My Ex Thought I Still Loved Him, I Was Already Married Rich Chapter 01
My husband was tied up with a cross-border acquisition, so I had to fly back to New York alone for my best friend’s wedding.
“Well, look who it is. Isn’t that Nora Hale, the girl who used to chase Julian Shaw, our campus golden boy, like her life depended on it?”
I had barely taken my seat when someone laughed out loud.
“Don’t tell me she heard Mr. Shaw would be here and came running after him.”
Before I could say a word, the people around me had already started talking over one another.
“Tsk. Back then, she called off the wedding in such a dramatic way that I thought she had more pride than that.”
“Julian is a partner at the biggest law firm in New York now. He’s a nationally known attorney. It makes sense if she regrets it.”
“Too bad he’s already engaged.”
Julian was sitting right across from me.
He could hear every word.
But he said nothing.
He did not even spare me a glance.
***
I looked at his cool, flawless profile.
I had to admit that I had once really loved that face.
Back in college, everyone knew I was chasing him.
Every day, I brought him breakfast, waited for him after class, and stayed with him in the library until the early hours of the morning.
He never rejected me, but he never made the first move either.
Then one day, I was running a 102-degree fever and still dragged myself to watch his debate tournament.
After the match, he looked at me, half-dead and barely standing, and said flatly, “Let’s give it a try.”
Just like that, we got together.
Even after we started dating, he was still cold.
But during finals, he would go over the key material with me. When he saw me nodding off, he would threaten me with a perfectly serious face, “If you don’t start studying, I’m going to kiss you.”
When other girls handed him love letters, he would take my hand and say, “I’m taken.”
When I stared a little too long at the good-looking guys playing basketball, he would cover my eyes with his cool palm.
The next day, he joined the campus basketball team too and told me, “From now on, you only get to watch me.”
Back then, I truly believed he liked me.
Until just before graduation.
Sophia Carlisle, the girl Julian had grown up with next door, got into our college.
She and Julian were far too close.
Whenever I was with them, I felt like an outsider.
It was not as if I never confronted him about it.
But Julian would always frown slightly and say in an impatient voice, “Nora, you’re being annoying.”
Even then, I still refused to give up.
I kept thinking that if I just endured a little longer, things would eventually turn out right.
I endured it all the way until the eve of our wedding.
My mother was hit by a Porsche after its drunk driver lost control. She died at the scene.
And the driver was Sophia.
When I rushed to the police station, I saw her clutching Julian’s sleeve, trembling as she cried.
“Julian, I didn’t mean to.”
“I just heard you were getting married, and I was so upset that I drank too much.”
Julian stood beside her and comforted her in a low voice.
“Don’t be scared. I’m here.”
In that instant, every drop of blood in my body turned cold.
That night, I canceled the wedding.
I also broke up with Julian.
He did not try to stop me.
After a long silence, he only said quietly, “Sophia is like a sister to me. I can’t just abandon her.”
Later, when the case went to court, Julian personally defended Sophia.
The Carlisles had connections everywhere, and Julian knew exactly how to twist the law with his silver tongue.
Together, they managed to reduce a DUI manslaughter case to a basic vehicular negligence charge.
In the end, Sophia only got probation.
On the day the verdict was announced, Sophia threw herself into Julian’s arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
I sat across from them and watched with my own eyes as the woman who had killed my mother was held protectively in his arms.
My father and I refused to accept it, so we kept appealing.
But before we could get a result, my father died after months of illness, anguish, and exhausting appeals.
Because I had offended the Carlisle family, I was targeted everywhere.
I could not find a job. I could not even rent an apartment.
I was even kidnapped, stripped naked, photographed nude, and nearly killed.
To survive, I had no choice but to give up the fight for the time being and flee far away.
“Nora!”
My best friend, Maya Frost, pulled me back from my memories.
She came over with the groom during the reception, arm in arm, making the rounds to thank the guests.
“Why did you come alone? Where’s your husband?”