They Erased Me, So I Rewrote My Life Chapter 56

They Erased Me, So I Rewrote My Life Chapter 56

The year we graduated from college, Leo and I opened a community bookstore in Portland.

We decorated it exactly the way we liked.

Large windows, old wooden floors, comfortable armchairs, and air that always smelled of paper, wood, and coffee.

On opening day, watching people walk in, browse the shelves, and settle into the chairs, I felt a solid sense of accomplishment for the first time in my life.

That evening, after the last customer had left, Leo flipped the sign on the door from “Open” to “Closed.”

The bookstore fell quiet.

Only a warm yellow light fell across the spines of the books.

“We really did it,” Leo said beside me, his voice tired but happy.

“Yeah.” I smiled.

“Eliza?”

“Mm?”

He suddenly got down on one knee in front of me.

I held my breath.

In this bookstore that belonged to us.

Surrounded by an entire room of stories.

He took a small wooden box from his pocket. When he opened it, there was no diamond inside.

It was a ring he had carved by hand from wood, set in the center with a birthstone the color of my eyes.

“I know it isn’t expensive,” he said, looking up at me, his eyes intensely bright. “Do you remember back in high school, when you paid me to pretend to be your boyfriend? Back then, I thought that was the closest I would ever get to you.”