Chasing The Star He Lost

Chasing The Star He Lost

Gavin

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Everyone knew Ava Chen was just keeping Dr. Julian Vance' s spot warm. He, a brilliant Columbia astrophysicist; I, a New York financial analyst. We were dating, but his great love, my former best friend Chloe, was merely on fellowship, her return an unspoken ticking clock. The clock exploded the day Julian stood me up at City Hall for our marriage license. An Instagram story appeared instead: Julian, smiling, at Chloe' s surprise welcome-back party. My heart didn' t just break; it fractured into a dull, final ache. I shredded the marriage application. Later, Chloe brought a drunken Julian to my apartment, his subtle taunts confirming my place. He then whispered it: "Chloe." The ultimate affront. His cold, indifferent "Take the pill" solidified our transactional reality. I was a placeholder. My deep love unrequited, our relationship a cruel joke of neglect and manipulation. Why did I cling to a love that never truly saw me? But my tears turned to cold fury. I canceled wedding leave, applied for a senior analyst role in London. I would shed the "placeholder" and forge a fierce new beginning, on my own terms.

Introduction

Everyone knew Ava Chen was just keeping Dr. Julian Vance' s spot warm.

He, a brilliant Columbia astrophysicist; I, a New York financial analyst.

We were dating, but his great love, my former best friend Chloe, was merely on fellowship, her return an unspoken ticking clock.

The clock exploded the day Julian stood me up at City Hall for our marriage license.

An Instagram story appeared instead: Julian, smiling, at Chloe' s surprise welcome-back party.

My heart didn' t just break; it fractured into a dull, final ache.

I shredded the marriage application.

Later, Chloe brought a drunken Julian to my apartment, his subtle taunts confirming my place.

He then whispered it: "Chloe." The ultimate affront.

His cold, indifferent "Take the pill" solidified our transactional reality.

I was a placeholder. My deep love unrequited, our relationship a cruel joke of neglect and manipulation.

Why did I cling to a love that never truly saw me?

But my tears turned to cold fury.

I canceled wedding leave, applied for a senior analyst role in London.

I would shed the "placeholder" and forge a fierce new beginning, on my own terms.

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The Truth About His Mistress

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I was four months pregnant, a photographer excited for our future, attending a sophisticated baby brunch. Then I saw him, my husband Michael, with another woman, and a newborn introduced as "his son." My world shattered as a torrent of betrayal washed over me, magnified by Michael's dismissive claim I was "just being emotional." His mistress, Serena, taunted me, revealing Michael had discussed my pregnancy complications with her, then slapped me, causing a terrifying cramp. Michael sided with her, publicly shaming me, demanding I leave "their" party, as a society blog already paraded them as a "picture-perfect family." He fully expected me to return, to accept his double life, telling his friends I was "dramatic" but would "always come back." The audacity, the calculated cruelty of his deception, and Serena's chilling malice, fueled a cold, hard rage I barely recognized. How could I have been so blind, so trusting of the man who gaslighted me for months while building a second family? But on the plush carpet of that lawyer's office, as he turned his back on me, a new, unbreakable resolve solidified. They thought I was broken, disposable, easily manipulated – a "reasonable" wife who would accept a sham separation. They had no idea my calm acceptance was not surrender; it was strategy, a quiet promise to dismantle everything he held dear. I would not be handled; I would not understand; I would end this, and make sure their perfect family charade crumbled into dust.

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