Chapter 4

At first, I just found it hard to sleep.

I couldn't help but repeatedly replay the details of our time together.

I was terrified I'd misjudged him, condemned him unfairly.

I started going back through our SnapChat messages again and again.

But the more I looked, the sadder I became, the more resentful.

I started to hate Julian.

Six years, a whole six years.

I hated that he'd discarded me so casually, like I was trash.

At four in the morning, I painfully deleted all his accounts.

I got up, and in a fit of anger, gathered all his belongings.

Shoved them into a large trash bag and slammed it into the dumpster downstairs.

After all that, I expected to feel relieved.

But it was like painstakingly killing a mosquito that had been tormenting me, only to find it was my own blood that splattered.

I went to work on time, as if nothing had happened.

But only I knew that a huge chunk of my heart had been ripped out.

That part of me had once belonged to Julian, but it had festered.

To survive, I'd surgically removed that dead, rotting piece of my heart.

But I forgot that if the wound was too big, a person couldn't survive.

The emotions came crashing back completely when I saw him at a company meeting.

Julian was still unfazed, composed, and utterly in control.

He looked even more vibrant, more confident.

As if losing me had had absolutely no impact on him.

Cassie Davies, thinking she was subtle, met his gaze, her face flushing slightly.

I started having sleepless nights, throwing up everything I ate.

Julian didn't use social media.

So I obsessively stalked Cassie's social media accounts.

Analyzing every signature, every post related to Julian.

Until I fainted from low blood sugar at work and was rushed to the hospital.

Julian deigned to visit me at the hospital.

It was the twenty-ninth day since our breakup.

He idly twirled our matching couple's ring on his finger:

"Aurora, you've lost weight."

My gaze was blank, and I spoke mechanically.

"I'm sorry."

Julian offered a triumphant smile.

We got back together.

They say, "better a sharp sting than a slow bleed."

But that doesn't apply to everyone.