Chapter 8
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In the end, Simon came back empty–handed.
The Hoffman family might be loaded and influential, but they could not get an airline to round up passengers from a landed flight
and fly them back.
Back in his office, Simon flopped down and pulled up our old chat history, scrolling through every message with meticulous care.
There were the days he would laugh at Nicole’s quirky antics, and the sunsets I would snap from our living room’s panoramic
windows.
He scrolled, lost in the memories, a smile creeping onto his face.
However, ever since Ella came into the picture, our conversations had turned stale.
No more playful banter from me, and his responses whittled down to ‘Hmm‘ and ‘Okay‘.
The last message was my goodbye.
Just before that, Nicole’s birthday was something he had forgotten in the whirlwind of his work until I brought it up.
However, with Ella’s situation hanging by a thread, he had to promise to make it up later.
He had given his word, after all.
‘Could Lily not show a little patience?‘ he thought.
Simon yanked off his coat, fuming silently. Staring at that blinding goodbye, he bombarded me with texts.
[Lily, have you lost your mind?]
[What’s the big deal this time? Throwing a fit again?]
[Come back now, and I’ll forgive you–though it won’t be easy.]
[I’m not going to marry Ella. Mrs. Hoffman’s spot is still yours!]
However, all he got back were those red exclamation marks beside his messages, indicating that it was not sent.
He refused to believe it, convinced it was a glitch. He frantically checked the messaging application and even went so far as to
dismantle his phone to check the parts.
