Rain Knows What I Withheld

I gave nine years of my youth to the wrong person.

Tristan Ford said Sophia Moore was just an ordinary friend, yet he held her daughter at the doctor's office and let the child call him daddy.

Before we even broke up, he had already proposed to Sophia.

He didn't know that the girl who'd worked three jobs for him in that basement apartment, who'd miscarried after drug trials for money, was the long-lost heiress of the Hawthorne Group.

She was the long-lost heiress of the Hawthorne Group.

Later, when he knelt in the rain begging me to come back, I laughed.

"Tristan Ford, do you think I take in trash?"

Chloe POV

"I had a few drinks, can't really drive..."

The voice on the other end of the phone was slightly hoarse.

I gripped my phone so tightly my knuckles turned white, cutting him off with rapid-fire words. "Tristan Ford, don't tell me you're planning to spend the night at your ex-girlfriend's place tonight?"

Silence on the other end for a moment.

Then the man's voice dropped, clearly displeased. "Sophia and I are just ordinary friends. Don't let your imagination run wild."

"Am I imagining things, or are you hiding something?"

Tears fell onto the back of my hand without warning, scalding hot.

"Tristan, have you forgotten you have a girlfriend now? Staying overnight at another woman's house in the middle of the night. Have you even considered my feelings?"

My voice shot up sharply, my throat feeling like I'd swallowed broken glass.

"Is it really because you can't drive after drinking, or do you just not want to come home? You want to stay there with Sophia?!"

These past few days, I'd been in denial.

Like a thief afraid of the light, I'd been secretly checking Sophia Moore's Instagram and Twitter.

One evening, I went to bring Tristan stomach medicine. Outside the VIP lounge door, I heard his elite friends mocking me. They called me a clingy old hag throwing herself at him. But I didn't have the courage to push open the door and confront them.

Yet I was the one who'd been Tristan's girlfriend for nine years.

I struggled desperately to control the fragility and humiliation inside me.

But my throat couldn't help releasing a faint, suppressed sob.

He clearly heard it.

After a long silence, Tristan spoke with obvious irritation. "I'll come home now, okay?"

The call disconnected.

Listening to the dial tone, I felt no happiness at all.

I could hear Tristan's impatience. He was only compromising because I'd forced him to.

What he really wanted was to stay there with Sophia.

I walked to the living room like a lost soul.

I didn't turn on the lights.

I just sat on the sofa, watching the New York night outside the window gradually fade, waiting from darkness until dawn.

The door never opened.

Tristan didn't come home.

At that moment, I already had a vague premonition that Tristan and I probably had no future.

But I was so unwilling to accept it.

Nine years together, my entire youth. How could I just let it go?

If Sophia hadn't gotten divorced and come back to New York, if she hadn't shown up with that child, we'd be at City Hall right now, getting our marriage license. We'd be planning a small ceremony.

I picked up my phone and checked the date.

Friday.

The wallpaper was a photo from our junior year when we became official.

Back then, I was young and bright, smiling so radiantly.

But Tristan in that photo looked indifferent, his lips curved in only the slightest arc.

I'd once seen the way Tristan looked at Sophia.

It was on Stanford's campus. Tristan held Sophia's hand, smiling so tenderly, his eyes seemingly full of stars.

That's why I was so wary of Sophia.

Because I knew Tristan had once loved Sophia unreservedly, with his whole heart.

Did Tristan love me?

Nine years, and Tristan had never once said he loved me.

I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.

Dark circles under my eyes, haggard expression-this face wasn't young anymore.

I took out my makeup and layered it on to cover the exhaustion, forcing myself to produce a smile.

Tristan had promised me we'd go to City Hall today.

Even though a voice inside me was screaming: Tristan won't come.

I still went out.

Chloe POV

Outside the doctor's office at the hospital, it was bustling with people.

I stood at the end of the hallway, my whole body ice-cold as I watched the scene just steps away.

Tristan wore the same shirt from yesterday, bent over, patiently coaxing a little girl about three or four years old.

Sophia stood beside Tristan, her eyes red-rimmed, looking pitifully helpless.

A family of three, picture-perfect harmony.

I walked over stiffly.

When Sophia saw me, she flinched first, then spoke with a face full of guilt. "Chloe, I'm sorry... Tristan said he was supposed to go to City Hall with you today. You should take him and go. Give me the child. I can take my daughter to the doctor by myself..."

