He Took Her To Bali While I Buried My Parents Alone Chapter 08
In Landon’s hand was a box of apple pies.
When I was little, that was my favorite. The ones from the corner bakery. Landon used to buy them for me all the time, always wondering how I never got tired of them.
But after we hit high school, he never bought me one again.
I greeted him calmly. Thomas and Eleanor didn’t say anything else. They quickly left us alone,
“Elise.”
Landon stood in the middle of the room. Four years older, he’d grown a little taller, but his frame looked unsteady.
“You have a boyfriend?”
I softly said, “Yeah.”
He suddenly laughed, his eyes turning red.
“That’s good.”
“Elise, that one time-Tessa drugged my drink.”
“All those years after, we flirted, sure. But we never slept together again.”
My thoughts paused for a second, then I understood what he was saying.
He knew about the future ten years later too.
Landon dropped his head, his hands clenched into fists, breathing rough.
He told me a lot. About how the confession at the engagement party was a game. About how Grandma really died. About how Tessa destroyed me.
“She got caught. Life sentence.”
He said. “I hired the best lawyers to throw the book at her.”
“In this timeline too. After she drugged me, she got kicked out of school quickly. I never saw her again.”
I listened quietly, not a ripple inside me. Then I asked, “So why are you telling me all this?”
Landon’s voice cracked.
“I just wanted to tell you that the person who hurt you got what they deserved… and I wanted to apologize.”
“I’m sorry.” He lifted his head, eyes bloodshot.
“I can’t forget you. Every minute, every second of these four years, I’ve thought about you.
“I wanted to ask you… this time, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m done with Tessa. Do we have chance to start over?”
He tugged his mouth into a bitter smile, mocking himself.
“I know. Wishful thinking.”
“Landon.”
I said calmly.
“Yes, you’re being wishful.”
“What happened to you and Tessa, what punishment she got none of that matters to me.”
“All I know is that in that other world, I died. My grandmother died.”
“You say you didn’t want to kill me. That Tessa tricked and tempted you.”
I smiled faintly.
“That’s the truth.”
“But you still did all of it.”
Landon’s tears fell. He dropped to his knees at my feet like a stray dog.
“I know. I pushed you to your death. I’m a killer too.”
“Elise, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But I really do love you.”
He rambled on, but I just felt tired.
“Then your love is too heavy. I can’t carry it.”
“I’ve decided to settle abroad for good. After this, I’m only coming back for Christmas.”
“Your parents have been like my own. I’ll take care of them in their old age.”
‘As for you and me,” I thought for a second, “let’s act like we never knew each other.”
I pushed open the door and walked out.
Landon’s figure faded into the dark, his sobs of regret growing softer behind me, until he disappeared from my sight.
We never saw each other again.
Six more years passed. At our ten-year high school reunion, I heard news of his death.
A sudden illness, they said. He was fine one day, then collapsed in the middle of teaching a class.
Everyone lamented how young he died. Only I knew it was always meant to be.
That year, Landon used his own life to buy me a chance to change mine.
So in this second timeline, his life span only lasted ten years.
People said that in his final breath, he kept staring at the door, a small smile on his lips.
But that had nothing to do with me.
Year ten. I was already married to the man I loved, about to have our baby.
That youthful romance, that tangle of love and hate, that losing battle-
All of it faded like a dream, gone forever.
Time moved on. I walked firmly toward my own happiness and never looked back.