Chapter 4
“I’m busy. Dr. Alex sent me to the Dawn Thorn Pack because they had some accident there and they need more stuff.” I made my voice as bland and boring as possible.
“Ana-”
Then I hung up on the phone without second thoughts.
Dr. Alex told me I’ll be in the Dawn Thorn Pack for three days, unfortunately.
I told the Head of the Healers that it was actually fortunate for me.
I was walking to the hotel that Dr. Alex had booked for the Dusk Rose Pack healers when I saw Jonathan in the lobby.
He looked extremely disheveled as if he had been trapped in a cave for so long and he just got out.
As soon as his eyes met mine, I felt shivers
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down my spine. Cold sweat starts to form on my forehead.
Before I could turn around, he immediately lunged at me and grabbed my arm with such force that I cried. “Anastasia, are you avoiding me?”
“Of course, I am. We have already broken up and it is right that I avoid you and you leave me fucking alone.”
“Where were you?” his voice dropped to a whisper.
“From the Dawn Thorn Pack’s hospital obviously. I’ve been working all day- unlike you.”
I refrained from looking at him because if I do, it’s like the old me is resurfacing again. The old me who worries when he shows up with his hair uncombed, the old me who panics when I see him like this.
Maybe in Alpha Jonathan’s eyes, I was still the same. I am still the old me.
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“Anastasia,” he uttered my name only once as if he had no energy left to beg.
So was I.
“Not
now, Jon. I’m too exhausted to deal with you. I want to rest.‘
Without further ado, I climbed to my room and left him where he was standing.
***
I was about to take a shower when I saw my windows were wide open. Jon was standing. next to my bed.
I sat on the bed and asked him, “What kind of reaction do you want from me for you to think it’s right, Alpha?” I crossed my arms. even with my bathrobe on. “You want me to shriek at you? Yell some nonsensical questions? Tell you what I think about you and Emilia?”
“Anastasia–Ana…” he reached for my hand but I immediately jerked it away even when I hit my back on the wall.
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“Please, Alpha. Leave me alone. Do you feel hopeless and helpless? So do 1.” 1 don’t care if I’m sobbing now. I just want to show to him what he’s doing to me every time he shows up. “I just want to work well, I just want a peaceful healthy workplace as a nurse and not like this,” I waved at him, “You show up in the places I only want to be myself.”
Jonathan sat across me. “But you weren’t like this before, Ana, 1-1 thought you left because I didn’t come back that night. I thought you‘ re just feigning that breakup thing between us because I was dancing with Emilia. Also, I wasn‘ t with Emilia
that night I didn’t come back. I slept at my friend’s place, at Beta Homer‘ s. 1 promise,” Alpha Jonathan confessed, which I didn’t expect.
But it didn’t matter anymore. I’m tired.
and I want to move on.
I sighed, “I believe you but just like the times I reminded you we‘ re done, we‘ re
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done, Jonathan. If there’s nothing else you have to say, I’d like to take a shower. My body ached for a rest now so goodbye.”
Seeing the dismissal, seeing he couldn’t refuse, he left through the same window he came by.
***
The shower I had may have rinsed all the things Jonathan and I talked about, but it also brought back some memories.
It was also about when my now–Alpha boyfriend did not come home. I asked him many times before he left but he really hated telling me where he was. He really wouldn’t tell me his whereabouts.
It was when Emilia returned from the
Dawn Thorn Pack from that paid trip, and Jonathan and his friends gave her a welcome–back party secretly.
I was worried he would drink too much at the gathering and might have some health
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problems. I searched for him everywhere, bar by bar, from restaurants to restaurants.
Until I saw Jonathan and Emilia holding hands in a bar not far away by the window.
From then on, I felt like a huge joke. The loving Jon I came to love wholly felt like an illusion.
That night, a heavy rain arrived in the city. Jonathan even held an umbrella for Emilia while they both sheltered from the weather under it.
As for me? I was like I swam miles and miles of flood. I was drenched heavily, my tears competing with the rain.
The next day, Jonathan was startled when he saw me on the couch looking like some
wet cat.
“Anastasia!” he blurted.
I slapped him once, then twice. “Did your think of the person at home who couldn’t find you while you were drinking with
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Emilia?”
“Ana, you‘ re crazy, aren’t you?” He released an exasperated breath, “You know, I sometimes asked myself what I see in you. And looking at you now,” he ran a look from my soaked hair down to my mud–splattered boots, “I think I know the answer.”
He walked past me and that sickness rose from my stomach to my throat. I felt sick. As long as he was with Emilia, as long as Emilia was with us, they‘ re going to be the lovebirds of the century.
I turned off the shower as my mind. returned to the present.
Thinking about it now, I was really dumb to stay with him for four years. Without the love he was receiving from me, he looked completely ordinary–as if he was never an Alpha.
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Chapter 5
As I had my breakfast the next day, I found out Jon was just staying in the room next to mine.
He kept on eyeing at me like some dog who doesn’t want his owner to vanish before his sight. He even stayed with me at the Dawn Thorn Pack’s hospital to finish. some paperworks before Dr. Alex
dismissed us.
The Alpha stubbornly stayed with me all day and then went home with me as well.
I couldn’t argue further so I just let him.
When I got home, as soon as I opened the door, there were already people there: Jon’s friends and Emilia, including Beta Homer.
They have prepared a table full of delicious. food as if welcoming Jonathan back that they‘ re glad they‘ ve seen him again for so many decades.
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It was only three days.
Even with the food‘ s appetizing look and mouth–watering smell, I feel nauseous.
Emilia instantly met my gaze. “The Alpha only went to Homer’s house that day and now you have to be dramatic and go to another pack without the knowledge of the Alpha? As the Alpha‘ s girlfriend, you surely have no sense of responsibility.”
