- 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.
- く
- “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
- く
- 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.
- <
- 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.
- く
- 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.
