My Fiancé Took Her to the World Cup — and Left Me to Babysit Their Cat Chapter 07

My Fiancé Took Her to the World Cup — and Left Me to Babysit Their Cat Chapter 07

I returned to my hometown, Lakewood, Virginia.

Virginia welcomed me home with days of rain.

My mother, Catherine Hart, said rainy days were perfect for sleeping.

As long as you fell asleep, your mind could rest.

Right and wrong, love and heartbreak, none of it mattered more than one solid night’s sleep.

I knew she was afraid I would bottle everything up until I broke.

She had never liked rainy days.

They delayed errands and made everything feel heavy and dull.

Now she said she liked the rain only because she hoped I would cry as freely as a storm.

My parents both knew I loved Alex.

Loved him recklessly.

For the past twelve years, there had been no shortage of men around me who were better than him.

But from beginning to end, I only had eyes for him.

Now that we had broken up, any normal person would be sad.

They would cry.

But from the moment I came home, I had been calm, as if nothing had happened.

My parents thought I was pretending to be strong, holding back tears because I didn’t want them to worry.

I told my mom, “Maybe I cried too much during the past twelve years. That’s why after leaving him, I can’t shed a single tear.”

“Instead, I feel relieved. I don’t have to keep falling into endless jealousy and self-torment because of another woman.”

“Twelve years. My entire youth felt buried under the sea.”

“And the person who walked out of that sea is no longer the old Elena.”

Only then did my mother relax.

Actually, when it came to Alex, my parents had once been fairly satisfied with him.

But after he stayed with me year after year and dragged things out until I was thirty before finally deciding to get married, they had opinions about him.

They only tolerated him because I loved him.

On the first day I came home, my parents blocked all of Alex’s contact information.

Maybe they had been waiting for me to break up with Alex for a long time.

They had only just gotten their wish.

On the ninth, the sky cleared.

After being washed by the rain, the sky was impossibly blue.

I went out for a walk and found a quaint storefront in a beautiful area.

After working all these years, I had saved nearly four million dollars.

I didn’t want to go through the pressure of corporate life again.

I didn’t want to move to another big city either.

I only wanted to stay in this small town and open a place I liked.

I set aside one million dollars to rent the storefront, renovate it, and turn it into a cozy book café.

Reading would be free.

The money would mainly come from the atmosphere, the drinks, and the desserts.

After opening The Page & Brew Café, I had very little pressure.

Every day was busy, fulfilling, and real.

My parents were surprised I could pull myself together so quickly.

For marketing, I registered a social media account.

I used it to share my café.

On ordinary days, I read when there was nothing else to do.

Whenever I looked up, the view outside the window was enough to clear my mind.

This life was peaceful and simple.

It slowly smoothed over the pain of the past twelve years.

Only, I never expected that on an ordinary morning, someone I never wanted to see again would appear.

Alex.