I Got A Thanks You Card While She Got His Pink Diamond Chapter 10

I Got A Thanks You Card While She Got His Pink Diamond Chapter 10

When the bus doors closed, Ethan ran after it for a few steps.

Noah did too.

But the bus kept moving.

I sat by the window without looking back.

Outside, their figures grew smaller and smaller, like an old photograph washed pale by the rain.

I lowered my head and opened the earring case.

The pearls were still there.

But one of them had a faint scratch across its surface.

I brushed it gently with my fingertip.

My heart still ached, but the pain was bearable.

Everyone had to carry a few scars with them as they moved forward.

What mattered was not staying in the same place and letting the same blade cut the wound open

again and again.

It was already dark when I reached Riverton.

A coworker from my new company had come to meet me. Her name was Zoe Miller, and she was a young woman with a round face.

The moment she saw me dragging my suitcase, she hurried over to help.

“You must be Leah, our new office manager. Welcome! Was the trip exhausting? I brought you a hot

latte.”

When she pressed the warm cup into my hands, I froze.

Zoe smiled awkwardly.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just got the most basic thing on the menu.”

I lowered my eyes to the latte.

The steam made my eyes sting.

It turned out that someone didn’t have to love you desperately to offer you a little warmth on a rainy

night.

I smiled.

“Thank you.”

On my first day at work, I locked the earrings inside my desk drawer.

On the second day, I rented a small apartment.

On the third, I blocked every number and account Ethan and Noah had ever used to contact me.

A month later, I received a package with no return address.

Inside was a prepaid card, a record of several transfers, and an old umbrella.

It was the same umbrella they had held over Sienna on the night I turned eighteen.

The fabric was worn, and there was a crack in the handle.

A note had been tucked inside.

The handwriting belonged to Noah.

[Leah, I’m sorry.]

[I did turn around and see you that night.]

[But Sienna was crying and said she was scared, so I didn’t go back for you.]

[The greatest regret of my life is believing you would always forgive me.]

I finished reading the note and placed it back inside the box.

I didn’t cry, and I didn’t reply.

When I left work that evening, I simply dropped the old umbrella into the dumpster outside my building.

Three months later, Ethan came to Riverton.

I had just finished working late that night.

A light rain was falling outside the office building.

He stood beneath a streetlight, much thinner than before, holding a bouquet of white roses.

The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up.

“Leah.”

I stopped.

He approached carefully, as if he were afraid one wrong move would frighten me away.

“I made Sienna leave.”

“You’ll never have to see her again.”

“I’ve repaid everything I owed you.”

“I sold the house too.”

“Leah, I don’t want anything anymore. All I want is for you to look at me again.”

Tears fell from his eyes as he spoke.

“Just once.”

I opened the clear umbrella a coworker had lent me.

The rain tapped softly against the plastic overhead.

As I looked at Ethan, I suddenly remembered the card from the night before our courthouse

wedding.

[Thanks for playing.]

I used to believe I was simply unlucky.

I could never draw the good prize.

No umbrella ever came when I needed one.

I was never the person anyone chose first.

Eventually, I understood that it had never been bad luck.

They had never put my name among the winners in the first place.

I looked at Ethan.

“I already have.”

He froze.

I continued calmly.

“For nine years, I kept looking at you.”

“I watched you choose Sienna over and over again.”

“I watched you tell me to be understanding every single time.”

“I watched you treat every disappointment like a little tantrum you could make up for later.”

“So, Ethan, don’t ask me to look anymore.”

“I’m tired.”

He stood in the rain, his lips trembling badly.

“Leah…”

I walked around him and kept going.

He didn’t follow me this time.

When I reached the corner, Zoe sent me a message.

Zoe: [Leah, we’re doing a mystery-box raffle at tomorrow’s team event. Are you coming? They say

every box is a winner!]

I looked at the words and suddenly smiled.

Me: [I’m in.]

The next day, I drew a small card at the company team event.

It didn’t say, “Thanks for playing.”

Instead, it read:

[Today is your lucky day.]

My coworkers laughed and cheered.

“Leah, you really lucked out!”

I slipped the card into my wallet.

Sunlight poured through the windows.

Suddenly, I understood that luck wasn’t about finally being chosen by someone else.

It was realizing one day that I no longer had to stand still and wait for anyone to choose me.