I Spent Six Christmas Eves Waiting For Nothing Chapter 02

I Spent Six Christmas Eves Waiting For Nothing Chapter 02

I locked the bedroom door behind me.

A few moments later, the doorknob rattled from the outside, but it wouldn’t budge.

His footsteps faded into the hallway, followed by the click of another guest bedroom door locking.

Every time we had a fight, Garrett would never try to comfort me. He never indulged my small emotional outbursts, choosing instead to let me stew in my own feelings.

It was the same when I cried myself to sleep.

It was the same when the stress made me physically sick.

There were so many times I genuinely wondered if Garrett lacked basic human empathy, considering how he could remain completely indifferent in the face of my tears.

But later, I realized that wasn’t the case at all.

He just reserved his emotions for Chloe.

When Chloe got mugged while living abroad, Garrett dropped an incredibly crucial business merger just to jump on a transatlantic flight to find her.

When anyone else dared to cross her, Garrett would argue on her behalf until he was red in the face.

Whenever she felt slighted, she could call Garrett at any hour of the day or night. Even with the massive time difference turning their days and nights upside down, he never let his phone ring a second time before picking up.

With me, Garrett was far more careless.

As long as I wasn’t threatening him with a divorce lawyer, he let me throw whatever fit I wanted. Afterward, he’d just buy a random piece of jewelry or say a few smooth words to gloss it all over.

A notification lit up my screen—a text from Chloe.

[Chloe: Elena, you up? Garrett told me you’re still throwing a tantrum.]

[Chloe: Look, I’ll apologize to you on his behalf. We really didn’t think this through, and he totally deserves to get chewed out. I’ll make sure to give him a piece of my mind for you! ]

[Chloe: So don’t be mad anymore, okay? I brought you an amazing souvenir from Europe. I’ll give it to you tomorrow.]

I didn’t bother responding and locked my phone.

When I woke up the next morning, I was sitting up in bed filling out my overseas relocation paperwork when the lock clicked.

Someone was unlocking my bedroom door from the outside with a spare key.

Panicking, I quickly pulled the comforter up over my bare shoulders just as Chloe pushed the door open.

“Oh, you’re still in bed!”

She was wearing my silk bathrobe with an apron tied around her waist, holding a spatula in her hand.

Strutting over to the window with absolute familiarity, she ripped the curtains wide open.

“I made breakfast! Hurry up and come eat.”

Seeing my utter bewilderment, she offered a sweet smile. “Elena, I’m going to have to crash here for a while.”

“You know how it is—I had that massive blowout with my parents before running off to Europe, and now that I’m back in the city, I don’t really have a place to stay. Garrett didn’t feel safe leaving me in some random hotel, so he just brought me here.”

“From now on, I’ll handle all the cooking around here. Consider it my rent.”

Garrett hadn’t even bothered to consult me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, a dull throb pulsing behind my temples. It took everything in me to force the anger back down.

“Get out,” I said flatly.

Chloe hummed a little tune as she strolled out of the room.

When I walked into the dining area, Garrett was already sitting at the table eating breakfast. He slid a plate toward me.

“Try it,” he said. “I shouldn’t have to suffer through this alone.”

Chloe’s eyes widened in a mix of mock anger and amusement. She grabbed his arm, poking him sharply in the ribs.

“Hey! Garrett, what is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m a trust-fund girl who has never lifted a finger in a kitchen before—I am literally a princess! You should be on your knees thanking me that you get to eat my cooking, and here you are complaining about it!”

She hissed at him like a spoiled kitten baring its claws.

I kept my face blank and quietly ate my breakfast.

The presentation wasn’t actually that bad, and it tasted perfectly fine. Garrett was clearly just throwing out jabs to tease the girl.

“A princess? Or a wicked witch brewing poison in the woods?” Garrett chuckled, clearly amused by his own joke.

The two of them kept up their witty banter, back and forth.

Their chatter finally brought a semblance of life into a house that had been dead silent for years.

It was a sharp contrast to how Garrett and I usually were when we were alone. He would read the Wall Street Journal while I stared at my phone. Six years of marriage and a shared bed, yet we acted like two polite strangers who barely knew each other.

“You’re being incredibly loud,” I interrupted coldly. “Can you keep it down?”