He knew he shouldn’t have confronted Zinnia like that.
It was his decision to visit Noelle—Zinnia couldn’t have stopped him even if she tried. And if she had, he would’ve only blamed her anyway.
He was perfectly aware of all this, yet he still pressed Zinnia for answers as if he had every right.
Maybe that was the only way to quiet the gnawing anxiety in his chest, the constant fear that something precious was about to slip away.
“I…” Landon opened his mouth, his voice rough and uncertain. “I actually wanted you to come with me.”
He could almost picture the look on Zinnia’s face as those words left his lips.
A quiet, almost amused laugh drifted from the other end of the line. “That’s not a good idea.”
If Noelle saw her show up with Landon, her depression would probably spiral even further. Zinnia couldn’t bear the weight of that responsibility.
“Zinnia—”
“If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.” Before he could say another word, Zinnia ended the call.
Landon stared at his phone as the steady drone of the disconnect tone filled his ears, leaving him emptier than before.
That hollowness in his heart only grew, confusion pressing in alongside it.
Outside, cold rain lashed the window, seeping into the room—or at least, it felt that way. The chill seemed to pour straight through the crack inside his chest, filling it with an aching cold until it was overflowing, raw and sore.
After she hung up, Zinnia sat for a moment, her gaze lost in the rain-blurred city lights outside. Landon’s words still echoed in her mind.
Generous? Was she supposed to be generous?
Who, in their right mind, would want to watch the person they’d loved in secret for a decade choose someone else, time and time again?
She was always the one left behind, always the one not chosen. She’d grown afraid of being left.
And yet, every time, she could only forgive him, try to understand him.


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