He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 18

He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 18

I was back in my apartment. Standing in the quiet, blinking.

So that was what he’d meant. He knew I was from another world. And all he’d asked was that I

remember him.

A choked laugh escaped me, hot tears spilling down my face. How could one man be so stupid?

The system pinged. [Mission bonus deposited! And as a reward, the host receives one wish!]

I answered immediately.

“I want free passage between the two worlds.”

The system didn’t even hesitate. [Done! Give me one second to file it!]

It was back almost instantly.

A new app had appeared on my phone.

The system explained simply.

[Open the app to cross over. You can also sync the time between both worlds so they run at the same

speed.]

[All rewards issued. It’s been real, Host.]

[Oh, one more thing. You might want to check on the villain. He’s a complete wreck right now.]

Julian’s POV

The day Julian met Chloe, his parents and Nathan had just finished tearing his life apart.

He was on the edge. Exhausted. Already starting to crack.

And then Chloe drugged him.

He woke up the next morning, sat on the edge of the bed, and stared at nothing.

Chloe didn’t notice. She was already complaining, ranting non–stop, telling him he’d been terrible

in bed.

She was so loud, so relentless, that he couldn’t sink into the grief. She wouldn’t let him.

His eyes drifted to hers: bright, alive, completely unaware of what she’d interrupted.

Then down to her wrist. Thin. Pale.

His fingerprints still bruising her skin from the night before.

He exhaled.

“I’m sorry. Last night must have been awful for you. I’ll make this right. I’ll marry you

After the wedding, his world stopped being nothing but betrayal.

Instead, it was full of demands.

“Julian, where are my socks?”

“Julian, this food is disgusting!”

“Julian, my feet ache. Wash them.”

“Julian, you idiot! Fight back!”

Slowly, inside the ruins of everything he’d been…

Chloe became the last thread holding him back.

Until that thread snapped too.

The last thing she left him was a voice message. Her voice, raw and furious, nearly swallowed by

the wind.

“Julian, I swear to God, I hate you.”

It became the thing that woke him at three in the morning.

He locked Nathan away and interrogated him for days.

Even when Nathan was falling apart, he spat back.

“She jumped! She jumped on her own! How many times do I have to say it?!”

“She said she hated you! She didn’t want you anymore!”

Julian’s mouth was a thin line. “Impossible.”

Later,

when Nathan broke for good, the story changed.

“Fine… I pushed her. I’m sorry. I pushed her. Just let me go, please…”

By the end.

Even Julian couldn’t tell which version was real.

But no matter which version was true.

Neither version could make him accept it.

Seven years of nightmares. Seven years of hate building on hate.

He hated her for leaving. He hated her for not wanting him.

He hated himself most of all. For not keeping her safe.

Then one night, at a business dinner he almost didn’t attend…

A girl stumbled into him with a wine glass. Clumsy. Obvious.

Her voice was all apology. Her eyes were not.

“Oh no, Mr. Ashford, I’m so sorry. I got wine all over you.”

Just like the first night. When she’d drugged him.

Her mouth said sorry. Her eyes didn’t. Not a shred of remorse.

In that instant, he realized.

God had given him one more chance.

The End