Chapter 7
A tall but disheveled figure was swept in by the sea wind.[]
Dylan had actually tracked me down.[]
His hair was a mess, his eyes bloodshot, an expensive suit jacket wrinkled and draped over his arm, shirt collar torn open with two buttons undone, radiating an aura of manic desperation.[]
He ignored Grandma, who was repairing a chair in the yard, his crimson eyes locking onto me on the terrace like a radar.
“Emma!” he roared, his voice hoarse and broken, filled with disbelief, rage, and panic. “You actually fucking quit?! You had the nerve to quit?! Why didn’t you tell me?!“]]
Grandma was startled by the sudden commotion, her hammer clattering to the ground.[]
She stood up, frowning at this uninvited guest, her eyes full of scrutiny and wariness.[]
I put down my phone and nodded to Grandma.[]
Signaling her not to worry.
Dylan rushed to the bottom of the terrace in a few strides, looking up at me with his chest heaving violently. “Did you see the trending topics? Did you see all that mess?! It’s ruined! Everything’s ruined! My endorsement! My projects! My reputation that I’ve built up over all these years! It’s all gone!“]
He waved his arms around like a caged animal. “Are you satisfied now?! You knew this would happen, didn’t you?! You were just waiting to watch me crash and burn, weren’t you?!“[]
The sea wind made his unhinged roaring sound choppy, but it only made him seem more menacing.
I heard Ms. Parker’s anxious voice through the phone-“Hello? Emma? What’s happening over there?“–while looking at this man who’d lost his mind and was shifting all the blame onto me. The last ripple of emotion in my heart finally went completely still.
“Dylan.” My voice cut through the sea wind, reaching him clearly, calm without a single tremor.]
“Your work, your reputation, your projects–what do they have to do with me now?
Remember? We broke up.“]
He froze like he’d been slapped hard across the face, staring at me in disbelief.
Right, he hadn’t forgotten.
He just hadn’t taken it seriously.[]
Just like he’d forgotten that my contributions were never something to be taken for granted.[]
“As for my resignation,” I tugged at the corner of my mouth, the expression cold and mocking, “do I need to report that to you? Just like you don’t need to report to me why you gave Susan the studio passcode, why you brought her to our friend’s wedding, why you let her cross the line over and over again.”
“You…” Dylan’s face went deathly pale. He opened his mouth, seeming to want to defend himself, but when he met my emotionless gaze, he couldn’t get a single word out.]
Ten Years as my star es’s Shadow One Summer to First My Light
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Chapter
“Also,” I looked at him, each word precise, like cold nails, “you’re not welcome here.“]
“Please leave my mother’s place.”
The sound of the waves suddenly became crystal clear, crashing against the cliffs, shattering the last glimmer of hope in Dylan’s eyes.[]
He staggered back a step, looking at me standing calmly on the terrace, then at Grandma beside me with her stern expression like a guardian deity, finally understanding that I would never turn back.[]
“Emma, are you going to give up on me?“]
I looked at the man below the terrace who had once been brilliant but now looked utterly pathetic, feeling not a ripple in my heart.]
“Give up on you?” I repeated his words.
“Dylan, you gave up on me first.[]
Or maybe you just got used to standing on the pedestal I built for you, looking down at everything, including my feelings.“[]
His tall frame swayed, his eyes full of confusion and pain.]
“I didn’t! I never thought about giving up on you![]
Susan… Susan is just an idiot!]
She’s the one who’s scheming! She’s the one who deliberately stirred up trouble! She’s the one who ruined everything![]
And work… it was too busy, I was too tired, I ignored your feelings, but I swear, I never fell in love with her! I never betrayed you! Not physically, not emotionally!“[]
He desperately defended himself, blaming all the mistakes on Susan’s “scheming” and work being “too busy,” clearing himself of all responsibility, as if he was just an innocent, deceived victim.[]
“Hah…” I finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud.[]
“Dylan, you’ve been acting your whole life–are you starting to forget how to be a real person?”
He jerked his head up, staring at me in shock.[]
“Betrayal?” I walked down two steps, getting closer to him.]
“You think only physical cheating counts as betrayal? You let her invade our private space over and over, allowed her to share moments that should have belonged to just the two of us, you defended her and felt sorry for her right in front of me, let her wrap around you like a vine, feeding off the attention and security that should have been mine![]
How is that not betrayal?]
You enjoyed her worship and adoration, enjoyed that feeling of being needed, being depended on, Dylan. Maybe to you that doesn’t count as betrayal–you just forgot where you came from.“[]
My voice wasn’t loud, but every word cut like a blade.
Dylan’s face grew paler and paler as the scenes I’d pointed out–like old film strips being forcibly torn open, dusty and stinging–crashed into his mind.[]
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Chapter 7
The rehearsal room lights burning through the night, the moldy walls of our rental apartment, searching eyes from the awards stage… and countless nights of companionship.[]
I think he was finally realizing that his smooth ten–year career hadn’t come from just talent and hard work. I’d built an invisible, solid wall behind him, shielding him from the storms, letting him focus completely under the spotlight without a care in the world.]
He’d gotten used to that wall being there, even forgot it existed, until it came crashing down and he discovered what kind of
hurricane he was exposed to–fragile and defenseless.
I wasn’t saying this because I still had feelings.]
I understood how words worked, understood actors‘ emotional nature, and I understood Dylan most of all. I wanted him to see clearly what he’d lost in this moment.[]
“Emma…” His voice trembled as he tried to reach out and grab my wrist. “I was wrong… I really know I was wrong… I’m the asshole! I got carried away by all that fame, I ignored everything you did for me… give me one more chance, just one last chance! I’ll fire Susan right away, I’ll…“)]
I cleanly pulled away from his hand, putting distance between us again.[]
“Dylan, my view of love has no room for any ‘slips.‘ Mental straying disgusts me more than physical betrayal.“[]
“As for your mess,” I looked at his face as it turned ashen instantly, my tone indifferent, “that’s for you and Ms. Parker, plus your ‘scheming‘ assistant to worry about. Nothing to do with me.‘ “0
I turned to look at Grandma, who’d been standing silently nearby with a stern expression. “Let’s go inside. The wind’s picking up.“[]
Grandma nodded, bent down to pick up the hammer from the ground, didn’t even glance at the devastated Dylan, and headed toward
the house.
The wooden door closed softly behind me, shutting out his final image and completely cutting off our tangled ten years.
Inside, Grandma handed me a cup of hot tea and air that smelled of the sea but felt infinitely peaceful.[]
