Chapter 22 (i)

I’d become the villain. Jayden rescued me from my house to save me the chaos that unravelled there, and I’d repaid him by bringing up parents he’d lost so long ago. I should have left it alone; not pressed as hard as I had. The idea of grief surrounding the loss of a parent was, in large part, foreign to me. If my mother died, I suppose I would feel something, but I didn’t know what that something would be. Jayden, so well taken care of, surely there would be a hole too big to fill and I’d not doubt gouged it even deeper.

A wave of remorse swept over me, threatening to drown me in its wake but as my lips parted to offer my most sincere of condolences, Jayden cut me off with words of his own.

“It was five years ago—I don’t…I don’t need the sympathy; you can skip that part. I got over it four and a half years ago.”

His nonchalance sent my head spinning. While everyone grieved differently, this was