His grip was tight.
"So that's why you hid from me for five years?" His voice was painfully hoarse.
"Yes," I said, looking at him. "Those people would have used every dirty trick they could. I didn't want to drag you down with me."
Arthur stared at me.
"Chloe, you always thought I stayed with you back then because of the medical bills, didn't you? You thought I was humiliated by being with you."
'Of course I had.'
'What else was I supposed to think?'
For those years, he had always seemed distant with me, always restrained, always as if he were enduring something.
Even on the day we broke up, he hadn't asked me to stay.
Arthur lifted his left hand and touched my cheek.
His palm was warm.
"Before you ever held that check in front of me and told me to be your boyfriend," Arthur sai
