Updated Mar 21, 2026 • ~8 min read
SUMMER – TUESDAY EVENING
Twenty-four hours until Theo confronts me.
I don’t know it yet.
I’m texting Jax. Planning Friday.
Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.
Tomorrow? It’s Tuesday.
I’m coming early this week. Taking a personal day.
Really?
Miss you too much to wait.
It’s true.
But it’s also strategy.
I need to tell him about Theo before the gallery opening. Before everything explodes publicly.
Friday gives me three days.
Three days to confess. To explain. To beg for forgiveness.
I miss you too. Come whenever you want. I’m here.
My chest aches.
I’m about to destroy him.
JAX – TUESDAY NIGHT
Summer’s coming tomorrow.
Middle of the week.
She’s never done that before.
Marco notices my distraction.
“She’s finally acting like a girlfriend instead of a part-time hookup?”
“Don’t.”
“I’m just saying. Two years of excuses, and suddenly she’s taking personal days to see you? That’s suspicious.”
“Or she misses me.”
“Or she’s about to break up with you.”
The thought sits heavy in my chest.
Because I’ve thought it too.
“She said she has something to tell me.”
Marco stops working. “What kind of something?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Jax, that’s bad. ‘We need to talk’ is never good.”
“She didn’t say we need to talk. She said she misses me.”
“And has something to tell you. On a random Wednesday. After being weird for weeks.”
I don’t respond.
Because he’s right.
This feels like an ending.
SUMMER – WEDNESDAY, 11 AM
I’m on the train to Brooklyn.
Rehearsing my confession in my head.
Theo and I… it was arranged. I never loved him. I was trapped. But I love you. I’m choosing you.
It sounds hollow.
Even to me.
Because the truth is worse.
I got engaged knowing I loved Jax. I planned a wedding. Let it go on for a year.
That’s not being trapped.
That’s being selfish.
My phone rings.
Theo.
My stomach drops.
“Hey.”
“Summer. Where are you?”
His voice is cold.
“Out. Why?”
“We need to talk. Tonight.”
“I can’t tonight. I have—”
“Cancel it.”
“Theo—”
“Summer.” His voice cuts like ice. “Cancel. Your. Plans. Be at my place at seven. This isn’t optional.”
He hangs up.
Panic floods through me.
He knows.
Somehow, he knows.
I call Melody.
“He knows. Theo knows.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. But he just called. He sounded… cold. Angry. Melody, what do I do?”
“Tell him the truth.”
“Before I tell Jax?”
“Summer, if Theo knows, everyone’s about to know. You need to get ahead of this.”
“But I’m already on my way to Brooklyn—”
“Turn around. Go to Theo. Do damage control.”
“I can’t. I told Jax I was coming. He’s expecting me.”
“Then you have six hours to tell Jax and get back to Manhattan.”
My hands shake.
“This is happening. It’s all happening.”
“Breathe. You can do this. But you have to be honest. With both of them. Today.”
I hang up.
Stare out the train window.
Today.
Everything falls apart today.
JAX – NOON
Summer arrives at my apartment.
She looks terrified.
“Hey.” I pull her inside. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just… a lot going on.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Soon. Can we just… be together first? For a little while?”
Something’s wrong.
But I don’t push.
We sit on the couch. She curls into me.
“I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you too.”
“No, I mean…” She pulls back. Looks at me. “I really love you, Jax. You’re the best thing in my life. The only real thing.”
“Summer, what’s going on?”
Tears fill her eyes.
“I need to tell you something. But I’m scared.”
My heart pounds.
“Whatever it is, just tell me.”
She opens her mouth.
Her phone rings.
She looks at it. Goes white.
“I have to take this.”
She steps into the bathroom.
I hear muffled conversation. Crying.
When she comes back, her face is destroyed.
“I have to go.”
“What? You just got here.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Something came up. Emergency.”
“Is it your grandmother again?”
The question comes out sharper than I intended.
She freezes.
“What?”
“Your grandmother. Is she sick again? Or is this a different emergency?”
“Jax—”
“Because you always have emergencies, Summer. Always. And I’m starting to wonder if they’re real.”
“Of course they’re real.”
“Are they? Because my brother thinks you’re lying. He thinks you’re hiding something big. And honestly? I’m starting to agree.”
She’s crying now.
“I’m not… I do have an emergency. A real one. I have to go back to Manhattan. Right now.”
“For what?”
“I can’t explain right now.”
“Try.”
“Jax, please. I will explain. Everything. I promise. Just… not today.”
“When?”
“Friday. I’ll come Friday and I’ll tell you everything. The whole truth.”
