He Rejected My Future, Gave It To Her Chapter 08

He Rejected My Future, Gave It To Her Chapter 08

When the investigation wrapped up, Chloe’s name was removed from the Crestview project.

The company memo was careful, almost clinical.

Falsified materials. Procedural violations. Her role, suspended.

Julian took full responsibility. The board held him accountable, and the Crestview project was reassigned.

A former colleague called to tell me. I was in the middle of preparing for my visa interview.

She dropped her voice.

“Eleanor, you have no idea. Julian’s been a wreck lately. Chloe’s been crying at the office every day, and he hasn’t gone to see her once.”

I gave a noncommittal hum.

“Mm.”

She sounded surprised.

“Don’t you want to hear the rest?”

“No.”

A pause on the line.

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair. You’re leaving soon anyway.”

Yes.

I was leaving.

And for the first time, it finally felt real.

The morning of the interview, Arthur offered to drive me to my consulate appointment.

He pulled up to the entrance and handed me a bottle of water.

“Don’t be nervous.”

I smiled.

“I’ve been preparing for three years. I’m not nervous.”

He nodded.

“Then go get ’em.”

I stepped out of the car and stopped. Julian was standing at the foot of the steps.

He was holding a bouquet, standing ramrod straight.

The moment he saw me, he closed the distance between us.

“Eleanor, let me walk you to the doors.”

I stopped.

“Don’t.”

His gaze darted to Arthur’s car. Something tightened in his jaw.

“I know you don’t want me here right now, but today matters to you. Let me be here for you.”

I looked at him.

“Julian, you already missed every moment that mattered.”

The color left his face.

“I can make up for it.”

“You can’t.”

The bouquet trembled in his hand.

I remembered waiting for him before my first interview.

He’d canceled at the last minute. Chloe had a crisis with her pitch deck, and he needed to go help her fix it.

I sat in the lobby alone, palms damp with sweat.

When I told him I’d passed, he just smiled.

“I knew you’d be fine.”

Now he finally wanted to show up.

But the girl who had needed him was already gone.

When the interview ended, a light rain had begun to fall.

I walked out of the consulate. Julian was still there.

No umbrella. His suit soaked through at the shoulders.

“Did you pass?”

I nodded.

Something close to a real smile moved across his face.

“That’s great.”

He looked like he meant it.

But it arrived too late to matter.

Arthur came around from the car and held an umbrella over me.

“Congratulations.”

I took the document bag from him.

“Thank you.”

Julian watched us. His voice came out low.

“Eleanor, that should have been me.”

I didn’t argue.

“But you weren’t.”

He couldn’t find the words.

Rain ran down the ends of his hair and dripped off his jaw.

Arthur didn’t rush me. He just stood there quietly.

I turned to Julian.

“The statement is done. The investigation is over. Don’t come looking for me again.”

He swallowed.

“Are we really done?”

I thought about it.

“We ended a long time ago.”