Chapter 143

NOAH I remained silent. The words were stuck in my throat. I turned them over repeatedly in my mind, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them out loud. I had already known back then that I was falling for Emma. I wasn’t blind to it; I just hadn’t understood how deep it went until it was too late. By the time I truly realized what she meant to me, she had already cut me out of her life. She had always caught my attention, even in high school. When she tried to blackmail me, I wasn’t angry or offended. If anything, I found her cute in a strange way. I knew I felt something for her even then. But when she left… that was when it hit me. What I felt for her wasn’t just attraction. It wasn’t curiosity. It was love. I looked at Olivia’s face, and only then did I finally understand where that familiar feeling came from. It was because she was Emma. No wonder I had dreamt of her countless nights; no wonder her face in my dreams had always blurred and merged with the girl I could never forget. Sh