Chapter 8
Rocco looked haggard, not like the dashing man in my impression.
I sighed, knowing that I couldn’t avoid him.
“What do you want?”
I stopped walking.
He was under the stairs, and I was on the stairs.
He looked up at me.
“Don’t you even call me Rocky?”
I chuckled. “Why would I?”
I called him that before to show my affection.
Since we’d broken up, why would I call him that?
He liked me calling him that, though.
Sorrow filled his eyes when he bit back what he wanted to say.
After some moments of hesitation, he asked with resignation, “Lauren, can we get back together if I apologize to you?
“I’ll be nice to you, OK?”
I looked at him in shock.
“Rocco, I’m married.”
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Chapter 8
I showed him the ring on my finger.
“Do you want to be the other man?”
“Why not?” he responded with a serious look.
“As long as it’s what you want.”
It hit me like a bolt of lightning.
I took two steps back and shook my head.
I didn’t know who he was anymore.
“I don’t want it.”
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Rocco was walking toward me. But hearing that, he paused and looked up at me in disbelief.
“Why?”
He was puzzled, because he thought that he would get me back by putting his ego aside.
I looked at his surprised face and asked the question I’d been wanting to ask over the past 5 years.
“Rocco, do you love me?”
He didn’t expect me to ask that.
But he answered in haste, “Of course. Why would I have come for you if I didn’t?
“Lauren, you are the only one who I would get back to.”
I shook my head.
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Chapter 8
“I don’t think so.
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“You came here only because you don’t want to lose a toy that won’t disobey you.”
Rocco didn’t know what I meant.
Without looking at his confused face, I continued, “If I love someone, I’ll cherish him.
“I won’t be with another man when he’s having a fever.
“My heart aches when he’s sad or cries, so I won’t let that happen.
“Love makes one happy.
“I’ll be happy because I love him, not because he loves me.
“But you don’t fit any of that.
“You don’t love me. You just love being loved by me.”
Rocco’s face paled slowly. In the end, he looked mortified.
“Sorry. I’ve been hurting you.”
His apology meant nothing to me anymore.
I had said everything I wanted to say, so I turned around.
Luciano was standing at the door.
Although nothing had happened between Rocco and me, I still felt guilty.
“Why did you get out too?”
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Luciano looked at me and said in a low voice, “Your mom told me to bring you back for dinner.
I nodded and headed back with him.
But Rocco grabbed my arm and asked in an imploring tone, “Lauren, are we really over?”
I looked at his pleading eyes and was amused.
A mischievous thought popped into my mind.
I gave back the words he hurt me with during our breakup.
“Rocco, don’t beg me to get back to you in such an undignified way.
“It’s scary.”
Then, I shook off his hand and went into the room with Luciano.
