Chapter 125

OLIVIA’S POV After Mom went back to her room, I sat alone on the couch with the morning light slowly pouring in through the windows. The house was still quiet, but my thoughts were anything but. Her words played over and over in my mind: “If your guilt is clouding everything else, maybe it’s time to let go of what’s causing it.” There was only one thing—one person—I needed to face now. And it was time I stopped delaying it. It’s unfair to him and after everything he has done for me, I cannot string him along like this. When I knew what’s my first is going to be I picked up my phone from the coffee table with trembling fingers. The screen was still smudged with last night’s notifications, but my eyes went straight to the name at the top of my call log. Derek. I stared at it for a long moment, unsure if I was ready. But I couldn’t let myself spiral again. I had already betrayed myself enough by clinging to the idea of moving on, of pretending my heart wasn’t still tangled up in someone e