All Chapters of Somebody That You Loved: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

"I mean, you ... look sweet," Benjamin mumbled, his face flushed with embarrassment."I'm not candy, but I get what you mean. You just confessed your love to me." Mea's lips curled into a knowing smile, even as they remained pressed together. The word love slipped from her lips as gently as the scent of flowers, as light as a strand of hair carried by a warm breeze on a scorching day. It was profound enough to settle deep within Benjamin’s heart from the moment it was spoken.Benjamin froze. It was then that he realized his confession of liking her was actually an admission of love. He felt he might have acted impulsively, only now becoming aware that he had no intention of having a girlfriend at such a young age. Not once before that moment had he ever thought about the possibility of falling in love. Mea had always shone in his eyes, making Benjamin late in realizing he had rushed into declaring feelings he didn’t fully understand."I'm sorry, but I have to turn you down," Mea said

"How's your wedding preparation, Boo?" Nolan asked over the phone."Perfect. When will you come home?""Four days before your wedding day. Have you contacted your mom yet?""Not yet. I’m still thinking about what to say to her," Bonita murmured while stroking the unfinished gown for her mother. It only needed some lace and a few layers of embroidery. Jeremy had been incredibly helpful in finishing the gown quickly without a single complaint, even though Bonita could sense how much it bothered him to work on it."Call her soon. She will need time to prepare things.""Do you miss her?"Silence fell. Nolan neither confirmed nor denied it, but the answer was clear to Bonita. Since Nolan had once explained why he decided to part ways with Edith, he hadn’t brought her up again. Nolan had even avoided Bonita by constantly working out of town, sourcing materials or building new connections—excuses that Bonita knew were fabricated."Come home earlier if you’ve wrapped up your work. I miss you.

Four and a half years ago, a stir erupted on Bonita's campus when Benjamin began showing up regularly. Initially, the girls speculated that his visits might be connected to a photo he had posted on social media, which suddenly disappeared. But the rumors soon evolved into whispers: Were Benjamin and Bonita in a relationship? Bonita tried to quash the gossip, repeatedly explaining that Benjamin was merely a close friend of her future sister-in-law.No one believed her denials. The gossip shifted to accusations that Bonita was deliberately lying to hide her relationship with Benjamin.“Of course, Boo wouldn’t admit it. Handsome guys need to be hidden from other girls, right? So they don’t get snatched away,” Maria said mockingly to a group of students lounging nearby. To outsiders, her comment might sound like she was defending Bonita. But anyone who truly knew Maria would understand that her presence on campus, given that she wasn’t even enrolled there, was strange enough on its own.“

Memories of her time with Benjamin strengthened Bonita’s resolve as she headed to meet Zayna. However, Bonita’s expectations were off. She assumed Zayna would invite her for coffee or something similar at the café they had agreed upon as their meeting spot. To her surprise, Zayna stepped out of the café just as Bonita got out of her car. It made Bonita wonder if Zayna had deliberately chosen a seat by the window to watch for her arrival—or anyone else's—with ease.Zayna carried a bag filled with bread and two plastic cups of smoothies. She looked stunning in a sleeveless blue dress that accentuated her figure. What caught Bonita off guard—leaving her a little flustered and stiff with nervousness—was how Zayna immediately got into Bonita’s car without saying a word, forcing Bonita to get back in as well."Apologies if I startled you, Boo—or is that not your nickname?" Zayna asked casually, placing one smoothie in the car’s center cup holder while sipping t

The chill that gripped Bonita didn’t come from the surrounding temperature but from within herself. A biting cold emerged from nowhere, filling every cavity in her body, almost freezing her in place. Her tongue felt numb, her thoughts ceased, yet her emotions surged like a storm over the ocean."Mea will confuse you with various suggestions that seem supportive. Who knows what she’s planning when she talks to you with that glowing, fairy-like face of hers?" Zayna asked.Bonita swallowed, bitterness rising as she imagined what it would be like to have someone like Mea as a friend. Her only true friend—Velica—always tried to give her the best advice, even if Bonita often ignored it."What will you do when you meet her?" Zayna asked, her face pale."I'll just greet her and make small talk as a woman who is about to become the wife of her old friend," Bonita replied, trying hard to keep her voice steady.Zayna eyed Bo