Or maybe I’m just seeing things.
‘Enjoy the rest of your holiday,’ I say, forcing myself to walk away from him.
‘I’ll give it my best shot,’ he calls, right before I shut the door to his apartment behind me.
* * *
Kit
My instinct is to chase after her and tell her I don’t want her to go, or that I’ll come with her. But I know I can’t do either of those things. She needs space. Time to heal and be able to trust again.
So do I, if I’m being honest.
The messages from Katya have shaken me up. She’s asking to see me face to face and talk. Not because she’s pregnant, but because she’s still in love with me and wants me back. That leaving me for the ex she dumped me for was a mistake. That he’s boring and never has any time for her. Or so she says.
It’s more likely that now she’s got what she wanted from him, she’s the one who’s bored and looking to get back to the cushy ride she had with me.
But there’s no way I’d want to reconcile with her. It’s too late. I don’t love her any more.
I’m in love with Chloe.
That’s extremely clear to me now.
And I’m prepared to wait for her. Because she’s worth it.
As soon as I’ve given Katya the courtesy of a chance to say what she needs to, since she’s making the effort to come all the way here, and told her we’re completely finished with no chance of a reconciliation, I’m going to leave the hotel too – alone – and travel round Japan for a bit. Get my head together. Make some plans for the future.
Chloe’s right of course, being mega-wealthy probably isn’t good for me. It’s made me take too much for granted. Made me emotionally and conscientiously lazy.
So it’s time I did something about that.
* * *
The next day
Chloe
I’ve been wanting to visit the Studio Ghibli Park for years. Now I’m finally here all I can do is think about Kit and the fact he’s not here to enjoy this with me.
As I wander around it, taking in the amazing spectacle of the life-size replicas of the houses from the films, immersive movie sets, presentations of exclusive short films and mind-boggling exhibits and carousel rides, I can’t help wondering how his reconciliation with Katya went. Whether they’re back together again now.
Whether he’s happy.
I know I was too hard on him after he admitted to receiving those messages from her. That I unfairly lashed out at him.
I don’t actually believe he lied to me in any way, but he was clearly distracted by them and I thought the best thing I could do right then was uncomplicate things for him and cut what we’d been doing off at the knees.
We’d both agreed that we weren’t in the arrangement we’d struck up for the long-haul and it felt like it was important to stick to the boundaries we’d set for ourselves.
This was particularly vital because of the way I was starting to feel about him – like something had changed between us on a fundamental level. It had made me nervous. Scared even.
My head’s still in too much of a mess to be able to unravel exactly what was going on there, but I know, deep down, that it was significant.
That he’s important to me.
* * *
Two weeks later