Her scolding tone surpassed my frowning. Their friends seemed inclined to agree. Of course, they should. I am not their friend.
Jon, however, dragged his gaze from his friends to me. His eyes were lined with silver and were bright with pleading.
No one thought of the fact that Emilia scolding me was absolutely unnecessary feeling righteous.
I didn’t flinch when I closed the distance between me and Emilia, straightening my back and lifting my chin. “And what position are you in that you feel so highly
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above me?”
She blinked, taking a step back. “It’s me and Jonathan’s relationship, why do you have to insert yourself as if you‘ re the wife?”
Jon whispered a warning behind me but I ignored him. “You know that your Alpha already has a girlfriend, why do you need to act as if we’re in a competition? You don‘ t respect one’s boundaries and a show–off. Proving to everyone that you‘ re all–knowing. And…” I crossed my arms, my body a perfect portrait of irritation.
“This is my place. You‘ re trespassing it. If you want my boyfriend, you can have him. I’ve already dumped him and severed our bond since that lovely dance of yours.”
I pointed to the door, eager to remove all these people from the comfort of my home. I tossed the Alpha a look and he gave them a tight nod.
One by one, they passed by me, through
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the door and outside my place. Until it’s only me and Jon and Emilia.
“Please remind your lovely friend that we already broke up. Tell him to stop chasing me.” I turned to him, staring right at his soul. “We’re already broken up this time. For good.” I waited for their response, but none of them was brave enough to part their lips in front of me.. “If you really care about me for a bit, Jonathan, you would have known I despise seafood. Yet all you remember is how your beloved friend. Emilia likes them.”
I bumped Emilia’s shoulder as I walked passed her. She didn’t budge or flinch.
“Anastasia,” his voice was hoarse and
broken.
I sat on the living room sofa. “Get out. Both of you.”
“Ana.” This time, his tone was more commanding. More beseeching.
I glanced at him and he offered me his
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most tender smile, the same smile he showed me when I said yes to be his girlfriend.
“No, Jonathan.” I don‘ t care if my voice croaked. “No.”
“Are you deaf and blind or these are your true colors?” Emilia stomped her foot on my floor, her tone rising.
“Emilia!” Jon shouted at her. Their eyes met for a heartbeat. Then, she was marching to the door.
TITL
What a dramatic exit.
“Anastasia.” He definitely wouldn’t leave me alone. “I–I was actually planning to propose to you today. I bought the ring you liked, the amethyst one.
Here he goes again, playing with my feelings. Stirring old emotions.
“I know I’ve neglected you and always prioritized my own happiness but I’m really trying to change. I’ve got everything
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ready, even your wedding dress. Let’s go have our wedding in a week, okay?”
‘Prioritized my own happiness…so Emilia is his own happiness?‘
I ignored his eagerness and snorted.
“Jonathan, I said we‘ re breaking up. I’m not just joking.”
When he didn’t reply and just stared ahead, gazing at nothingness, I sighed. “I never wanted to break up with you because it was hard to win you over. I was so madly in love with you back then. I cherished what we had for the four years we’ve been together so I thought ignoring you and Emilia more wasn’t a big deal. That it wouldn’t affect me. I even dreamed that one day, I’d wake up as Emilia and we‘ d truly be in love. That you’ll one day worship me like how you kneel before her feet.” I wiped the tears from my face.
“But I was wrong. There was only Emilia in your life. I never existed.”
Jonathan immediately closed the distance
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ready, even your wedding dress. Let’s go have our wedding in a week, okay?”
‘Prioritized my own happiness…so Emilia is his own happiness?‘
I ignored his eagerness and snorted.
“Jonathan, I said we‘ re breaking up. I’m not just joking.”
When he didn’t reply and just stared ahead, gazing at nothingness, I sighed. “I never wanted to break up with you because it was hard to win you over. I was so madly in love with you back then. I cherished what we had for the four years we’ve been together so I thought ignoring you and Emilia more wasn’t a big deal. That it wouldn’t affect me. I even dreamed that one day, I’d wake up as Emilia and we d truly be in love. That you’ll one day worship me like how you kneel before her feet.” I wiped the tears from my face.
“But I was wrong. There was only Emilia in your life. I never existed.”
Jonathan immediately closed the distance
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between us in two mighty steps. He held my hands and kissed each of them. “I swear, that night, I wasn‘ t with Emilia.”
I slowly looked at him. “We can still be together,” he said. “We can start anew.”
But then I pulled myself together. I pulled myself from him, slowly backing away. “I deleted Emilia from my contacts and blocked her from all my social media accounts that night you didn’t return home.”
I can see the shock swirling in those eyes that I once used to admire.
“Anastasia…” he lowered his gaze and ran a hand through his hair before returning those teary eyes to me. “It only happened once, I swear. That day, you wouldn’t go out with me. I was so upset that I…slept with Em. When I realized it wasn’t you, I stopped immediately. We stopped immediately.”
His confession sent my crumbling world
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into smithereens.
I knew it. And though it was unexpected, it was not shocking at all.
“Ana,” he extended a hand to caress my cheek. “I know I was wrong, but I’ll change.”
“Get out,” was all I uttered. “It’s too late, Jonathan. I don’t care anymore. I don‘ t care if you change or not, just leave me alone and get out.
It took a whole five minutes before he dragged his feet away from me.
As soon as the shutting of the door rattled our framed pictures, I could already see Emilia‘ s victorious face for what
happened.
After they left, I slept soundly.
But my peaceful night was immediately cut short when my phone chimed with a text
message: Emilia and Jonathan are both naked…in bed.
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