As Sophia spoke, she reached out to take her daughter.

But the little girl clung tightly to Tristan's neck and burst into loud tears.

"I don't want Mommy! I want Daddy! I want Daddy to take me to the doctor! Daddy, don't go!"

Sophia's eyes reddened as she tried to pull the child away. "Be good! Daddy needs to go to City Hall with Chloe to take care of business. You can't be difficult and delay them, or Chloe will be angry!"

Chloe.

When my name came out, combined with the scene of forcing a man to go get married, the looks from the people waiting in line around us instantly changed.

"What's wrong with this woman? The child has such a high fever, and she's still forcing the man to go register their marriage. Marriage-obsessed much?"

"Look at how she's dressed-doesn't look like a good person. Probably a mistress trying to force her way into legitimacy, right?"

"Has to be! Just now this mom and dad looked so loving together. As soon as this woman showed up, she scared the kid into crying. Definitely going to be an evil stepmother later!"

Every word pierced my ears like needles.

I trembled with anger, staring hard at Tristan.

I hoped Tristan would step forward and explain to these people.

Tell them that Sophia was just his ex-girlfriend! That this child had no blood relation to him whatsoever!

And that I was his fiance of nine years!

But he didn't.

Tristan's brows were tightly furrowed, his face full of impatience as he looked at me.

"Chloe, stop making a scene, okay? Go home first. I'll go to City Hall with you next week..."

"Next week?" I laughed bitterly, tears instantly flooding out. "Tristan Ford, you said the same thing last week. Nine years-how many more 'next weeks' do you expect me to wait for?"

In that moment, seeing the coldness in Tristan's eyes, I finally heard the sound of my heart breaking.

Gritting my teeth, I spoke word by word. "If you don't leave with me right now, we're breaking up!"

Tristan's brows instantly knotted into a tight knot.

He stared at me with those dark, inscrutable eyes that held a trace of disgust.

"I told you I can't leave right now. If you can't even be this understanding, then we really don't need to register our marriage!"

A roar in my head.

My mind went blank as I stared at Tristan, my eyes full of hurt and disbelief.

I moved my lips but couldn't make a sound.

My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, the pain making it impossible to breathe.

"Tristan, how can you say that to Chloe?"

Sophia chided him gently, then turned her head to look at me apologetically.

"Chloe, Tristan is just too sentimental. Don't take it personally."

Too sentimental?

Sentimental toward his ex-girlfriend?

Tears broke through uncontrollably. I cried in front of everyone like a complete joke.

The nurse called out a number.

"It's the child's turn. Let's go in."

Tristan didn't even glance at me. He picked up the child and walked into the examination room without looking back.

Sophia followed behind Tristan.

Before entering, Sophia turned her head and gave me a provocative smile.

Chloe POV

I couldn't remember how I got home.

As soon as I sat down on the sofa, my phone started vibrating.

It was a FaceTime call from Sophia.

I answered but didn't speak.

After a few seconds of silence, Sophia's slow, contemptuous voice came through. "Chloe, you're old enough that you wouldn't stoop to desperate clinging, right?"

I gripped my phone tighter. "What do you mean?"

"Stop playing dumb." Sophia snorted coldly. "Tristan just broke up with you. If you have any self-respect, you should pack your things and get out now. Stop lingering in Tristan's house and pestering him!"

"I'm pestering Tristan?" I laughed bitterly in my anger, though tears still fell.

"What else? Nine years and Tristan wouldn't marry you. Don't you understand yet that Tristan doesn't love you at all?"

Sophia's voice carried condescending pity.

"Wasn't today's choice obvious enough? Tristan has always loved me. If I hadn't gone to Europe back then, you wouldn't have had a chance. Nina would have been Tristan's biological daughter!"

I bit through my lip, tasting blood.

"But there are no 'what ifs' in this world! You were the one who abandoned Tristan back then! Sophia Moore, you're shameless!"

"Yes, I abandoned Tristan. So what?" Sophia's laugh was particularly grating. "The one who's favored always acts with impunity. I have the capital to be willful. Chloe, let's make a bet, shall we?"

Without waiting for my response, Sophia continued on her own.

