I Refused To Be His Second Best Chapter 11

I Refused To Be His Second Best Chapter 11

I saw Stellan again on a late afternoon.

Ronan and I had just picked up groceries from the supermarket-steak for dinner.

We were walking hand in hand when we ran into Stellan waiting outside my apartment.

Three months apart, and he looked thinner. Almost worn down.

His eyes dropped to our clasped hands.

After a long silence, he said, voice rough: “Can we talk?”

Ronan gave us space.

He kissed my cheek, took the bags, and said, “I’ll go in.”

“It’s cold out here-don’t stay too long.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

Once Ronan was inside, Stellan’s lips twisted.

“Are you happy with him?”

I didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Completely happy.”

His expression crumpled, like he’d been punched.

“Two years we were together. And he gets you in just a few months?”

“Stellan, what do you really want?”

“I said I’d keep my distance from Faye. Can’t you -”

“No.” I cut him off.

“Odessa, what did I even do wrong?”

“This isn’t fair. I never cheated on you.”

It was true.

He never crossed that line.

Not because he didn’t want to-but because Faye was never interested in him.

“Stellan. Did you only start pursuing me because Faye asked you to?”

His face went pale.

And I knew.

I’d liked him for three years in high school.

Then one day in college, he said he liked me.

He said he’d noticed me back then.

That day was the happiest of my life.

I didn’t stop to question any of it.

Who would?

When you finally get the love you’ve been waiting for, you don’t ask why.

I spent two years thinking it was real.

But I never once felt like I came first.

I thought maybe I wasn’t enough. Maybe I asked for too much.

I considered every possibility—

except the one that I was just a tool he used to comfort another girl.

The person I’d loved for years, the one who used to make me smile just by existing-

I looked at him now with nothing but disgust.

Stellan panicked. “I admit I did it for Faye at first.”

1 “She liked Ronan, and Ronan liked you. She asked me, and I couldn’t say no.”

“But later – I really did fall for you.”

“If it’s about Faye, I’ll change. I’ll put you first.”

He’d come expecting me to regret leaving him.

He hadn’t expected Ronan’s post.

He hadn’t expected me to move on faster than he could hold on.

Now he was the one left in the rubble, desperate to rebuild.

But I was done.

“Stellan, I don’t care about being your first anymore.”

“If that’s why you came, you can leave.”

He reached for me-but Ronan came back and gently pulled me away.

He shielded me and we walked inside together, without looking back.