Chapter 133 

I smiled. “I’ve made myself clear. We’re not on the same page, so let’s just drop it.” 

“But you need a boyfriend, right?” Hayden shot back. 

“Yeah, I do. But I’m not about to mess around with someone like you. I’ll figure something else out,” I said, noticing the way his expression darkened. 

I expected him to stop me or at least try to meet me halfway, but I totally misjudged the situation. He didn’t say a thing. 

“Goodbye. That was out of line,” I mumbled before spinning around and getting into my car. As I drove off, it felt like I was fleeing the scene. 

I didn’t pull over until I was sure he couldn’t see me anymore. My heart was racing, and I had to take a few deep breaths to calm down. Regret hit me hard–I’d been so impulsive after drinking last night. 

I could’ve asked Steve to pretend to be my boyfriend. Involving Hayden was a huge mistake. 

But what’s done is done. No point in dwelling on it now. 

After pulling myself together, I drove to a flower shop, picked out a bouquet, and headed to my parents‘ grave. 

Over the years, I only came here for the really big moments or on the anniversary of their deaths. But lately, I’d been dreaming about my childhood, about them. It felt like they missed me, so I wanted to visit. When I got to the cemetery, I was surprised to see a bouquet already sitting in front of their tombstone. The flowers were wilted, so whoever came must’ve been here in the last couple of weeks. 

It had been over a decade since my parents passed. Besides me, their only surviving daughter, the only people who might still remember them were Matthew and Lindey. 

Could it have been them? But if they had visited, why didn’t Lindey mention it? 

I was puzzled, but with everything that had gone down between me and Jace, it was possible Lindey just forgot to bring it up. 

I cleared away the dried–up flowers and placed my fresh bouquet down. 

Looking at my parents‘ faces on the tombstone, my heart ached, but I forced a smile “Mom, Dad, did you miss me? I’ve been dreaming about you a lot lately. 

“I broke up with Jace. I’m sorry I couldn’t make your and Matthew’s and Lindey’s wishes come true. 

“But more than the arrangement you set up, I think you’d rather see me happy, right?” 

I sat in front of the tombstone, just talking to them about everything. Before I knew it, more than an hour had passed, and the sun was already high in the sky. It was time to go. 

As I picked up the wilted flowers to toss them in the trash bin nearby, something caught my eye–they weren’t lilies. They were daisies, small white daisies. 

Chapter 133 

+25 BONUS 

All these years with the Johnston family, whenever Matthew, Lindey, or even Jace and I came to visit my parents, we always brought lilies. My mom loved them. 

But these were daisies, not lilies. That meant it wasn’t them who brought them. 

So, who did? 

I felt even more confused. Could it have been an old friend of my parents, coming by to pay their respects? 

But I quickly pushed that thought aside. This cemetery was picked by Matthew and Lindey, and when my parents were buried, there weren’t any other relatives or friends around. 

Even if my parents had friends, they wouldn’t know this place. 

So, who could it have been? 

A strange, unexplainable feeling crept up inside me. In the end, I decided to just call Lindey and ask. 

“Rea!” Lindey’s cheerful voice filled the line as soon as she picked up. “I was just about to call you.” I held back the question that was burning in my mind. “Lindey, did you need something?” 

Chapter 134 

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