3: 3
At her words, something in me ached. Before yesterday, if she'd asked for a star out of the sky, I'd have found a way to pull it down and put it in her hands.
"Chloe, is there something you're hiding from me?"
I decided to give her one chance. Or maybe I just wanted to let myself stop hoping.
She froze for a second, her eyes darting away. "I'm not hiding anything from you!"
"Chloe, if you really want to build a life with me, you should walk away from Ulysses Lawrence."
"What are you talking about?" Chloe's pretty face flushed. "Ulysses and I are just close friends. There's nothing dirty going on. It's not what you think!"
That was it. Whatever I still felt for her went cold for good.
Herbert gave an awkward little laugh and leaned in, lowering his voice. "Mr. Hughes, I'll be honest with you. There was a middle-aged fellow who took a liking to the place yesterday. He wants his wife to come have a look, and he'll most likely buy. He's coming by around noon. And there's someone else scheduled to view it this afternoon too."
As he spoke, he pulled up the text messages between him and the client to show me.
My nerves went tight.
Word of the demolition hadn't gotten out yet. Otherwise the old man wouldn't be in such a hurry to sell.
All I had to do was buy it, and half a month from now I'd be collecting a demolition buyout of more than fifty million.
"Herbert, call the owner and see if he'll come down a little more on the price."
Herbert nodded and stepped outside to make the call.
"Austin, fine, you can buy this place. But you're buying the luxury flat too."
"Not happening." I shook my head. "This place needs renovating, and that costs money. Which means I can't afford the luxury flat."
The truth was, I had no intention of renovating anything. In half a month it would all be torn down.
When I'd spoken with the "me" from the future, he'd told me exactly what my life became after I bought the luxury flat and married Chloe.
That "me" worked himself to the bone from dawn to night, while she stayed home with the kids and kept inviting her so-called close male friend over to fool around.
Chloe had even gotten pregnant twice more. Both times the child was his, and both times she'd quietly gotten rid of it.
That "me" came home, ate dinner, then did the housework, minded the children, and tutored them on top of it.
Three kids raised through all that hardship, and every one of them ungrateful. When that "me" collapsed and couldn't work anymore, they didn't take him to a doctor. They threw him out of the house instead.
Remembering it, I clenched my fists.
Herbert came back in, and I asked, "What did the owner say?"
He said, excited, "He says if you pay in full right now, he'll knock off another eighty thousand!"
That got me.
I had a million to my name, and my parents had scraped together more than two million over most of their working lives. We'd planned to take out a five-million loan for that luxury flat, so one point seven two million was more than enough.
Then three figures walked in.
Leading the way, of all people, was Chloe's close male friend, Ulysses.
My parents came in behind him.
I looked at Chloe. She met my eyes, smug. "I'm the one who called them here!"
"Austin. Chloe."
"Weren't you two supposed to be buying that luxury flat this morning?"
"How'd you end up here instead?"
Ulysses said it straight at me.
As he talked, he stepped over beside Chloe, and the two of them clasped hands like it was the most natural thing in the world.
They looked like the couple. I was the outsider.
And my parents didn't so much as blink at it.
"Dad, Mom, what are you doing here?" I greeted them first, then turned to Ulysses. "The luxury flat. I'm not buying it."
