He Wouldn’t Let Me Touch His Door, But She Wore His Shirt Chapter 05

He Wouldn’t Let Me Touch His Door, But She Wore His Shirt Chapter 05

The flood of messages had started piling up since 3:00 AM.

[Joanna, what the hell does your post mean?]

[Where are you? Why aaren’t you home? Where did you go?]

[Stop ignoring my calls. I know I messed up, I shouldn’t have stood you up.]

The tone grew increasingly panicked as the timestamps advanced.

[Joanna, you packed up your apartment? Everything’s gone? Where the hell are you? Answer me!

[I already made Alyssa move out, please just come back.]

[Did something happen to you? Just tell me where you are, I’ll come get you right now.]

Twenty-seven texts. Fourteen missed calls.

I swiped away every single notification.

I caught a ride straight to the suburbs to see my parents.

My mom opened the front door, looking me up and down. “Why did you lose so much weight?”

“Just the seasonal shift, lost my appetite,” I lied.

My dad was sitting in the living room watching TV, not even looking up. “Did you finally dump that Sterling guy?”

My movements paused as I kicked off my shoes. “How did you know?”

“He called your mother’s phone half an hour ago, but we didn’t pick up. Then he tried mine, and I ignored it too.” My dad flipped the channel. “He was never any good anyway. Glad it’s over. You hungry?”

My mom was already in the kitchen reheating dinner.

My phone buzzed with a text from Valerie. [Jo, Julian reached out to me. He sounds completely broken, he thinks you’ve gone missing. Are you okay?]

I typed back, [I’m back at my parents’ place, I’m not missing. Tell him to stop looking.]

Valerie wrote back, [He keeps saying it’s all a misunderstanding, that Alyssa already moved out…]

I fired back a long block of text.

[Valerie, he let me sit alone in a restaurant for three hours because he was taking Alyssa to an evening clinic. He kept me locked out of his apartment for three years under the guise of clean-freak tendencies, but Alyssa moved in for a week and was already wearing his pajamas and soaking in his tub. You call that a misunderstanding?]

Valerie didn’t reply after that.

During dinner, an unknown number flashed on my screen.

I picked it up.

Julian’s voice sounded so raspy and broken it felt like it was crumbling. “Joanna, you finally / answered… You’re at your place, right? Please, let me explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain,” I cut him off. “Julian, I told you we are done. And stop calling my

family.”

The line went silent for two seconds.

Suddenly, a sob broke through his voice. “Joanna, are you really throwing me away? I haven’t slept in two days searching for you, I’m so terrified…”

I said nothing.

He kept begging. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have let Alyssa stay, I shouldn’t have stood you up, I

shouldn’t have posted that status. I’ll do whatever you want, just come back…”

I let out a soft, hollow laugh into the receiver.

“You’re terrified? That night I sat in that restaurant waiting for you for three hours while you were playing savior for another woman, were you terrified then?”

“Julian, your fear is incredibly cheap.”

I hung up.

And blocked the number.

My dad silently dropped a piece of pot roast into my bowl, and my mom gently stroked my hair.

“It’s good to have you home,” she said.

After dinner, I took a long, hot shower.

The water heater at my parents’ place worked perfectly.

The temperature was exactly right.

I stood under the stream for a long time.

It turned out I only ever needed a properly functioning water heater, not anyone’s stingy charity.