He Had Time for Everything but Me Chapter 10

He Had Time for Everything but Me Chapter 10

Grant started having trouble sleeping.

Every night, he lay in the empty bed and stared at the ceiling, unable to forget the way I’d looked at him the

last time he’d seen me.

There had been nothing in my eyes but complete indifference.

Late one night, he scrolled through the photos on his phone and found one from years ago.

It had been taken when we first started dating. I was leaning against his chest, smiling, my eyes crinkled with

joy as I held up an ice cream cone.

Half his face had been cut off by the edge of the photo, but the corner of his mouth curved up in a smile.

I had added a caption beneath it.

[Grant had ice cream with me today. I’m so happy.]

Grant stared at the words, his eyes slowly turning red.

He swiped to the next photo.

It showed the wedding plan I had put together. It was dozens of pages long, and every page was covered in

notes.

I had specified where each type of bouquet should go and how every part of the venue should be decorated.

[We’ll put our photos here, one from every year since we met. I should probably make most of the decorations myself…]

He pictured me excitedly shopping for materials and making everything by hand.

I had done all of it alone.

He had never helped.

What had he been doing instead?

He had been spending time with Vanessa.

At the end of the plan, I had written one final sentence by hand.

[Grant, I’ve waited so long for this day.]

Grant pressed the phone against his chest and finally began to cry.

He had never looked closely at the wedding plan.

He knew I had spent an entire year putting it together, but he hadn’t even looked through it once.

He had dismissed all my hard work with an offhand comment that weddings were a waste of time.

At that moment, he finally understood what I had meant when I said he had never respected me.

I had given him my whole heart, and he had trampled all over it.

Grant came to see me again.

Every time he sought me out, he apologized and said he finally understood how much I had loved him.

He promised to win me back with that same sincerity.

I stopped and looked at him.

“So you came here because you want me to forgive you?”

He nodded.

I said quietly, “Fine. I forgive you. You can go now.”

Then I walked past him without stopping.

Grant grabbed my wrist, his lips trembling.

“Claire, I want your forgiveness, but I also want us to go back to how things were.”

“You wanted a wedding, so I’ve planned one. We can have it as soon as we get home, and everyone will give

us their blessing.”

“We can get our marriage license as soon as our plane lands. I’ll wait as long as it takes…”

“Claire, I’m serious this time. If you’ll come back, I’ll always be there for you.”

“I’m not going back.” I pulled my hand free, my voice cold. “There’s no chance of that, Grant.”

“You need to understand that once a mirror shatters, the cracks remain, no matter how carefully you put it

back together.”

Grant blurted out, “I can melt it down and remake it! Then it’ll be flawless again!”

1 laughed softly. “Would it still be the same mirror?”

“The truth is, you feel guilty. You want me to forgive you because it would make you feel better.”

“If you truly loved me, you would stop disrupting my life.”

I walked away without stopping.

After that, none of them came back.

But large sums of money began appearing in my account without explanation.

Grant changed tactics.

He steered several major clients and projects to my company through partnership agreements, charging

steeply discounted rates or nothing at all.

Our numbers soared.

I knew Grant was behind it.

Since he was determined to keep doing it, I stopped wasting my energy fighting him.

Somehow, Grant obtained my contact information.

Every day, he sent me messages about how sorry he was.

Grant: [Claire, I transferred all my shares to you. All you need to do is sign.]

Grant: [It doesn’t matter if you refuse. My attorney made sure everything is legally binding. If anything

happens to me, everything I own will go to you.]

Grant: [I know you won’t accept it, but this is the only thing I can do.]

I never replied to a single message.

The last time Grant came to see me, it was raining.

He stood outside my office building, completely soaked.

After my secretary told me he was there, I stood under the building’s awning and glared at him.

“What do you want now?”

He smiled at me. “Claire, I came to say goodbye.”

I felt relieved.

It seemed he had finally given up.

1 gave him a small nod and walked away.

This time, Grant didn’t follow me. He just watched me leave, and I never saw him again.

Three months later, I saw a news report.

A boat accident off the coast had left two people dead.

They were Grant and Vanessa.

Soon afterward, I received an email from an attorney.

It stated that Grant had left his entire estate to me with no conditions.

I sat in my office and stared at the email for a long time.

Then I closed my laptop and called the finance department.

“Use everything Grant left me to establish a charitable fund through the company. It will provide education and counseling for girls from single-parent households.”

After that, I went back to work.

My parents occasionally came to see me, but I never agreed to meet with them.

For the rest of my life, if no one else would fight for me, I would fight for myself.

I would be my own light.