Chapter 8
Fern used to be the tomboy of the school-always in jeans, always tough.
But that day, she showed up in a pleated skirt, looking like she’d stepped out of a magazine.
I remember just standing there, stunned. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She blushed, whispering, “Dummy. Stop staring like that.”
I just grinned like an idiot. We spent the whole day together… and I didn’t even dare to hold he hand.
Our first kiss happened in a dark movie theater. We were watching some tragic love story.
When the credits rolled, she turned to me and whispered, “The movie was sad… but we won’t be We’ll cherish and protect each other. Forever.”
held onto those words like a vow.
Later, in college, she asked me, “Do you ever regret hiding our relationship from your mom?”
shook my head. “No. Every day with you feels like a gift. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” She hugged me tight and said, “Once I take over my parents’ company… we’ll get married.” Then everything fell apart.
That was when she began to hate me.
No matter how many times I tried to explain that Mom didn’t do anything to force Fern to marry ne, she wouldn’t listen.
No matter how many lovers she paraded in front of me, no matter how hard she tried to crush ne at work-I still held onto the hope that someday, she’d remember who we were.
helped run her company behind the scenes.
Pulled all-nighters to polish up proposals.
Drank myself into stomach ulcers just to close business deals on her behalf.
But in the end, none of it paid off.
Fern’s POV
‘Jarrett,” I murmured, my tears smudging the old letter in my hand, “Why’d you have to use such dirty tricks? If you had just played by the rules, would you really be in this mess?”
thought I hated him.
But now, alone in his empty room, drowning in the letters and memories I’d tried so hard to bury..
I finally realized the truth.
I’d never stopped remembering our love. I’d just buried it so deep, I couldn’t feel it-until now.
Just then, I heard a buzz. My phone vibrated.
It was a message from Dad.
[We’ll be there tomorrow morning, sweetheart.]
I froze. After a pause, I opened our old chat thread and typed.
[Mom and Dad are coming tomorrow. Let’s have lunch together and talk things through properly.]
Jarrett’s POV
The next day, at noon, I arrived just as Fern’s parents sat down in the private dining room.
Her face lit up when she saw me-but in typical Fern fashion, she tilted her chin and said, “Wow. Couldn’t even last a full day without me? I thought you were never coming back.”
I didn’t flinch. “You’re reading too much into it.”
“You!” She scowled. “I didn’t even send you the restaurant location. If you’re not full of regrets what’d you do, stalk me all morning to find it?”
She had sent me a message the night before. I just never replied.
“It was me,” her dad said. “I told him.”
He glanced at his daughter, and then he looked back at me.
“Did you two fight again?”
“It’s normal,” Fern’s mom added quickly. “Couples argue. But don’t let your pride ruin things Come, sit down and eat.”
‘Looks like she didn’t break the news to you.” I pulled out the chair and sat. “We’re alread divorced.”
‘What?!” My former in-laws stood up abruptly, their faces full of disbelief.
‘Jarrett, divorce isn’t something you do on impulse! Does your mom even know?!” her mon asked, alarmed.
My mom… She passed away,” I said quietly.
The room turned ice cold. Her parents’ expressions shifted. Shock gave way to grief. He nother’s eyes brimmed with tears.
But then, Fern scoffed.
Well, she schemed to get her way for years. Now this? Sounds like karma—”
Suddenly, her dad slapped her hard across the face.
Shut up, you brat!
Not another word!
‘That’s how you talk about your mother-in-law? Have you no shame?!”
Her dad’s outburst made her clutch her cheek, her eyes welling up.
‘Why do you always lose it whenever she comes up?” she choked. “Do you even see me as your daughter?!”
‘Sweetie… Sweetie…” Her parents stammered until something seemed to have caught their
throat.
Then they exchanged a glance-nervous, guilty.
Jarrett’s POV
