He Told Me to Wait While He Was With His Cheating Ex — I Sold Our Home That Night Chapter 06

He Told Me to Wait While He Was With His Cheating Ex — I Sold Our Home That Night Chapter 06

Julian went to the bar after all.

It was not because he still wanted to see Sabrina. The condo belonged to someone else now, Chloe had blocked him, and even the wedding things she had once bought for them had been left beside a dumpster.

Suddenly, he had no idea where else to go.

Sabrina was sitting in a booth with a young man already at her side. He lit her cigarette, fended off anyone trying to press another drink on her, and rested one arm along the back of her seat with the easy familiarity of someone who had known her for years.

When Sabrina spotted Julian, she smiled and waved him over.

“Julian, over here!”

“I can’t believe you actually came. Why aren’t you with your little live-in maid?”

She spoke as casually as though nothing had happened.

Julian’s gaze settled on the man beside her.

The man did not move his arm from the back of Sabrina’s seat. Instead, he looked up at Julian and smiled.

“So this is the old flame you told me about?”

Sabrina swirled the drink in her glass and leaned back.

“Yeah. My old flame.”

Someone nearby immediately teased, “Didn’t Sabrina just come back from overseas for her old flame? How did she find a new guy this fast?”

Sabrina bit lightly on her straw and arched one eyebrow.

“An old flame is one thing. The guy I’m seeing now is another.”

“One doesn’t cancel out the other.”

Julian stood there as the color slowly drained from his face.

He remembered seven years earlier.

Sabrina had been exactly the same then.

One day, she had told him that she loved him more than anything. The next, she had shown up at the airport with her arm linked through another man’s.

Back then, she had said, “Julian, I was born to be free. Stop trying to control me.”

Afterward, Julian had drunk until he suffered a serious stomach bleed, and everyone had said he had lost his mind.

Chloe had been the one who cared for him with almost angelic patience and slowly pulled him out of that darkness.

The new man slid Sabrina’s drink toward her and gave Julian an amused look.

“Man, don’t look at me like that.”

“If she really wanted to leave with you, I couldn’t stop her.”

Sabrina laughed and lightly smacked his arm.

“You really do have a wicked mouth.”

The man caught her hand and did not let go.

Julian stared at their joined hands, his throat tightening.

“Sabrina, why did you really come back?”

She blinked at him.

“To see you, of course.”

“To see what?”

She tilted her head.

“To see whether I could still make you lose control.”

The voices around them grew quieter.

Sabrina seemed not to notice and even leaned a little closer.

“Julian, you didn’t honestly think I came back because I wanted to marry you, did you?”

The last of the color left his face.

Sabrina smiled.

“I thought you understood me better than anyone.”

“Someone like me would suffocate in a marriage.”

“Chloe was the one who suited you—sweet, accommodating, willing to wait for you, cook for you, and even marry you.”

“What a shame.”

She drew out her final words.

“Apparently, stable just isn’t your thing.”

Julian’s fingers tightened.

The glass shifted in his hand, spilling liquor onto his cuff.

Sabrina noticed and raised an eyebrow.

“What? Are you about to lose your mind over me again?”

Her words brought Chloe rushing into his thoughts.

He remembered her sitting with the ring box on her lap on the night of their seventh anniversary, her head lowered as she asked, “Julian, if I had proposed earlier, would you have said yes?”

He had remained silent for so long that a server had come over to ask whether they wanted the cake boxed up.

In the end, all he had said was, “Chloe, this isn’t the right time.”

He had assumed she would keep waiting.

She had waited for seven years already.

The young man stood and draped an arm over Sabrina’s shoulders.

“Are we leaving or not? I thought you wanted to go to the beach.”

Julian stepped in front of them.

“Sabrina,” he said, his voice painfully hoarse. “What did I ever mean to you?”

She looked at him.

For one brief moment, the smile faded from her face.

Then her usual careless expression returned.

“You knew the answer back then.”

The young man gave a quiet laugh.

“You heard her, ex-boyfriend. Get out of the way.”

Julian clenched his fists.

Sabrina reached out first and caught the new guy by the wrist.

“Come on,” she said in a coaxing tone. “Don’t fight with him.”

She led him past Julian.

As she passed, Sabrina paused and tossed out one final remark.

“Julian, haven’t you always had someone around to soothe you?”

“Go find her.”

Julian stood frozen.

He could no longer find Chloe.

The bar door opened and closed, letting in a rush of cold air.

Sabrina’s half-finished drink still sat on the table in the booth.

Someone started to come over and smooth things over, but after saying, “Julian,” he fell silent.

Julian looked down at the liquor stain on his cuff.

He suddenly felt utterly pathetic.

He finally understood.

The woman who had kept him trapped for seven years had never intended to come back to him.

She had only enjoyed watching him unravel over her.

After leaving the bar, Julian returned to his car.

The wedding things he had recovered from beside the dumpster were still on the passenger seat.

He took out the ring Chloe had returned.

The diamond caught the dim light inside the car.

An old sticky note was tucked beneath the ring box.

It was in Chloe’s handwriting.

[Julian, your stomach meds are on the second shelf. Don’t drink on an empty stomach again.]

Julian stared at the words for a long time.

His throat worked again and again.

Finally, he lowered his head and crushed the note in his fist.

“I’m sorry, Chloe.”