2025-10-21 18:03:23"Melissa, are you sure mentally okay? You have been in a suspiciously good mood since you returned from work. Like you are you and what have you done to my friend," A girl on a couch was telling Melissa until she showed her what she got from work that day.
"WHAT?! I KNOW YOU CANNOT AFFORD THAT!" The lady barked at Melissa, but Melissa simply smiled. "And you are right to assume that. I didn’t buy it. There was this guy…" Melissa said, keeping the smile on her face, and it turned crimson as she recalled the encounter. "A guy bought you all of that? You know he will expect you to give him your cookie, right?" Her roommate said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "Don't be such a cynic and a pervert, Rhianon! He has no such intention! I was the one that even gave him my number," Melissa pointed out, but Rhianon was even shocked by what her friend just said. "You, you made the first move?" Rhianon questioned with a raised brow. This isn’t something her friend is capable of doing. Unlike Melissa, Rhianon is a typical hippie with long brown hair covered with scarfs that had psychedelic patterns, wearing a muted coloured shirt with the inscription “NO MORE WARS” Rhianon had piercing blue eyes and was by every means a beautiful lady with quite the bust that almost ripped her shirt apart. "I know! I feel so awkward thinking about it! I don't even think he will call…me," Melissa said, but the excitement in her voice faded as she concluded this sentence. "If he got you all of that and took your number. Girl, he is going to call you, but I am curious to see what kind of man can make innocent Melissa make the first move," Rhianon teased, trying to cheer up her friend. Rhianon was the same height as Melissa, but she was older by a year. She was the one covering the majority of the rent with Melissa helping around with other bills. Rhianon didn't mind the major contributor because she saw Melissa as her sister, her person. She had once joked that if they were both into women that she would marry Melissa. Rhianon sees her as a pleasant person to be around, and this is a great addition to her otherwise sad life. "You can not meet him! You will hypnotize him with that chest of yours!" Melissa barked, prompting Rhianon to giggle. "Lisa, you know, not all men like them this big, yours are just fine," Rhianon responded, but she couldn't help but worry that this man would break her friend's heart. There was no reason for him to buy her all of this, but then again, he didn't attempt to even get her number, which piqued her interest. Rhianon was the lead singer for an upcoming Alternative Pop band called The Spinsters, and she had a gig later that night. Rhianon was a woman who truly believed she had what it took to top billboard charts and tour the world with her music and message of love and peace even though her numbers said otherwise. "OH MY GOODNESS!" Melissa screamed, dropping her phone, but thanks to Rhianon's position and sharp reflexes, she was able to snatch it out of the air before it hit the ground. She was yet to make the transition to her new phone, but Rhianon noticed that the number wasn't saved. Without hesitation, she picked up the phone on behalf of Melissa. "Hello…?" A voice said behind the phone, but before Rhianon could respond, Melissa snatched the phone out of her hand before running to a different room in the house. "You are so extra," Rhianon said with a smile as she watched her friend close the door behind her. ****** Melissa managed to get away from her roommate, but she had no idea what to say as her mind went blank. "Is everything alright?" Harry asked her, and Melissa could feel her heart pound like it was about to tear out of her chest. "I-I am fine… I didn't know you would call so soon…" Melissa said, her voice almost hushed. "It was hard not to. What can I say? I am very much into girls that know what they want and are bold to go for it," Harry responded, and this sent Melissa's mind into a frenzy. She couldn't even give a verbal response, but Harry found this refreshing. "I was thinking, maybe you and I could get something to eat tonight," Harry proposed, and this brought the biggest smile on her face. "I would love that… Harry," Melissa blurted out before covering her mouth shut once she realized that Harry never told her his name. She got it by asking the person who had swiped his card. It showed his name on the pop-up. "Hey, it's cool, you know my name," Harry said, and Melissa could feel the second-hand embarrassment creeping up on her. "You are beautiful, bold, and you are also a stalker…" Harry teased her, and Melissa couldn't contain her giggle. "Text me your address and get ready by 7," Harry instructed, to which Melissa complied as the conversation came to an end. "Damn, he really has done a number on you," Rhianon said behind the door. “Shut up!" Melissa barked, but this was a byproduct of her embarrassed state. None of this mattered right now. She had a date to prepare for. ****** Harry was done with the phone call, and there was a sense of relief that came with it. He didn't know women could act this way around him. When he was in that one-sided relationship with Alicia, she had never been this way with him unless she wanted him to do her assignments It wasn't something he was used to, but he could totally see himself getting used to it. Harry knew at that moment that he needed to go shopping, he didn't have any clothes worthy of a date. But he also had no idea what would be appropriate to wear or even the restaurant they would go to. Harry knew it had to be expensive. It had to be very expensive so he could spend as much money on her as he could. A cyan screen soon appeared as usual, but Harry wondered what this could be about. [Update in affection bar!] [Melissa's affection: 15%] Harry was surprised it went up at all because all they did was have a little conversation over the phone. It couldn't be that easy, could it? Either way, this worked to his advantage, and he planned to milk the heck out of it as he headed to a store to get some clothes for his date with Melissa.
