Still You Still Me Still Falling novel Chapter 7

"What a coincidence," Jewel spoke first. "It's been so long. How have you been?"

She looked at her with genuine concern. "Are you feeling unwell? You look so pale..."

"I'm perfectly fine," Sheila managed to say, holding herself together. Refusing to entertain the conversation, she added, "Excuse me, someone's waiting for me."

"Ms. Jensen."

Sheila stopped in her tracks.

"About three years ago..." Jewel started. "I'm so sorry for ambushing you like that. I heard you got into a car accident afterward..."

Sheila took a deep breath. "Save it. While I might not like you, my accident had absolutely nothing to do with you."

She forced a polite smile, turning to bravely face the woman. "Your child..."

"My child?" Jewel looked visibly shocked. "How did you know I was pregnant?"

Pregnant? Sheila blinked in confusion. She had literally just seen a two-year-old kid yesterday. Was this... a second baby?

Jewel affectionately touched her stomach. "I'm not even three months along yet, so hardly anyone knows. My morning sickness has been brutal, so my husband wanted us to wait until the second trimester before telling the family."

Sheila dug her nails violently into her palms. The sharp pain anchored her, brutally forcing her to accept reality.

She offered a few obligatory words of congratulations before walking away.

In the end, it was absolutely none of her business.

-

She returned to the private dining room, her mind completely elsewhere as she forced herself to smile through the rest of the meal.

The investment deal was practically secured, and as the dinner wrapped up, Sheila excused herself to pay the bill.

Sometimes, the world felt massive. The chances of running into someone specific felt like a million to one. For three entire years, she hadn't seen Edmond even once.

And sometimes, the world felt suffocatingly small. She bumped into him yet again.

Sheila immediately tore her eyes away and marched straight to the cashier.

Across the lobby, Edmond covertly watched her. She was much thinner than she had been three years ago.

He used to think she was slender, but it wasn't until he had gotten her out of her clothes that he realized she had curves in all the right places.

Growing up, all the boys around him had become obsessed with girls. But Edmond had never felt that kind of desire. He had genuinely started to wonder if he was asexual.

That was, until he met Sheila.

It wasn't until their first time sleeping together that he discovered just how intense his physical needs actually were. He had been completely infatuated with her—obsessed to the point of losing his mind.

And yet, after sleeping with him exactly one time, she had tried to dump him.

Even now, Edmond vividly remembered how she had clung to his chest, her eyes rimmed red and brimming with tears.

For a girl who was usually so utterly composed, seeing her completely undone and weeping had been beautifully tragic.

She had sobbed, "Edmond, I... I'm breaking up with you..."

He had frantically wiped away her tears, pressing kisses against her damp cheeks. "Why do you want to break up?"

"It's... it's not going to work, we're not a good fit..."

She had cried her eyes out.

His chest had tightened in panic. "How are we not a good fit?"

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