My Fiancé’s Love Was Just a Test?! Too Bad I Passed by Leaving Chapter 07

My Fiancé’s Love Was Just a Test?! Too Bad I Passed by Leaving Chapter 07

The first thing I did in Harboridge was pop in the new SIM card I’d bought before I left.

I texted Malcolm to let him know I’d landed.

A coworker was waiting outside arrivals, holding a sign with my name.

She had this infectious energy that hit me before she even opened her mouth.

The second I confirmed I was Elise, she pulled me into a hug.

“Welcome to Harboridge! You’re gonna love it here.”

The sun hit my skin the moment I stepped outside, and something tight in my chest loosened for the first

time in days.

The whole city felt alive. Exactly the way I’d imagined it.

She drove me straight to my corporate apartment.

One bedroom, right on the water. Light poured in from every angle.

Floor–to–ceiling windows faced the ocean. I could wake up to it every morning.

I’d grown up landlocked, hours from any coast. The ocean had always felt like something that belonged to

other people’s lives.

I’d told Spencer about it once, back when things were still good.

My dream was a house on the water. Waking up to waves instead of an alarm.

Evening walks along the beach, hand in hand with someone I loved.

Spencer had held me close and kissed my forehead.

“One day I’ll take you to see every sea in the world.”

“You pick the one you love most, and we’ll buy a place right there.”

“I’ll move the whole company if I have to. Whatever it takes for you to have the life you want.”

I’d believed every word. And I’d been so, so happy.

Then Vanessa came back from abroad.

When she heard about my dream, she laughed.

“No offense, future bride, but I’ve seen this play a hundred times.”

“Girl acts all sweet and dreamy, gets the guy to buy her a house, a car, the whole package. Then she cashes

out.”

“I’m not saying that’s you. I’m just saying every gold digger I’ve ever met ran this exact same playbook.”

“That’s just how I talk. We’re cool, right?”

My chest was burning. I looked at Spencer, willing him to say something.

All he had to do was defend me. Just once.

Instead, he smirked.

“Who knows?”

We fought that night. Badly.

It was our first real fight.

At some point, he snapped.

“You’re blowing this out of proportion. Vanessa was kidding.”

“And honestly? We come from different worlds. People are gonna think what they think.”

I stared at him. My voice shook.

“Spencer, after everything, is that really what you think of me?”

He apologized. Held me. Said all the right things until I stopped crying.

But something had cracked between us that night, and it never fully healed.

I started walking on eggshells. Constantly proving, through every gesture, every refusal, every careful choice,

that I loved him for him, not his money.

But the harder I tried, the guiltier I looked. Their joke became their truth, and I never even saw it happen.

I let out a small laugh and shook my head.

My coworker caught the look on my face.

“Everything okay? You don’t like the apartment?”

I shook my head quickly.

“No, no, it’s perfect. Thank you.”

“I was just thinking about an old version of myself. She was kind of an idiot.”

I’d grown up with nothing, and I’d built a life anyway. Good grades. A real career.

I didn’t have to prove myself to any of them.

I’d just loved Spencer so much that I forgot that.

I looked out at the ocean.

But my life was mine again. Finally.

My coworker smiled.

“Everyone’s an idiot sometimes. That’s not a flaw. It just means you cared.”

“This is your story. Nobody else gets to write it.”