Chapter 8: Choices
I knocked on the study door. Asher was
wearing his rimless glasses.
His gentle demeanor was gone, replaced by a
chilling coldness.
I stared at him for a moment, a sudden
realization dawning on me.
I always thought Asher was gentle, rigid,
predictable.
Maybe I was wrong.
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“Asher, let me see your phone.”
He paused, then handed it to me.
My fingerprint unlocked it.
A faint smell of cigarettes clung to the frame.
Asher had erased everything.
Except for one picture in his photo album.
A picture of me.
Jake and I were still poor back then.
He’d broken his leg, and I was carrying him to
the hospital.
My white Converse were yellowed and
stained.
My jeans were ripped, my hair in a ponytail.
It was a heartbreaking image.
Just like Lily the day she appeared before me.
Before I left the city, I’d had someone
investigate how Jake got involved with Lily.
He was in town on business when he ran into
a rival gang.
They had guns. Lily had thrown her oversized
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school uniform jacket over Jake, pretending
they were a couple. That’s how he escaped.
They said Jake stood outside Lily’s school
afterward, surrounded by cigarette butts.
He came back and decided to go clean.
Lily was local, wearing a similar blue and
white uniform to mine, even her worn–out
sneakers were alike.
When I saw that picture, I knew.
Jake’s infidelity was a setup.
Asher pushed his glasses up his nose.
“She’s my person.”
Sent to Jake on purpose.
I stared at him, shocked.
“Miss, do you hate me again?”
It was a question, but it sounded like self-
loathing.
The first time I went up to Asher’s attic, I
found it filled with my portraits, every angle,
every expression.
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He’d smiled faintly, even then, with a fever,
sketching my outline.
He’d said, “Miss, there’s no one more suitable
to be my model.”
His desire for me had started a long time.
ago.
The last person I saw before I left town was
him.
He followed me to the bus station, but when I
said, “Asher, I hate you,” he stopped.
He stood there as if rooted to the spot.
“You can hate me, Miss…” he’d said, the rest
of the sentence too soft for me to hear.
Now, it echoed in my mind like a thunderclap.
“…but you’ll come back to me in the end.”
And I did.
I came back to face the man I’d run from.
His love was intense, straightforward, almost
stifling.
I frowned, unsure what to say.
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The redness in Asher’s eyes betrayed his true
emotions.
He wasn’t as in control as he pretended to
- be.
He wasn’t sure I’d stay after learning the
truth.
“Asher, you know what happens when you lie
to me, right?”
He leaned against the bookshelf, his lips pale.
“So, how will you punish me, Miss?”
Asher was like a beautiful, fragile piece of
glass.
Hurting him felt cruel.
He hadn’t done anything wrong.
He’d just shown me the truth, shattered my
illusions of love.
I wanted to punish myself more than him.
“Asher, I told you before. I choose.”
I wouldn’t walk a path chosen for me.
I wanted to forge my own.
