The Letter I Refused to Accept Chapter 09

The Letter I Refused to Accept Chapter 09

After that, Cole had come by every day before the seriester started, and every time, she wasn’t

there.

He’d cut Chelsea out of his life completely too.

On the first day of school, he’d asked his college for a day off and flown out to Sienna’s school,

but he still didn’t see that familiar face.

He’d gone to the admissions office, and they’d told him she’d withdrawn a long time ago. He’d

been stunned.

She’d moved away, and he’d lost all contact with her. A living, breathing person had vanished

into thin air.

He’d gotten seriously sick. When he recovered, he’d dropped out of school and searched for her

all over the world like a madman.

The clink of a spoon against a coffee cup snapped Cole back to the present.

“Sienna, everything before was my fault. I hung up on you when you called for help. I reported you for the financial aid. I even let Chelsea use your birthday as an excuse to bully you.”

It finally hit him. Without even realizing it, he’d done so much to hurt Sienna.

Seven years earlier, he’d held that skinny little girl at the funeral and sworn he’d protect her for the rest of her life. And in the end, he was the one who’d hurt her most.

“Sienna, I’m not asking you to forgive me. But will you give me a chance to make it up to you?”

I looked down and slowly stirred my coffee. “Cole, the truth is, neither of us owes the other

anything.”

“You hurt me, but you also saved me.”

After my father died, our only source of income was gone, and we couldn’t even cover my school expenses.

Cole was the one who took out every cent he had and even went around his school collecting donations so I could keep up with my school expenses, one bill at a time.

He supported me for two whole years, until I finished middle school and finally found a part–time job.

If it weren’t for Cole, might not have even made it through middle school.

I might have ended up like the girl in some sad story, waiting until I was old enough to get a job washing dishes and then getting married young because I couldn’t afford not to.

So even after everything, I couldn’t hate him. But I couldn’t let it go either.

The help and the love had been real. But so was the pain, and nothing could erase that.

“Cole, I know your feelings changed. But I can’t hate you the way my mother hated my father.”

“So leaving each other alone and moving on is the best ending for us.”

I looked up at him. The resentment and hate that used to fill my eyes had turned into a cool,

empty calm.

Cole stared at me blankly. His throat bobbed as he choked out the words. “But Sienna, I can’t let go. I can’t…”

The coffee in my cup had gone cold.

“Cole, I don’t want to ruin the last bit of dignity we have left.”

That was the final verdict on everything between us.

Cole looked at me in despair, but he couldn’t say a word.

I checked the time, got up, and headed out. I could feel his eyes following me, but I didn’t look

back

Right before I stepped out the door, he finally spoke, after a long silence. “Sienna, I’m sorry for everything. Goodbye.”

Outside, the snow had started falling again. I held out my palm and felt the cold land on it. But it couldn’t cool the heartbeat pounding in my chest.

That past, full of love and hate and wounds on both sides, was over.

I looked toward the corner, where Diana’s car was waiting with its window halfway down.

This time, I was the one holding the script. And from now on, the only one writing my future

would be me