He Didn't Want Me Until I Became Someone Else's

I slept with the man I had secretly loved for years.

The next morning, I finally told him how I felt.

His response was simple.

"What made you think sleeping with me would make me want you?"

I left without arguing.

I changed my number, moved to another city, and cut him out of my life completely.

For two years, I never heard his name again.

Then my roommate, Vanessa, was hospitalized with a high fever.

Her wealthy boyfriend drove through the night to see her.

When he walked into the hospital room, I froze.

It was Adrian Cole. The man I had spent two years trying to forget.

Except he looked at me without recognition.

"Thanks for taking care of her," he said. "Let me add you. I'll send you whatever you spent."

He had no idea who I was.

And somehow, that hurt more than his rejection ever had.

He was wearing the bracelet I'd made. A thin red braided cord circled Adrian Cole's wrist beneath the cuff of his expensive shirt.

It looked almost absurdly simple against him.

I remembered tying the final knot at our kitchen table while Vanessa watched.

She'd paid me thirty dollars to make it.

"He can buy anything he wants," she'd said. "What am I supposed to give a man like that? Something handmade actually means something."

Vanessa had never been good with crafts, so I'd been happy to help.

At the time, I hadn't known her boyfriend's name.

I certainly hadn't known he was the reason I'd left town two years ago.

Now Adrian stood a few feet away, waiting for my answer, wearing something I had made with my own hands.

I looked down at my phone.

Two years hadn't erased the memory of the night I'd told him how I felt.

My feelings hadn't started because we'd slept together. I'd liked him long before that. I'd just finally been foolish enough to say it out loud.

He'd looked at me and said, "I'm sorry. There's someone else. I'm waiting for her."

Then, as if he thought I might misunderstand, he'd added, "If I'd wanted to be with you, I wouldn't have waited until now."

That explained why none of the women who flirted with him ever seemed to get anywhere.

He wasn't unavailable.

He was waiting for someone else.

"Okay," I'd said. "I understand. I'll go."

And I had.

New number. New city. No contact with anyone who might mention him. I'd done everything I could to make sure Adrian Cole would never have to see me again.

Yet here he was, standing in front of me as though we'd only just met.

"Let me add you," he said. "I'll send you what you spent."

"There's no need." I opened my payment app and held out the QR code. "I covered two hundred seventy-three dollars."

Adrian didn't immediately take out his phone.

His gaze stayed on my face for a moment.

I wondered if I'd sounded rude. Then he scanned the code.

The payment arrived almost instantly.

Before I could put my phone away, Vanessa called from her room.

"Adrian? Could you get me some water?"

"Of course." He turned and went inside.

I slipped my phone into my bag.

Then I heard Vanessa again. "You met my roommate, right? Isn't she pretty? She's been so good to me."

I stopped. Then Adrian answered. "I didn't really notice."