"Leave for three months. During those three months, I'll get Tristan to propose to me. If I succeed, you disappear from Tristan's world forever. If I lose, I'll take Nina back to Europe and never bother you again. Do you dare?"

My whole body trembled, my nails digging deep into my palms.

"Don't dare?" Sophia mocked. "Nine years, and you don't even have that much confidence? Chloe, you're truly pitiful. No wonder Tristan doesn't want you."

"I've already broken up with Tristan." I closed my eyes, desperately suppressing my breakdown. "You two can do whatever you want. You disgust me!"

I hung up harshly.

Within seconds, Sophia sent a text: "I hope you keep your word."

I blocked Sophia directly.

I stood up, dragged out the suitcase from the corner, and started packing.

This apartment wasn't large, but every single item, from the succulents on the balcony to the rug in the living room, had been carefully selected by me.

Once, I thought this would be my forever home.

I thought we'd get married here in New York, have children, raise a cat.

Now looking at it all, it only felt bitterly ironic.

I didn't have many clothes-one suitcase was enough.

I left the keys on the coffee table.

Dragging my suitcase downstairs, it had started pouring rain outside at some point.

Cold wind mixed with rain hit me in the face, making me shiver.

The world was so big, yet I didn't know where to go.

I stood in the rain for a long time before finally taking out my phone and dialing a number I hadn't called in years.

"Hello?" A low, cold male voice answered.

The moment I heard that voice, all my grievances exploded, and I cried uncontrollably.

"Hunter... can you come pick me up?"

Chloe POV

Airport terminal, people coming and going.

I sat on a bench in the waiting area, my eyes red and swollen.

Hunter stood not far away, on the phone.

Hunter wore a perfectly tailored black suit, his posture straight, his features cold and stern.

Hunter was my stepbrother, the true power holder of the Hawthorne family, a low-profile billionaire.

Years ago, to be with the penniless Tristan Ford, I'd had a falling out with my family.

My father was so angry he declared he'd never had a daughter like me.

These nine years, I'd suffered every hardship, doing Tristan's laundry and cooking, scrimping and saving to support his business ventures, even secretly begging Hunter to invest in him.

But now, I was slinking back home in disgrace.

The announcement for boarding came over the speakers.

My phone suddenly started vibrating frantically.

Tristan Ford's name flashed on the screen.

Looking at that name, my heart ached with a kind of numbness. I answered.

"Where are you? Why is all your stuff gone from the house?"

Tristan's voice was frantic, with that self-righteous anger.

"We already broke up. I moved out." I said flatly.

"Have you lost your mind?" Tristan roared. "Just because I didn't go to City Hall with you today? Is it such a big deal? You packed up and left home over this? Chloe, you're almost thirty. Can you stop playing these games!"

The airport announcement sounded again, reminding passengers on the flight to Washington to board.

Tristan heard it, his voice suddenly tight. "You're at the airport? Where are you going?"

"Home." I said lightly. "You paid the rent on that apartment. It's not appropriate for me to keep living there."

"Chloe!" Tristan spoke through gritted teeth. "So I stood you up twice? You want to get married, we'll go Monday! Stay there, I'm coming to get you now!"

Tristan thought I was just throwing a tantrum, thought that as long as he beckoned, I'd come running back like a dog wagging its tail.

"No need, Tristan." I looked at the tarmac outside the glass window, tears silently falling. "Nine years. I'm tired. Let's end it here."

"Chloe! Try walking away! If you leave, don't you dare regret it!"

Tristan threatened in furious desperation.

I hung up and powered off the phone, popped out the SIM card.

And threw it in a nearby trash can.

Hunter finished his call and walked over, glancing at the trash can, then at my pale face.

Hunter didn't ask anything, just naturally took my suitcase.

"Let's go. Let's go home."

By the time we arrived at the Hawthorne estate in Washington, it was late at night.

My father sat on the living room sofa, his hair much whiter than before.

When he saw me, his eyes reddened, but he stubbornly turned his face away with a cold snort. "So you finally remembered to come back?"

I walked up to my father, crying uncontrollably.

"Dad, I'm sorry... I was wrong. I was so wrong..."

Nine years of obsession, nine years of humiliation. In this moment, they shattered into dust.

My dad sighed and patted my head consolingly.

"It's good you're home. I'll introduce you to some new men. Your childhood friend Lucas Sterling has been wanting to see you!"