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Chapter 549. The FINALE
The backyard was full again by seven, but this time nobody had to pretend it was a casual afternoon. Anna had hung paper lanterns from the fence the night before, badly, and half of them sagged in the middle. Nobody fixed them. They looked better crooked.Melissa kept holding her left hand out in front of her when she thought no one was looking, tilting it to catch the light. Harry caught her doing it twice and pretended he hadn't.Rhiannon came through the side gate at seven thirty with a duffel bag over her shoulder and no warning at all. She had told everyone she couldn't make it, that the schedule wouldn't allow it, and she had lied to every single one of them. Anna screamed. Melissa dropped a tray of glasses onto the grass, and nothing broke, which Rhiannon called a sign."Seven hours of flying," she said, hugging Melissa so hard her feet left the ground. "I'm wearing the same shirt as yesterday. I regret nothing."Harry watched them from across the yard and had to look at the gr
Chapter 548. Inevitable
Harry carried the ring around for eleven days before he did anything with it.It sat in the inside pocket of his jacket, a small box he'd picked out alone on a weekday afternoon, standing at a jewelry counter feeling like a kid pretending to be an adult. The woman behind the counter had shown him three rings worth more than his first car and he'd politely pointed at a fourth one, thin and simple, with a small stone that caught the light without trying too hard. It was the one Melissa would have picked herself. He'd known it the second he saw it.He didn't tell anyone. Not Wren, not Anna, not even Dr. Gail, though she'd probably guessed. He just carried it, and every morning he woke up thinking today might be the day, and every night he went to bed having decided it wasn't quite yet. The platform had changed something. Saying all of it out loud, the worst night of his life and every ugly choice that came after, had cleared a space in him he hadn't known was blocked. Once it was clear
Chapter 547. His Mother, His Father, Himself
The cemetery sat on a quiet hillside outside the city, the kind of place Harry visited maybe twice a year now, not out of obligation exactly, more out of a settled habit that had replaced the raw, unbearable grief he used to feel standing in front of this particular stone. His mother's name was carved plainly into it, no elaborate epitaph, nothing that tried to explain away what had happened to her. Just her name, and two dates, and the quiet dignity of being remembered honestly instead of prettied up for anyone else's comfort. He sat on the grass beside the stone for a while, not saying anything out loud, just letting himself exist near her the way he did on these visits. A year of distance had changed something in how he carried this particular grief. It didn't ambush him anymore, didn't flatten him the way it used to in unguarded moments. It had settled into something he could hold steadily, sad and permanent, without it derailing the rest of his day. He thought about her ins
Chapter 546. Everyone He Hurt, Everyone He Helped
Dr. Gail's office looked the same as it always had, the same window overlooking the same unremarkable parking lot, though Harry came less often now, maybe once every couple months instead of the weekly sessions that had gotten him through the worst of the aftermath. This particular visit hadn't been scheduled around any crisis. He'd just called and asked if she had time, feeling some quiet need to sit somewhere honest and take stock of things properly before whatever came next in his life actually arrived."You seem different today," Dr. Gail said, settling into her chair. "Not upset. Just thoughtful in a specific way.""I've been thinking about everyone," Harry said. "Not in a spiraling way. Just accounting, I guess. Everyone this story touched.""Tell me," she said, the same two words she always used to open the door wide enough for him to walk through it himself.He started with his mother, because it felt right to start there, at the root of everything else. Her instability, the
Chapter 545. The Platform
The train station looked smaller than Harry remembered it, which surprised him more than it probably should have. He'd built it up in his mind over the years into something vast and looming, a place heavy enough to hold the worst night of his life, but standing on the platform now with Melissa's hand in his, it was just an ordinary station, worn benches and flickering overhead signs and the distant rumble of a train somewhere down the line that hadn't arrived yet.Melissa hadn't asked where they were going that morning. She'd simply gotten in the car when he asked her to, quiet and patient beside him the whole drive, some instinct in her clearly understanding this wasn't a place that needed small talk on the way."This is it," Harry said, once they were standing on the platform itself, the words feeling strange in his mouth after keeping the sentence unsaid for so long. "This is where it happened."Melissa looked around slowly, taking in the ordinary details of the place, the peeling
Chapter 544. The Found Family, Fully Formed
The backyard filled up gradually that Saturday afternoon, nobody quite sure who'd actually organized it, just a loose collection of texts that had somehow turned into everyone showing up at once with food and folding chairs and no real agenda beyond wanting to be in the same place together. Rhiannon had landed the night before, a rare gap between tour legs, and had immediately declared she wasn't spending a single free evening anywhere but here."You're all stuck with me for exactly thirty six hours," she announced, dropping a cooler of drinks onto the picnic table with more enthusiasm than the task strictly required. "Make the most of it."Anna, who'd apparently been counting down the days on a calendar in her room, threw herself at Rhiannon before the cooler had even settled properly."You smell like an airport," Anna informed her, not letting go."That's the sound of true love," Rhiannon said, hugging her back just as hard. "Airports and love, same smell, everyone knows that."Ann
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