“Why not now?”
“Because I need to handle something first.”
“Handle what?”
“I can’t—” She’s sobbing. “I can’t tell you yet. But Friday. I swear.”
I stare at her.
This is it.
She’s ending it.
Or she’s married.
Or something worse.
“Go,” I say quietly.
“Jax—”
“Just go, Summer. Handle your emergency. Come back Friday. We’ll talk then.”
She looks broken.
But she leaves.
The door closes.
And I know.
Whatever she tells me Friday…
It’s going to end us.
SUMMER – 5 PM, MANHATTAN
I’m at Theo’s building.
Two hours early.
I need to compose myself. Figure out what to say.
But I’m a mess.
Crying. Shaking.
The doorman recognizes me.
“Ms. Chen. Mr. Lancaster is expecting you. You can go up.”
I take the elevator.
Each floor feels like a countdown.
At the top, the doors open.
Theo’s standing there.
Arms crossed.
Face like stone.
“We need to talk.”
THEO
She looks guilty.
Good.
She should.
“Come in.”
She follows me inside.
I throw the PI report on the coffee table.
She stares at it.
Goes white.
“What is that?”
“Read it.”
“Theo—”
“Read. It.”
Her hands shake as she picks it up.
I watch her scan the pages. See the moment she hits the photos.
The color drains from her face.
“I can explain—”
“Explain?” I laugh. Bitter. “You’ve been cheating on me. For two years. With some tattoo artist in Brooklyn. You’ve been living a double life. Lying to me. To my family. To everyone.”
“It’s not—”
“Not what? Not cheating? You’re engaged to me, Summer. We’re getting married in eight weeks. And you’re sleeping with someone else!”
“I was with him first!”
The words explode out of her.
Silence.
“What?” My voice is deadly quiet.
She’s crying. “I met Jax two years ago. Before our engagement party. I was going to end things with you. Tell my parents I couldn’t go through with it. But then your mother planned that public proposal and I panicked and I said yes and—”
“You’ve been lying for TWO YEARS?”
“I’m sorry—”
“Sorry? You’re SORRY?” I’m shouting now. “I trusted you! After Blake, after being humiliated, I chose you because I thought you were different. Pure. Honest. And you’ve been playing me this entire time!”
“I wasn’t playing you—”
“Then what do you call this? You got engaged to me knowing you loved someone else. You planned a wedding. Picked out a dress. Met my family. Lied to my face every single day!”
“I was trapped! My parents arranged this. I didn’t have a choice—”
“You had a choice! You could have said no! You could have told the truth! But instead, you lied. And you know what the worst part is?”
She doesn’t answer.
“I loved you. I actually loved you. And you felt nothing. I was just… what? A safety net? A backup plan?”
“No—”
“Get out.”
“Theo, please—”
“GET OUT!”
She flinches.
“The wedding is canceled,” I continue. Coldly. “I’m telling my parents tonight. Telling everyone. You want to know what humiliation feels like? You’re about to learn.”
“Please don’t—”
“Why? You worried about appearances? About what people will think?”
“I’m worried about you. About us—”
“There is no us. There never was. Now get out of my apartment before I call security.”
She stands. Shaking. Crying.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“But you did. Congratulations, Summer. You’re just like Blake. Worse, actually. At least she had the decency to cheat with someone from our social circle. You went slumming.”
The words are cruel.
Designed to hurt.
They land.
She runs.
SUMMER – 8 PM
I’m on the street.
Destroyed.
Everything’s over.
Theo’s going to tell everyone. My parents. His parents. Everyone.
I’m going to be destroyed.
Socially. Financially. Familially.
I call Melody.
“He knows. He hired a PI. He has photos. He’s canceling the wedding. He’s telling everyone.”
“Oh god.”
“I’m ruined, Melody. I’m completely ruined.”
“Where are you?”
“Manhattan. Outside his building.”
“Go to Jax. Tell him everything. Before Theo’s version spreads.”
“I can’t. Not today. I can’t handle losing both of them in one day.”
“Summer—”
I hang up.
Sit on a bench in Central Park.
Watch the sun set.
My phone buzzes.
Texts from my mother.
Theo’s mother just called. What happened?
Summer Chen, answer me right now.
You’ve humiliated this family.
Don’t bother coming home.
There it is.
Disowned.
In three texts.
Twenty-three years of being the perfect daughter.
Gone.
I call Jax.
He doesn’t answer.
I text: I love you. I’m so sorry. I’ll explain everything. Please don’t hate me.
No response.
I’m alone.
Completely alone.
And it’s exactly what I deserve.
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