Chapter 11
His eyes widened, and his voice trembled with urgency.
“Catherine, why didn’t you tell me? If you had, maybe I wouldn’t have confessed to Emily. Maybe we wouldn’t have missed all this time.”
I shook my head and laughed bitterly.
“Austin, if after all this time you couldn’t recognize such deep and profound love from a woman, it only proves we aren’t right for each other.”
One year of cohabitation, twenty years of friendship, and ten years of secretly loving him.
1 gave him the best years of my life.
The kisses under the fireworks, the meaningful glances during gatherings, the solemn moment of locking the love lock, and the tenderness of placing my grandmother’s necklace around his neck.
Through all those moments, I refuse to believe he didn’t sense anything. If a man chooses to avoid something, even if the other person gives their life for him, it will never be reciprocated.
I sighed. “Austin, if you could never see that you loved me, it’s likely because you didn’t love me.”
“That’s not true!”
He dropped the bouquet and fell to his knees before me, almost frantic.
“I just got too used to the way you cared for me. Too used to your love. I do love you!”
“These days without you, I’ve felt so empty inside. Every time I came home, I kept imagining yoh”
“I imagined you sitting at your computer, cooking in the kitchen, lounging on the sofa watching a movie. I thought about it so much I was going crazy. I missed you so much!”
“Catherine, I don’t love Emily–it was just an obsession. Once we got together, I realized the person I truly love has always been you!”
“I’ve already broken up with her! I’ll redo the house and make it exactly how it was before! Catherine, please, come back with me!”
Simon stepped forward and stood beside me.
A Love Left Behind: Embracing a Better Future
Smiling. I took his hand and looked down at Austin’s nearly broken gaze
“You know, I should thank Emily Without her, I’d never have seen your true character. You weren’t even a qualified friend, let alone a lover
I shook my head. “I don’t love you anymore. The man I love now is ten thousand times better than
you”
I smiled, my tone almost cruel. “You once told me to go out and try something new. I did. And I realized just how worthless you are compared to the amazing men out there
Austin’s posture crumpled bit by bit until he was completely hunched over, defeated
But I wasn’t done yet.
“If I had met Simon Fraser before you, that bouquet and letter would have been his.”
At last, he collapsed completely, his face ashen, lifeless like dirt.
The letter fell to the ground, trampled into the mud by passing cars.
In a frenzy, he tried to pick it up, but all he managed to gather was handfuls of shredded paper.
I think he finally understood that he had truly lost me.
After that day, I never saw Austin Colson again.
I continued my life as usual–working, living, and dating Simon Fraser.
A month later, Simon announced his resignation. He formally stepped into his role as the heir of the
Fraser Corporation.
The agreement he had with my uncle was for two years, but for my sake, he had worked an additional three months without pay. That was more than enough to show his loyalty.
Before leaving, he insisted on taking me, his assistant, with him.
My uncle refused, trying to use me as leverage to keep simon. But Simon’s vindictive side revealed
itself.
With a smile, he placed a stack of client information in front of my uncle.
negotiations?”
uncle sighed silently. “Is this your dowry?”
Wie suffice for
A Love Left Behind: Embracing a Better Future
- 10.
Simon smiled politely. “Of course not. This is just an appetizer.”
Six months later, I discovered that his vindictiveness extended beyond my uncle.
As it turned out, Austin hadn’t left the city. He had been stalking me, looking for a chance to reconcile.
Simon had deliberately provoked him, causing Austin to lose control and attack. Simon, that cunning fox, had personally ensured Austin was sent to jail, where he spent six months.
The last time I heard about Austin was during my honeymoon with Simon.
We were lounging on a private yacht. Simon, wearing sunglasses, was lying against me, his bare upper body covered in faint scratch marks.
Remembering the intensity of the previous night, I averted my gaze in embarrassment.
At that moment, my phone chimed with a message.
It was Lexi, sending me a photo.
The picture showed Austin, drunk and collapsed at the entrance of my old home, surrounded by empty liquor bottles. In his hands were a bouquet of roses and a pile of hastily assembled torn
letters.
Lexi told me that Emily had caused endless trouble for him–threatening lawsuits, and accusing him of assault. In the end, the Colson family sold their house to pay her off.
But Emily’s life didn’t turn out well either.
Austin had started a blog where he shared memories of me, exposing Emily’s actions–how she had forced me to take humiliating videos and deliberately destroyed my belongings.
Netizens quickly unearthed Emily’s past, revealing that she had worked as a call girl abroad before coming back and rebranding herself as an innocent “white lotus.”
Under public pressure, her family sent her abroad again. According to those who knew her, Emily soon squandered her savings and returned to her old ways.
After his release, Austin turned to alcohol and cigarettes to numb himself.
When drunk, he liked to sit outside my old house, mumbling, “She loved me. She loved me.”
Neighbors called him a drunkard. His parents gave up on him, and his friends abandoned him.
A Love Left Behind: Embracing a Better Future
I smiled and told Lexi not to mention him anymore.
Then I lowered my head and planted a gentle kiss on the face of the man in my arms.
My life had moved on to a far better future.
A Love Left B
