He was completely and utterly oblivious to everything that he had caused and she absolutely hated him for that. [UNEDITED] [DUAL POV] TW: eating disorder recovery

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞? 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. Nothing in life has come easily to Chase. He's had to work for everything he's gotten until she comes along and feels like the big break he's been waiting for all his life. Lexi may have stumbled into his arms, but he's going to have to fight like hell to keep her there; to earn himself a spot in her life, in her heart. But Chase knows that she's worth it, and he's no stranger to hard work. Lexi wants to be free, and Greenville is the key to the platinum shackles keeping her from escaping the dollhouse of a home she grew up in. Everything about her new home breathes color into her dull life, and she's not going to give it up for anything. She's going to make it on her own, and nobody is going to underestimate her this time. Lexi is built from materials much stronger than porcelain. Her high hopes may finally be within reach, and she doesn't plan on letting anything or anyone distract her from her future, at least not for more than one night. Apparently, Chase didn't get the memo.

The Wattys 2014 "Undiscovered Gem" Stella Henry is afraid of a lot of things. As a child, her simple, comfortable home life did not prepare her for the sort of people whom she would meet as a younger teenager. Now eighteen and a freshman at Clemson University, Stella meets Charlie, who, like her, has long been keeping others at bay. Though his disposition is kind and gentle, Charlie is a boxer, and his world only reminds Stella of elements of her past she would like to forget. When both realize that they have a safe place in one another, they start to overcome their fear of other people, and of letting them get close enough to matter. In many ways, this is a story about allowing people to matter to our lives, and about meaning something to them, in turn. At some point in your day, in your routine, in your life, you will matter to someone. That is a special kind of power, do be careful with it. "We love people not so much for the good they've done us, as for the good we've done them." Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace