I Pretended To Be His Crush For Three Years Chapter 06

I Pretended To Be His Crush For Three Years Chapter 06

The hallway lights were bright.

Reid stood outside the door. His black suit jacket was gone. The top button of his shirt was undone. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were hollow with exhaustion.

Nora’s heart stopped for a beat, then started pounding out of control.

What was he doing here? Shouldn’t he be taking Nyssa to the hospital? Why was he here-at her door?

Was it because he’d seen the comments? Did he think she was pathetic too? Or had he come to say, “I’m sorry for dragging you into this”?

She didn’t want to hear any of it. Not a single word.

She stepped back into the darkness of the entryway and didn’t open the door.

The doorbell rang again. Once. Twice. Three times.

Then silence.

She thought he’d left. Then her phone buzzed.

[Nora, I know you’re in there. Open the door.]

It was Reid.

She gripped her phone, staring at the screen. She didn’t reply.

A few seconds later, another message came through: [I need to say something. Just one thing.]

She stared at those words and almost bit through her lip.

What couldn’t he say in a text? Why did he have to come here, to their old apartment, in the middle of the

night?

She typed a reply, deleted it. Typed again, deleted again.

Finally she sent: [It’s late. Let’s talk tomorrow.]

No more messages came. No sound from outside.

But she knew he was still there.

A long time passed. Long enough for her breathing to slow, for her heart to stop racing, for the frantic

pounding to settle into a quiet, exhausted stillness.

Then his voice came through the door. Low. Rough. “Nora. Do you blame me?”

She was silent for a long time. Then, following her heart rather than her head, she answered quietly: “I never

blamed you.”

“Then why don’t you?” His voice cracked. “I walked into your life without asking. The three years we had-we were good together. I was going to propose to you. Then I ended it, out of nowhere, like it meant nothing.”

“I turned your life upside down. I got you dragged through the mud online. I got you slandered. I made you a

target.”

“Everything I did-why don’t you hate me?”

His voice was hoarse, scraped raw, like it had been sanded down with gravel.

Nora clenched her fists. Her heart squeezed tight.

Why didn’t she hate him? Because she had no right. Because she was the one who’d done wrong. From the

very start. Every bit of it was on her.

She bit her lip until she tasted blood, holding back the truth, forcing down the urge to confess everything.

His voice came again, even softer-so soft she almost had to press her ear against the door to hear him.

“Nora… did you ever really care? Three years together, and when I ended it, you didn’t even cry. Didn’t fight.

Didn’t ask why.”

“Do you even have a heart?”

Her heart seized. It took her a moment-a long, stunned moment-to understand what he was really saying.

He was blaming her.

He broke up with her, and she agreed.

He posted the statement, and she said okay.

He told her to take care, and she said mm.

She’d done everything a “good ex-girlfriend” was supposed to do. No crying, no screaming, no threats of self-harm. No clinging, no interrogating, no revenge. Even when he and Nyssa showed up right in front of her,

she’d bowed out without a fight.

And he blamed her.

Blamed her for being too calm. Too graceful. Too accepting. Blamed her for not falling apart. Blamed her for

not having a heart.

But he didn’t know. He didn’t know that her “heartlessness” came from a heart that had been filled to bursting

and then hollowed out-so empty now that she couldn’t even tell where the pain began anymore.

She heard him lean against the door, then slowly slide down until he was sitting on the floor.

“Nora… can you just tell me what you’re thinking?” His voice was trembling. “Please.”

Her eyes burned red.

“I spent three years spoiling you. Not so you’d leave without even letting yourself cry.” His voice dropped

lower and lower, until it was barely a whisper, nearly a breath. “When are you going to learn? You’re allowed

to hurt. You’re allowed to be angry. You’re allowed to blame anyone-including me.”

“You can blame me.”

She sank to the floor behind the door. She buried her face in her arms. Her tears fell one by one, hitting the

wood floor, each drop making a tiny, soft sound.

“Reid.” She finally spoke. Her voice was so small she barely heard it herself.

He answered fast, like he’d been waiting. “Yeah.”

But all she said was: “Go home. You have work tomorrow.”

She swallowed hard.

“I’ll be okay… You take care too.”