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Retrospect.

last update Last Updated: 2024-11-04 20:54:17

(ARIELLE’S POV)

I returned home feeling a whirlwind of different things in my mind. My eyes were open, but not quite focused on anything in particular.

It felt like I stood at a crossroads, burdened by the weight of past choices and the one glaring decision looming ahead.

I sighed with relief, taking a sip of water from the glass on the coffee table, trying to ground myself. A throbbing headache creeped in from my relentless overthinking.

Jared’s face suddenly popped up in my head and I rolled my eyes involuntarily.

I replayed the day’s events in my head by default —mostly because I couldn’t shake the memory off my head, try as hard as I did. An image of Jared’s face, sad and forlorn just sat in front of me, superimposed on every other thought. If I’d heard him right, he sounded really repentant. I was almost convinced that he was a different man from the one I’d run away from three years ago.

But could a leopard really change its spots? The trauma of that time still haunted me. It f
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