The Heart That's Meant to Love You [COMPLETED]

Chapter 65: Hope

Forty-eight hours passed, and Kieran didn't contact Naomi to say sorry. Of course, she didn't contact him either. Naomi didn't know how to process all he had said. The look in Kieran's eyes had said that he told the truth. But his words had been hurtful, slicing Naomi's heart like a scalpel.

Had he, perhaps, used the truth to push her away from him? Naomi couldn't fathom why he would do it.

Thus, she tried not to think about it. Naomi pushed her own wounds to the back of her mind, got up from bed, and went to work.

Everything felt surreal. Like it had all been a dream. For a few glorious weeks, Naomi had tasted what her life could be like. She had found friends, had chosen her own path. She had fallen for a man who drew her in like magic.

Had everything really been a lie? Or, somewhere along the line, had parts of it been true?

So intent was she on discovering where it had all gone wrong, that Naomi didn't realize how she trudged through her work.

Her boss, Michelle, on the other hand saw everything.

By lunchtime, everyone in the flagship store had noticed Naomi's strange mood.

Michelle was the only one to say anything.

"Naomi, come to my office. Let's talk for a minute." Michelle beckoned Naomi to the office door with a congenial wave of her hand.

Naomi, paying little mind to anything around her, moved like a zombie toward her boss's invitation. What more could she do, when all her brain power had been poured into deciphering Kieran's strange intentions?

Michelle shut the office door as soon as Naomi made it inside. "Naomi, darling. What's wrong this afternoon? Did something happen?"

"Yes. No? I'm unsure." Naomi sank into the nearest chair, her legs unable to support her any longer.

Michelle studied Naomi with eyes so purely concerned that Naomi wanted to cry.

"What do you mean, you're unsure?" Michelle asked gently.

Naomi sighed. Her hand went to her hair, running back into it so they could clutch her aching head.

"I think... I think I got dumped."

"You think?" Michelle blew out a breath, as though processing what she needed to ask next. "You're not sure?"

"How should I know? I've never been dumped before." Naomi studied her fingers in her lap.

Michelle gave a nod. "Okay, well Ihave. Tell me what happened."

"We weren't technically together," Naomi clarified. "He said he liked me, but we never officially dated."

"And then?"

"Then, yesterday, he came clean."

"About?"

Naomi picked at one of her nails, hoping it would distract her from the tears welling up in her eyes. "He said he had been using me. He told me that he could never be with someone like me. That I should go back to my life." Naomi gave a shrug. "But I don't really want to."

Michelle remained silent, as though waiting for Naomi to go on.

Naomi, unused to opening up about anything this serious, merely looked up to ask a question that had been bothering her. "Do you think he ever cared about me?"

"Oh, Naomi." Michelle stepped forward, kneeling in front of Naomi and taking Naomi's hands within her own. "The one who cares the most about you is often the one who pushes you the farthest away."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I have no point of reference for this relationship of yours, but I know one thing. If he didn't care about you a little bit, this man would never have told you his ill intentions. I think it says something that he used the truth to push you away. Perhaps, in his own way, he thinks he's protecting you."

"You're saying he broke up with me because he cares about me?"

"I'm saying that's what it looks like to an outsider like me. I can't be sure." Michelle gave Naomi's hands a squeeze. "The other option is that he's a real piece of work and you should stay far, far away from him."

"That's not comforting," Naomi muttered, mostly to herself.

As much as she considered it, as hurt as she was, Naomi found she didn't want to stay far away from Kieran. She wanted to know why he did what he did, but a grudge hadn't built itself along the walls of her heart. Naomi figured that she was tied to Kieran like the sea was tied to the moon.

No matter how far she ran, Kieran's pull would reel her back in. It had been that way from the start.

"Instead of asking whether or not he dumped you," Michelle continued, "perhaps you should be asking yourself what you want to do going forward. Will you leave him behind as he asked, or will you take matters into your own hands this time?"

Michelle had always given advice in a tone that Naomi found comforting. Like Naomi wished her mother would talk to her, that's how Michelle handled situations. This time was no different.

Naomi weighed Michelle's questions thoroughly, wondering which option she should take in this situation. Neither would be easy, and both would bring obstacles that Naomi couldn't possibly foresee.

But, deep down, Naomi knew what she had to pick. Because Naomi had never been one to give up easily.

"Thank you, Michelle."

Michelle gave a smile, as if she knew what Naomi had decided. "Good luck, Naomi. I hope you win."