Ten Years of Regret Chapter 08

Ten Years of Regret Chapter 08

The press conference blew up online.

My parents wouldn’t stop calling, asking if I’d lost my mind, having an abortion.

Telling me to help Montgomery Group with emergency PR.

I treated them like background noise.

I’d finally figured it out. Because I was their only child, I’d given up so many opportunities to stay close to

them.

I used to believe all parents loved their kids. That deep down, they really loved me.

But now I saw the truth. Some parents just don’t love their children.

They raised me, but they never gave me the kind of love and protection parents should give.

From now on, I’d send them money, that’s all. And then I’d live free. See the ocean, see the mountains, see the

world.

The PR crisis was huge.

Montgomery Group stock tanked for days in a row.

I didn’t feel happy or sad, just relieved.

My flight overseas was in two weeks.

I signed up for an English conversation class.

I figured Chase would be too busy to bother me.

But a week later, he was waiting outside my class.

He looked thinner. Around his neck was the charcoal scarf I’d hand-knit for his birthday last year.

In past years, I’d saved up for months to buy him watches, belts.

But I realized later, what cost me so much was the cheapest thing in his closet.

So last year, I saved for three months, then spent three months learning to knit.

I wanted him to feel how much I cared.

When I gave it to him, he barely glanced at it before tossing it in the back of his closet.

I asked him to try it on.

But he just frowned at my hands with all pricked raw from the needles, and said, “Why are you so worked up? Don’t tell me you actually knitted this, Cora. You really that bored?”

I shoved my hands in my sleeves and looked down. “Of course not.”

Now he pulled the scarf up a little, showing off the white crane embroidery with his name on it.

“Cora. Look good?”

“I thought you’d thrown it away.”

I gave a flat grunt in response, then turned and walked back to the motel where I was staying.

He followed me into the cramped room, hesitating. “You just had an abortion, how can you stay here? If you need money I could…”

I cut him off. “Did you forget? I killed your baby. I destroyed Montgomery Group’s launch, your reputation,

Ivy’s reputation.”

“Cora, I’ve been thinking. I was wrong. It’s not your fault. Just come back with me, apologize to my parents. I

swear, my wife will only be you. We can have more children.”

I almost laughed. I’d aborted his child. How could he still think I wanted to be his wife?

“You’re missing the point. I don’t want you anymore.”

“And I’m not going back to apologize to anyone.”

His jaw clenched. The corners of his eyes went red. He tried to hug me, but my cold stare stopped him.

“You never used to say such hurtful things. You’re still mad, aren’t you? I can explain.”

He pulled out a stack of photos, more than a dozen of them.

I ignored him, filled the kettle, and started taking off my makeup.

He followed me around.

“This kissing one. Ivy lost at truth or dare. There were too many people watching. I couldn’t let some random guy take advantage of her.”

“This one. It was pouring rain, my clothes got soaked. At the hotel, a thunderclap scared her, and she jumped

into my arms. That’s why we ended up hugging…”

“And this…”

The kettle went from boiling to cold.

He

re than half the photos left. His voice got lower and lower, raspy.

“Want to keep going?”
d the photos in his fist, eyes squeezed shut. “The arranged marriage between our families… I was

who called it off.”

“Because I’d fallen for you. When Ivy confessed, I turned her down. That’s why she ran off overseas. That’s

why all those things happened to her.”

“Cora, we owed her. But I swear, from now on, I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. You understand, don’t

you?”

That was new information.

The first time I saw Chase Montgomery was at a college talent show.

My parents believed in “tough love”.

They cut me off financially after my first semester.

I worked every spare minute I had, and still couldn’t afford food half the time, let alone a three-hundred-dollar

costume.

Then he showed up with the costume. Said not to ruin the whole performance.

That was when I started noticing him. But Ivy was always stuck to his side, so I kept my feelings hidden.

Turns out, he’d liked me too.

A strange feeling rose in my chest.

I felt… disgusted.