He Wanted an Open Relationship, So I Accepted Another Proposal Chapter 02

He Wanted an Open Relationship, So I Accepted Another Proposal Chapter 02

When I got back to the dorm, Maddie was typing on her phone.

Message bubbles kept popping up on her screen.

Her cheeks were flushed with excitement, and every now and then, she covered her mouth and laughed.

A dull, needlelike pain pricked my chest.

I didn’t have to guess who she was texting.

“Harper, you’re back?” she finally noticed me. “I thought you were staying at home tonight.”

I nodded without really thinking.

My family lived right here in Westbridge, so whenever I didn’t come back, my roommates assumed I had gone home.

But most nights, I had been at Grant’s apartment, sleeping in his bed.

Maddie smiled, pressing her lips together. “That hot guy who picked you up after dinner was your brother? I thought he was your boyfriend.”

My fingers paused over my things.

Brother.

The word cut through me like a blade.

So that was how he had explained me.

The Carters and the Whitmores went back generations, and Grant and I had secretly been together since high school. Five whole years.

He once told me we would get married after graduation.

I just never thought people changed this fast.

I never thought he would get bored of me so easily.

This wasn’t the first time he had gotten too close to another girl.

I had seen flirty messages on his phone before.

I had cried, fought, and thrown things, but every time, he’d calm me down and say those girls meant nothing.

He said I was the only one in his heart.

I had asked him to make our relationship public.

But he never agreed.

He said once our parents found out, both families would pressure us into getting engaged.

Once we were old enough, they’d push us to get legally married.

I couldn’t let go of all those years, so I swallowed the hurt again and again, until this time. This time, I didn’t want to wait anymore.

“Harper? What’s wrong?” Maddie tilted her head, looking innocent.

I snapped back to myself and forced a small smile. “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

She didn’t doubt me.

Instead, she shoved her phone in front of my face, full of excitement. “He asked me to go racing with him tomorrow. What should I wear? You must know what style he likes.”

Grant once said racing was his second love.

In five years together, he had never taken me once.

Now, to chase Maddie, he was willing to give her the passenger seat.

The relationship I thought was unbreakable had been a joke all along.

Looking at the sparkle in Maddie’s eyes, I suddenly felt light.

It was as if the stone pressing on my chest had finally cracked.

“Wear this.”

I pulled a tight red dress from her closet.

“He likes bold.”