They Read My Secret Crush Story Out Loud At The Party Chapter 08

Julian’s hand lingered against the elevator button for a long moment before he finally lowered it.

“What do you want to ask first?”

! stared at his profile, my throat tight.

“Why’d you leave? Why didn’t you even say goodbye?”

He lowered his eyes. “I came looking for you.”

I went still.

The elevator reached the parking garage, but he didn’t take me straight to the car. Instead, he reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and took out a faded velvet box.

The corners were worn almost white. He opened it, revealing a silver necklace with a tiny raindrop pendant.

“On your eighteenth birthday, I went to your study.”

“I tutored three students for four months to pay for this.”

“I was going to leave it in one of your books, along with a letter. After you’d read the letter, I was going to ask if you’d wait for me.”

His thumb slowly traced the edge of the box.

“But your father found out.”

“That night, I got a message from you.”

1

He took out his phone and opened a screenshot he’d kept for eight years.

There was only one message,

[Julian, don’t contact me again. Your feelings for me make me uncomfortable.]

My whole body went rigid.

The same thing Blake had said to me. Eight years ago, those words had driven Julian out of my life, too.

“That wasn’t me

I grabbed his sleeve, desperate to make him understand.

“Julian, I never sent that. I didn’t even know you’d been in my study.”

“I know.”

His eyes glistened, but his voice stayed controlled.

“I suspected as much last night, when your mom said you’d been looking for me for years.”

“But I didn’t know back then.”

His father had quit his job. Julian had waited for me, but I never came, and he’d had no choice but to leave

with his dad.

“What about afterward?”

My voice shook badly.

“Julian, in eight years, didn’t you ever think to come back and ask me?”

He closed his eyes briefly, bitterness creeping into his voice.

“I did.”

“I came back again when you were twenty-one.”

“That day, I saw you outside a club, running after Blake to get into his car.”

He looked at me, unable to hide the pain any longer

“You looked at him exactly the way you used to look at me.”

“I thought you didn’t need me anymore.”

Tears fell as I shook my head desperately.

“It wasn’t about him,”

“It was because he looked like you.”

With those words, eight years of misunderstanding fell away.

Julian swallowed. He reached toward my face, then stopped an inch from touching me.

“Raina, it took me eight years to find the courage to stand in front of you again.”

“It wasn’t about proving how successful I could be.”

“It was because your father asked me what I could offer you besides love.”

“Now I finally feel I’m good enough to come back and ask…”

“Do you still want what I never got to give you?”

took the necklace. Before he could put it on.me, I threw myself into his arms.

His whole body went rigid.

Then his arms closed around me, holding me tight.

I buried my face in his chest, sobbing so hard I could barely speak.

“Julian, do you still love me?”

“Still?”

He rested his chin on top of my head, his voice rough.

“I never stopped.”