After She Could Smell Emotions, She Called Off the Wedding Chapter 03
I left the house and wandered aimlessly through the city.
A light drizzle fell from the gray sky—not heavy enough for an umbrella, but steady enough to loosen the sycamore leaves and plaster them against the wet pavement.
When I passed our old high school, I stopped.
Nathan and I had been classmates, while Jasmine was one grade ahead of us. Whenever school activities ran late, Jasmine never let me walk home alone. She made me wait so we could leave together.
At some point, Nathan began trailing behind us.
Jasmine used to tease me, saying he was following us because he wanted to protect me. Nathan and I were in the same class, but we hardly knew each other.
After that, though, I couldn’t stop noticing him.
After Nathan and I graduated, Jasmine encouraged me to ask him out, so I did.
Nathan had looked genuinely stunned. I could tell he was about to turn me down, but at the last second, he stopped himself and said yes.
From that day on, Nathan became part of both our lives.
I resumed walking as the rain soaked my hair and every step grew heavier.
One thought kept circling through my mind.
What if Nathan had only agreed to date me because he wanted to get closer to Jasmine?
What if all the sweetness I’d smelled over the years had never been meant for me?
I couldn’t let myself follow that thought any further. It would drive me insane.
I shut my eyes and drew a steadying breath, then hailed a cab. I had barely gotten inside when Nathan’s Mercedes sped past us.
“Follow that Mercedes,” I said, my voice hoarse.
He wasn’t heading toward the hospital or his parents’ house.
So where was he going?
The answer was already forming in my mind, but I refused to believe it.
After several winding turns, the Mercedes stopped outside a secluded cottage on the outskirts of the city.
I’d never known this place existed.
Once I got out of the cab, I heard Nathan and Jasmine arguing inside.
“What did Georgie mean this morning?” Jasmine pressed, her voice breaking with panic. “You promised me she’d never find out, Nathan. You promised we wouldn’t hurt her!”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“She doesn’t know anything. She was probably just in a bad mood. I asked whether I’d said anything while I was drunk last night, and she said I hadn’t.”
Only then did Jasmine begin to calm down.
Tears streamed down her face as she said, “Either way, this is the last time I’m coming here. After today, we go our separate ways and never see each other again.”
“Is that really what you want?” Nathan asked quietly. “Can you honestly let go that easily?”
“We bought this place five years ago. Think about all the memories we made here. Can you really forget them?”
“Don’t lie to yourself, Jasmine.”
Jasmine threw herself into his arms, and they clung to each other as if they were the ones being torn apart.
Nathan kissed her.
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone and took a picture through the rain.
They held each other like I was the cruel one standing between them. Whatever they said afterward disappeared beneath the roaring in my ears.
I braced myself against the doorway and finally noticed the jasmine vines climbing over the cottage’s arched entrance.
Every corner of the place was proof that they had loved each other, while I stood outside looking like a pathetic fool.
Memories came rushing back all at once.
Four years ago, on New Year’s Eve, Nathan and Jasmine both claimed they had to work. They left one after the other, leaving me to ring in the New Year alone.
Three years ago, on Valentine’s Day, they both told me they were leaving town for work. The dinner I’d prepared ended up in the trash.
Two years ago, on Jasmine’s birthday, Nathan suddenly announced that he had to fly overseas to perform surgery. That same night, I couldn’t reach Jasmine.
Piece by piece, everything fell into place until I could no longer deny the truth. It wrapped around my throat like a poisonous vine, tightening until I could barely breathe.
I went home without confronting them.
It wasn’t time yet.
I silently began packing my things.
Nathan came home carrying the bitter scent of misery, but the moment he saw me, he forced a smile.
He pulled me into a tight embrace. There wasn’t a trace of sweetness in his scent.
“I’m sorry about the strawberry jam this morning, Georgie. I was hungover and wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Are you mad at me?”
I studied him in silence, then forced a smile.
“Of course not.”
Nathan relaxed and headed straight for the shower. The bathroom door closed behind him, and I dropped the act.