#Chapter 38: Don’t Ask Me That

I stared at him, startled. Did he actually think that I broke up with him to be with someone else? He must have, because he returned my stare with one of his own. “No.” I wished with all of my heart that he would believe me without an explanation. I didn’t want to lie to him. But I knew him. So I knew it wouldn’t be enough. “Then, why?” he asked, voice soft in the quiet room. I couldn’t tell him the truth. He would hate me worse than he already did. “Please don’t ask me that.” His expression hardened. “I can only hope you learned from your mistake. Obviously the man you left me for wasn’t worthy, if he abandoned you and Elva.” He had it all wrong. I would have never left Nicholas for anyone else. Who else could compare? Nicholas had my full heart from the start. Even now, I was still peeling parts of it away from him. “You were short-sighted, chasing after selfish pleasures.” Looking away from me, Nicholas returned to aggressively scrubbing an already-clean dish. “You