Chapter 129 Not Fit

Denver froze, his smile caught mid–bloom like a flower in sudden frost.

So, this was the sting of rejection after all.

With a wry chuckle, he murmured, “Is this your gentle way of giving me the cold shoulder?”

“No…” Hadley paused, her words teetering on the edge of uncertainty. “You’ve always been a gem of a person.”

“But not the one who has stolen your heart.” Denver’s smile turned bitter. “Am I right?”

Unwilling to wave the white flag just yet, he pressed on before Hadley could reply.

“I know you can’t force the heart to sing a tune it doesn’t know. But sometimes love strikes like lightning, and sometimes it blooms slowly, like a seed in spring. We’ve never even tried walking that path together. What if we did, and your feelings for me blossomed over time? Hadley, can’t we at least give it a shot? You don’t find me disagreeable, do you?”

Hadley sat there, momentarily struck speechless.

His confession of love was so raw, so fiery, so unshaken by the odds–it stirred memories of her own fearless

heart at twenty.

She let out a soft sigh, as if exhaling the weight of years.

Looking into his eyes, Hadley asked, “Denver, does your family know about me?”

Caught off guard, Denver blinked, and then after a brief silence, admitted with candor, “Not… yet.”

Precisely as she had foreseen.

Hadley’s gaze lingered on Denver, her fingers delicately tracing the rim of her glass.

“If all you’re after is a fleeting moment to tuck into your memories, then Denver, I wouldn’t say no…”

He had been her lifeline more than once. A warm ray of sunshine in her shadowed days.

For that alone, Hadley wouldn’t mind sharing a chapter of her journey with him, even if they were destined to be mere passersby in each other’s lives.

She wasn’t one to cling to the dusty old moral code, nor did she see shame in the dance of love and longing.

But one truth stood firm–Denver wanted more than she could offer.

He was earnest, playing for keeps.

“Hadley!”

True to form, the instant her words left her lips, Denver shook his head in a flurry of unease. “I’d never dream of treating you that way! I’m set on building a true, lasting future with you!”

13:44

“A lasting future?”

Hadley’s laugh was sharp, tinged with irony. “We have no future together, Denver. Your family would never

welcome me with open arms.”

the aisle once–be deemed worthy of him? A golden son of a

there was

a puzzle with no solution.

How can you be so certain they’d turn their noses

ponder; the answer was

pulled me from the wreckage of a painful marriage. You helped me pirouette back into the

ocean. “You’re a dear friend, one I treasure. But let’s

sank any

the inevitable ache took

“Hadley…”

that moment, the waiter came with their

well.” Hadley seized the chance to shift gears, her tone lightening. “Aren’t we here to toast my triumphant performance? Let’s not muddy

for now.”

on his plate

a mirage. The real

of his

home, Denver began plotting his next move in secret.

chapter from his family. The

under him, pushing him to lay his

came clean to his family, she would have

off her feet and ask her to be his

his parents to return, Denver mused over whether to pair his declaration with

would be

couldn’t be

13:44

Not

his room and descended to the basement. The basement housed a sturdy safe, a sanctuary for the family’s

personal safe, and

the lid, and nodded with

tucked the box under his arm, secured

“Denver.”

he was

parents, Roderick and

“Dad, Mom.”

pair had just returned from a social

would have it, Denver had been waiting for them.

took a few steps forward, her expression unreadable as she sized up her

I expected…”

the box

clouds rolling in. “What’s that you’ve got

With a bright smile, he answered,

up Hadley anyway, there was no point in

She recognized the delicate jewelry box in a

“Yes.”

waiting for permission, she plucked the box from Denver’s hands, opened it, and gazed at the ruby bracelet

sight of the bracelet, her

had overheard at the evening’s gathering gnawed at her as she cast a piercing

son.

need to

his father. “Dad, what’s got Mom so riled up?”

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