Chapter 109
After countless sleepless nights, I surprisingly caught some solid z’s on the flight.
In my dreams. Antonio’s face kept showing up, like he was just waiting for me there.
Back when we were just seven, we used to play games together.
He’d tell me he was the groom, and I was the prettiest bride.
When we turned eighteen, we made that game real.
He vowed to hustle hard and give me a grand wedding.
But when did things start to fall apart between us?
Did it start after Stella showed up, or was it before that?
I couldn’t even remember it anymore.
Antonio had been the center of my world for as long as I could remember.
No matter how much I tried to stay cool and get over him, it felt like my insides were being torn apart.
Once I landed, I didn’t even have the guts to turn on my phone.
“Grace!”
My mom was waving at me, standing out in a sea of foreigners.
It had been ages since we last saw each other.
She wasn’t the same woman I remembered, sitting on the couch, crying, waiting for my dad to come home.
She was older, but she exuded more charm than before.
“You’ve grown so much,” she said, her voice filled with wonder.
My mom kept touching my face, saying sorry over and over again.
I just let go and hugged her tight.
I said, “Mom, I’m not holding it against you.
“You said I should love myself first before seeking love from others.”
Twenty years apart, my mom and I both made the same choice.
“Grace, Antonio’s been calling non–stop,” my mom warned me.
She tried to dry my tears, but hers started flowing instead.
“No matter what you choose, I’m with you all the way,” she said, supporting me no matter what.
My phone was blowing up with calls and messages from Antonio.
Before I could even catch up on the latest, another call was coming in.
“Grace…” he said, his voice laden with stress, like he was holding the whole world on his shoulders.
I’d never heard Antonio this worked up before.
I was puzzled. With Stella back in the picture, why was he still worried
about me. the substitute?
He tried to explain, “Grace, have you read my journal? It’s not true.
There’s nothing going on with Stella. I promise you. She’s just like a sister
to me.
“You must be heartbroken. I can see it in the tears you’ve left on my journal pages. I’ve been remiss, but it was never my intention to hurt you.”
I was feeling kind of spaced out.
“Antonio, I get that you think you’re obligated to stay with me, but that’s why I’m walking away. It’s to set us both free, to let you be with Stella.
“Aren’t you happy with it?
“Why the tears?”
In Antonio’s diary, Stella was his shining moment, the highlight of his darkest days.
She was the most brilliant, the most vivid chapter of his life.
He’d wiped that period from his memory that I put in the work to get him back on top.
While he was living it up with Stella, soaking in the glory days, I was the one emptying my bank account to cover his mistakes.
I was the one groveling to business associates, doing whatever it took to keep us afloat.
I was the one downing drinks till I was senseless, so wasted I nearly lost. our baby.
None of that registered with him.
All he held onto was the heady, fantastical ride Stella offered him.
He had Stella’s name tattooed on his chest, lying to me that it was a reminder of the hard times, a symbol to keep him driven.
What he truly yearned to keep alive was his fiery Stella.
Now, he had the chance to reclaim his true love.
Why did he miss me now?
Antonio said. “Grace, you ditched the wedding to teach me a lesson, didn’t you? You’ve got it bad for me, so much that my recent lack of attention stung, and this was your way of hitting back.
“No worries. I’m willing to let it slide. Grace, whatever you do, I’m forgiving it.”
I stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing how to counter his words.
Back in the day, when I was young and naive, I threw tantrums too.
I cried, made a scene, and even ran away from home.
Through it all, Antonio just stood by, unmoved.
He never made moves to soothe me or scold me.
He’d just play it cool, sitting tight until I was the one to break the silence and say I was sorry.
I figured that was just who he was.
I never clued in that he had it all figured out.
We grew up together, and he knew me inside and out.
He was dead certain that I loved him and I couldn’t live without him. He
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counted on my love, never sweating about me walking out.
He didn’t see me leaving so abruptly, so completely.
This wasn’t part of his plan.
It shook him up.
He was afraid he might never see me again.
Once I saw through all this, whatever feelings I had left for Antonio were gone in a flash.
“Antonio, I appreciate the tenderness you gave me when I was at my lowest.”