Ch. Why Love Again Ch 2 Why Love Again Ch 2

“I told you, the wedding’s still on. I’m just 

taking care of her because of her dad.” 

Right, Willow was the daughter of a family 

friend of his. 

Ever since her dad died, Connor had taken on 

the responsibility of “caring” for Willow. 

Willow called him “Uncle Connor” with a 

sweet voice, but the look in her eyes was 

pure adoration. 

I knew Connor understood perfectly what was 

happening. He just played dumb. 

And I? I was just a shield. Protecting him and 

Willow from gossip. 

I looked up at him. I responded calmly, “Yeah. 

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Connor, I’m done with this love triangle. 

“My wedding is still on. Just not with you.” 

He frowned. He started lecturing me. 

“I’m busy. I don’t have time for your 

emotions.” 

“If you don’t want to get married, then fine. 

Let’s call the whole thing off.” 

Then he left me standing there in the mall and 

drove home. 

He didn’t know the wedding was called off. 

And I didn’t want to marry him. 

I checked my phone. The last text I’d sent to 

L 

I tried sending another one. 

Same thing. Red exclamation point. 

He hadn’t even unblocked me. 

And he expected me to marry him? 

I would have tried to talk him out of it, try to 

make him see sense. 

But I was done deluding myself. 

His heart hadn’t been with me for a long time. 

As I was hailing a cab, my actual fiancé, Jake, 

called. 

He wanted to meet at some new coffee shop 

He noticed my empty hand. He looked 

confused. 

“You didn’t get a ring?” 

I gave him a weak smile. “Nothing really 

caught my eye.‘ 

دو 

Then he pulled out a ring box. He handed it to 

1. me. 

“I brought this back from France. I wasn’t 

sure if you’d like it, so I held back showing it 

to you.” 

I opened it. Inside was a stunning, rare pink 

diamond. 

My name was engraved on the band. 

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This was a level of thoughtfulness I had never 

experienced before. 

Tears stung my eyes. I was about to slip the 

ring on and thank him. 

Then Connor called. 

“Hey, where are you? I’ll send a driver to pick 

you up for the license.” 

After that blow–up, he actually expected me 

to still get the license with him? 

He was so sure that I would forgive him. 

Whenever we fought, he’d give me the silent 

treatment. 

Within half a day, we would be talking again. 

Because I gave in. 

I caved into allowing Willow to attend our 

dates. 

Caving into letting Willow label the passenger 

seat as hers. 

Caving into letting Willow fill the car with her 

stuffed animals. 

Connor’s clothes, his daily necessities, 

everything was picked by Willow. 

There was no sign of me left in his life. 

Even then, Willow was not satisfied. 

She jumped from the second floor of the 

house because Connor didn’t answer her 

< 

Connor dropped all his billion–dollar deals to 

be by her side. 

He blamed everything on me. 

Just because I wasn’t there to care for Willow 

right away. 

He forced me to apologize to Willow. He 

made me kneel in front of Willow’s hospital 

room to beg for her forgiveness. 

Only then he would forgive me and marry me. 

Otherwise, he would break up with me. 

I was too in love with him back then. I could 

not bear to leave him. 

Г 

So I gave in. 

But love should not be treated this way. If you 

were hurt enough, you will naturally leave. 

Thinking about those memories made me 

smile bitterly.