot out and caught my wrist.
I turned and met Preston’s icy gaze.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
He was standing so close.
So close it brought back the memory of that night in a dizzying rush.
If he knew I’d tampered with his soup…
I opened my mouth, but then I saw Leo standing behind him.
He was clutching a craft he’d made, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at me.
In that moment, I couldn’t say a word.
I couldn’t stay there another second.
I shoved Preston’s hand away and ran.
After I burst out of the restaurant, I stood by the side of the road, suddenly realizing I had nowhere to go.
In the end, I bought a bouquet from a corner flower shop and went to my mother’s grave.
“Mom, I’m getting a divorce.”
“These seven years were never really mine.”
“If I had known he would reject me so completely, I never would have started any of this.”
Sitting in front of the headstone, I finally broke down and sobbed.
“What do I do, Mom? I think I’ve really fallen in love with him.”
That was when I understood that Juliette had been wrong about one thing.
Back then, what I felt for Preston had only been gratitude, maybe a flicker of a crush.
It was the seven years of our marriage that made me fall completely in love with him.Â