Three Years of not Being Chosen, I Left Chapter 04

Three Years of not Being Chosen, I Left Chapter 04

“I swear we never crossed any physical line!”

Nora, watching you walk onto that train with your luggage—it felt like my heart was being ripped out. I

know I screwed up.”

“Let me come home with you. Just don’t leave me. I’ll do anything.”

His phone rang before he finished..

Sophia’s name lit up the screen.

Ethan’s face went white. He reached to kill the call.

I was faster. I snatched the phone and hit speaker.

“Nora?”

Sophia’s voice came through light, almost cheerful.

“Where did you two sneak off to? I can’t find either of you.”

“Nora, you’re not still mad at Ethan, right?”

I looked at Ethan’s bloodless face and spoke calmly into the mic.

“Sophia. I’m going to ask you one time, and I want a real answer.”

“Do you like Ethan?”

A beat of silence. Then a forced little laugh.

“Nora, what are you talking about? He’s your boyfriend. Of course I don’t.”

I smiled.

“Is that so? Because he just told me he likes you and wants to be with you.”

“So what about you, Sophia? Do you like him?”

Dead quiet.

It stretched so long it felt like a century.

Then a thin, broken sob came through the speaker.

“I’m sorry, Nora… I do have feelings for him.”

“But I never meant to ruin what you two had! Even if we end up together, the three of us can still live the way we always have—”

I watched the pure terror climb in Ethan’s eyes and finally laughed out loud, free and sharp.

“Sorry, Sophia.”

“Ethan just called himself a temporary distraction. A novelty.”

“To keep me from leaving, he’s ready to throw you away right now.”

A shaking hand ripped the phone back.

Ethan clutched it and shouted into the receiver.

“That’s not true! Sophia, listen-”

When the call ended he looked frantic.

“Nora, I have to get off at the next stop.”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes. The words came fast.

“Sophia already told her parents she was bringing me over today. If I don’t show, she can’t explain it to

them.”

“I just need to go settle things with her.”

“You go home first. I’ll come find you the second I’m done, okay?”

I looked at the man in such a hurry and almost laughed.

Going to meet her parents.

“Sure. Go.”

He blinked, like he hadn’t expected me to agree so easily.

“Nora, don’t overthink it. I’m really just helping-

“Next station…”

The announcement cut him off.

I turned to the window. My voice was ice.

“Get lost.”

His face went white. He reached for me again. The phone in his pocket started buzzing like a death sentence.

He froze, jaw tight, then finally gritted out:

“Nora, wait for me.”

He left those self-important words hanging and bolted out of the car without looking back.

The train had barely started moving again when my phone rang.

Sophia’s voice came through thick with suppressed tears.

“Nora, I’m sorry…”

“I only called to apologize. I’m in so much pain too.”

“I can’t lie to myself anymore. I really fell for Ethan.”

“These three years he treated me so well. He always protected me.

“I tried so hard to bury it. I didn’t want to wreck what you two had.”

“But I can’t control how I feel.”

Her voice turned small and pleading.

“Nora, we’ve been best friends for so long. You’re amazing. Even without Ethan you’ll be fine. You’ll find someone better.”

“I have nothing left except him… Can you just… let us be together?”

The pure self-pity in her confession was so absurd I laughed out loud.

Playing the other woman and still managing to cast/herself as the tragic heroine.

“Let you?”

“Sophia, do you actually think you’re the star of some grand love story?”

The crying on the other end stuttered.

I tore the last of her pretty lies apart, one sentence at a time.

“You can’t control your feelings, so I’m supposed to step aside like a saint?”

“You spent three years walking all over me and soaking up my boyfriend’s favoritism, and now you want to use our friendship to guilt me into giving him to you?”

“Don’t make me sick.’

“You don’t need my permission. A man who lies the second things get hard and ditches his girlfriend halfway through a train ride-if that’s your prize, take him. Keep him.”

“Hope the parent meet-and-greet goes great today. Hope the two of you stay locked together for the rest of your lives so you can’t go ruin anyone else.”

I hung up before she could answer.

Then I blocked both numbers.

The car went quiet. Sunlight poured through the window.

I leaned back and exhaled, long and slow.

For the first time in years, I felt free.