Nothing But The Truth

23: The Tiara That Loved Jordan

"What are you doing?" I pushed Jordan away from me. I must have lost my mind for a moment to let him come that close to me.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, backing away.

I cleaned away my tears and composed myself. I couldn't believe I broke down in front of Jordan James. What was he going to think of me now? I was supposed to let him see that I was happy and doing well without him but instead, I looked like an emotional mess. It was so embarrassing.

"Good night, Jordan." I said curtly, wanting to leave before I embarrassed myself even further.

"Aren't you tired of it?" Jordan blocked my path.

"What?"

"Aren't you tired of always running away from me?" He clarified and I gave a sigh.

"I'm not running away from you." I disagreed.

"Yes, you are. You've been running away from me ever since we crossed paths at the airport." He insisted and I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at him.

"I wasn't running away. I just simply wanted nothing to do with you." I corrected. I wasn't running from him. I just didn't want him in my life anymore. There was a difference.

"I understand that I have wronged you and I left you after promising to spend the rest of my life with you and I'm sorry, Tiara. I'm sorry but I came back. I came back for you because I meant every word I said all those years ago. I still love—"

"Stop! Stop! Just stop!" I cut him off before he could complete that sentence. I could feel my blood start to boil. How dare he try to say those three little words to me after everything he had done. He didn't deserve to.

"Just please listen to what I have to say." He pleaded but I really didn't want to hear it.

"I don't want to." I said stubbornly.

"Please, Tiara. Please, just let me explain." I could see the desperation in his eyes as he pleaded for me to hear him out. I had never seen him look so desperate before.

I bit on my bottom lip and stared down at the ground. I knew I was going to have to hear him out eventually. Maybe if I heard what he had to say, he would have finally left me alone.

"Fine." I gave in, finally and Jordan looked relieved as he nodded.

Jordan led me to a brasserie and ordered us some food and drinks. He had been silent the entire walk there and the awkwardness was very thick indeed. I couldn't remember the last time I had spent this much time with Jordan without fighting. We had taken a nice stroll, admiring the city at night in silence but my mind had been busy with all kinds of thoughts running through to even focus on the scenery. Thoughts like what Jordan had to say to me, for example.

I had expected him to start speaking as soon as we were settled in our booth but he didn't. He stayed silent, looking everywhere but me.

"Jordan." I called his attention and he slowly glanced at me. My silence after that spoke my thoughts to him and he gave a nod in understanding. I just wanted to get over this as quickly as possible.

"It's been a while since we had dinner together." He said, adjusting in his seat. I said nothing in response, not at all interested in the small talk.

Jordan took a sip of water and leaned forward, resting his lower arms on the table.

"I don't even know where to start." He gave a sigh. "It's just—my decision to leave wasn't because I didn't love you anymore. It wasn't my intention to ghost you or throw away our entire relationship, I just wasn't thinking clearly at the time."