I Cleaned His Fridge For Three Years For Nothing Chapter 07

I Cleaned His Fridge For Three Years For Nothing Chapter 07

Elara arrived in Willowspire on the day Marnie hosted a vintage summer pop-up market.

I manned a booth selling linen hand-dyed lamp shades I’d crafted myself.

Rhys sat beside me, tallying sales in neat, looping hand lettering on kraft paper.

His handwriting matched his personality–slow, precise, never rushing to outshine anyone.

Elara stood at the edge of the crowd, far thinner than I remembered her.

She didn’t rush over to pull me into a hug like she used to.

She simply walked up to my booth and bought the smallest lamp shade I had for sale.

“Sage, can we talk somewhere private?”

I led her down to a wooden bench overlooking Cedar Lake.

She stayed quiet the entire walk, only speaking once we sat down side by side.

“I quit my job.”

She offered a weak smile.

“Don’t feel guilty about it. I finally realized I haven’t worked on any design projects I actually love

in years.”

Elara stared out across the lake’s calm surface.

“I spent years convincing myself I was protecting you.

“In grade school I’d stand up to teachers picking on you, in high school I’d yell down anyone who bullied you.”

“When Kai fell for you, I smiled and acted happy for you –but deep down I kept wondering why it wasn’t me.”

She spoke slowly, every word heavy with regret.

“I know how ugly that jealousy looks. You never took anything from me, yet I couldn’t stop comparing us.”

“If you scraped your knee, Kai rushed to patch you up. If your design draft failed, Kai sat with you to

fix it. If you cried, Kai comforted you.”

“I stood on the sidelines, watching, feeling abandoned.”

Memories flooded my mind in a rush.

Elara had truly protected me once, a long time ago.

When classmates mocked my slow work pace, she’d defend me instantly.

When I’d come down with a brutal stomach bug, she’d run through pouring rain to pick up my

medication.

She hadn’t started cruel and competitive from day one.

That made every time Kai chose her over me hurt ten times worse.

“The day of the Thorne Lake Inn project,” Elara continued, “I knew I’d swapped out the sample pages without approval.”

She covered her face briefly before dropping her hands back to her lap.

Kai told me to stay quiet about it. After you left, I replayed that day over and over-wondering if everything would’ve changed if I’d owned up to my mistake.”

Wind tangled her hair around her face, but there was no real answer to that question.

She pulled an envelope out of her tote bag and held it out toward me.

“This holds the compensation I negotiated back from the firm for your wrongful termination. Don’t turn it down-let me do one decent thing to make up for all of it.”

I didn’t reach out to take the envelope, watching her steadily.

After a long beat, her raised hand slowly fell back to her lap.

“I get it.”

No excuses, no fake soft apologies, no attempt to manufacture a peace offering this time.

Later that evening, Kai waited for Elara at the alley entrance to the retreat.

They stood there talking for minutes, words I couldn’t hear floating between them.

Without warning, Elara lifted her hand and landed a sharp slap across his cheek.

Nearby shoppers froze, several stepping half-forward like they planned to step in if things

escalated further.

Kai didn’t flinch or step away.

Elara sobbed as she spoke.

“You thought you were shielding me by making her take the fall? You trapped all three of us in this

miserable cycle.”

Kai’s gaze drifted past her to the courtyard, where I stood under the covered porch holding leftover lamp shades from the market.

His eyes felt distant, like he’d finally watched something irreplaceable shatter completely, with no way to glue the pieces back together.

Once Elara drove away, Kai stayed in town.

He didn’t book another room at Marnie’s Rest Retreat this time, instead renting a tiny apartment a

short walk away.

Every single morning, he left a paper cup of warm vanilla oat milk on the courtyard gate.

On the third day, Rhys carried the cup inside to me.

He shrugged innocently. “Would be a waste to throw it out, I’ll drink it.”

I laughed at his easy, uncomplicated demeanor.

Kai stood just outside the gate, watching me smile, and the umbrella he held tilted downward in his

grip.

Heavy rain poured down that night.

The roof of one guest cottage sprung a massive leak, and Marnie and I rushed to relocate all the guests’ belongings.

Rhys’s heart condition left him fragile, yet he threw on a jacket and came out to help regardless.

Kai also showed up to assist.

He stripped off his wool blazer to wedge it into the cracked window frame, his movements quick

and practiced.

For a split second, I was thrown back to the university design lab.

The three of us, working through the night to fix a collapsed cardboard model build.

Back then there was no hurt, no forced sides, no endless unfair comparisons.

Only young, clumsy, genuine fondness.

Once the rain stopped, Kai stood soaked through on the porch, staring straight at me.

“Sage, can we try again from the start? Please?”

Rhys coughed softly from behind my shoulder, his lips pale, but he sent me a gentle reassuring

smile.

“I’m alright, don’t worry about me.”

I reached out to steady him.

When I glanced back at Kai, all the bright hope had faded completely from his eyes.