The Price of Unrequited Love

Chapter 5 Chapter 5

Word Count: 646 | Released on: 14/07/2025

rely home, busy with wedding plans and their own lives. It was as if she an

the high school

rowded place. A former classmate handed her a beer.

Maybe the alcohol would numb the lingering ache. She

he excused herself and went to

of people coming out of a private room. In the c

bs. She forced herself to look aw

from the room drift

g day is next month,

What about little Jayde? What are you goin

Brendan's voice, cool and

take care of herself. She's

ar, so detached, sob

he hallway, his voice

self, starting to walk again. M

water on her face. As she came out, she r

She opened her mouth to

appeared from the crowd and threw hersel

ld her. He scooped her up in a princess carry and wal

res merging into one, and felt

classmate asked, c

e. "No, just got so

classmate sighed. "He used to be so devoted to you

de's mouth. "We all have

r classmates, she saw Brendan's car waiting by the

d, his voice sharp with di

f in place, un

d, opening the back door for

got in, feeling

s body angled to shield her completely. The rain dripped onto Jayde

when that umbrella had

yde," he'd once promised, "a

in slid down her

sky and then at the back of the m

the umbrella, letting the

thought, to learn

Chapter End

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The Price of Unrequited Love

Shearwater Young Adult

“Eighteen days after giving up on Brendan Maynard, Jayde Rosario cut off her waist-length hair and called her father, announcing her decision to move to California and attend UC Berkeley. Her father, surprised, asked about the sudden change, reminding her how she' d always insisted on staying with Brendan. Jayde forced a laugh, revealing the painful truth: Brendan was getting married, and she, his stepsister, could no longer cling to him. That night, she tried to tell Brendan about her college acceptance, but his fiancée, Chloie Ellis, interrupted with a bubbly call, and Brendan' s tender words to Chloie twisted a knife in Jayde' s heart. She remembered how his tenderness used to be hers alone, how he had protected her, and how she had poured out her heart to him in a diary and a love letter, only for him to explode, tearing the letter and yelling, "I'm your brother!" He had stormed out, leaving her to painstakingly tape the shredded pieces back together. Her love, however, didn't die, not even when he brought Chloie home and told her to call her "sister-in-law." Now, she understood. She had to put that fire out herself. She had to dig Brendan out of her heart.”