A Message From My Future Husband Set Him Free—So Did I Chapter 07
He was looking up at my window. Through the curtain of rain, I couldn’t read his expression.
A sharp ache filled my chest. I clenched my jaw.
After a long hesitation, I squinted against the rain and yelled down to him, “Come up!”
He froze. His lips moved, but no sound came out.
“Come up!” I yelled again. My voice vanished in the wind.
He stood in my doorway, rainwater dripping from his hair.
I turned, poured a glass of hot water, and set it on the table.
“Amelia.” His voice was rough. “I’m sorry.”
My voice was steady. “Don’t be. That’s all in the past. I’ve started my new life.”
He looked at me, his eyes red. “Skylar… I was wrong about her.”
“I thought it was habit, obligation. She needed me, so I went. I couldn’t tell the difference between habit and love, between obligation and guilt.”
“I honestly thought giving her a wedding would make things even. There’s nothing else between us, Amelia. You have to believe me…”
His voice broke for a moment.
“And the pink diamond… The day before the auction, she came to me with it. She said she was holding onto it for me. But then she cried and said she wanted it. I couldn’t say no.”
“I lied to you. I was afraid you’d ask me how she got it. I didn’t know what to say.”
His voice dropped lower and lower. Tears mixed with the rain on his face.
I sighed. “Julian, if you gave her all your love, then don’t tell me you loved me too.”
He stopped talking.
In the following days, Julian moved into an empty house nearby.
Every evening when I walked back from the dock with my fish, I would pass by his place.
We kept our distance, walking on opposite sides of the stone path. Neither of us spoke.
Every morning after that, something would be waiting outside my door.
Sometimes wild roses. Sometimes conch shells.
A note was always tucked underneath. Each one said the same thing: [I’m sorry.]
That night, I heard an engine down at the dock.
The noise woke me up; I sat up and walked to the window.
A white yacht was tied up at the dock.
Someone walked down the gangway. A white dress, long hair loose.
The moonlight hit her face, and I could see who it was. Skylar.
The next morning, I opened my door.
Outside, Skylar stood in front of Julian, her shoulders shaking.
Her sweet voice drifted over. “Julian, I looked for you for three months. You didn’t even answer one text.”
Julian stood in his doorway, silent.
Skylar stepped closer and reached out, grabbing his sleeve.
“Julian, I know you can’t let her go.” Her voice cracked. “But you can’t just leave me!”
Tears fell from her eyes, landing on his sleeve.
They argued. Then, suddenly, she saw me.
Tears were still wet on her face, but her eyes changed instantly. “Amelia, give him back to me!”
“I already told him yesterday.” My voice was calm. “I don’t love him anymore. So you don’t have to ask me for anything.”
Skylar froze. Then pure joy spread across her face.
I walked past them.
Behind me, her sharp voice rang out. “Did you hear that? She said she doesn’t love you anymore!”
Then came a sharp slap.
“Julian! You hit me?!”
I stopped walking.
“Enough.” Julian’s voice was ice cold.
“Even if she doesn’t love me, I’m not choosing you.”
“Skylar, I only feel responsibility for you. Not love. I got it all wrong before, and it made everyone suffer.”