Old Dreams No Return (Serena) novel Chapter 1

Serena’s Story 1

Ten years later, I ran into Liam Carter again at a class reunion.

All our classmates, successful now, were married with kids.

Only Liam was still single.

Serena, Liam’s waiting for you. He hasn’t dated or gotten married in years.”

They’d barely finished speaking when Liam walked in.

He walked in, sharp in a suit, and everyone gasped.

Ten years later, Liam was still drop-dead gorgeous.

The youthful arrogance was gone, though. A calm maturity now settled in his brow.

Knowing our history, they made sure Liam and I sat together.

He kept sneaking glances at me, like he had a million things to say.

But all he managed was a soft, “Rena, long time no see.”

“Yeah, long time no see.”

I responded blandly, my face completely devoid of any emotion about our long-awaited reunion.

Childhood sweethearts, totally inseparable, but we ended up like strangers.

I remembered the party after high school graduation, when he cut a slice of watermelon for the new transfer student.

This time, I didn’t cry. I just quietly ended things.

“All because of a piece of watermelon?”

“Yeah.”

He scoffed. “Fine. Just try to stick with it for more than a couple days this time. Give me some peace.”

I didn’t say anything. I just grabbed my bag and left the private room.

This time, he didn’t immediately follow me out like he always did.

He figured I was just throwing another tantrum, that in a few days, once I cooled down, I’d naturally come crawling back to him, just like before.

After all, that’s how all ninety-nine previous breakups went.

But what he didn’t know was that it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

My heart, repeatedly stung and already riddled with holes, had finally run out of its last shred of warmth and hope.

With that ninety-ninth breakup, I was truly done with him.

Liam and I had always been known throughout the school as a match made in heaven.

He was the school’s golden boy, tall with long legs, a face so chiseled it was almost intimidating. He always rocked a cool, black windbreaker, all swagger and charm, drawing girls in like crazy. But his eyes? They were always, only, on me.

We were childhood sweethearts, practically glued at the hip growing up. At our baby party when we were just one, it was like we picked each other, destined from the start.

By seven, our parents had already joked about our marriage. At fourteen, we were passing love notes. Sixteen, he officially asked me out. Eighteen, we promised to get into the same college…

Everything was perfect until our senior year. That’s when Tiffany Hayes, a new transfer student, showed up in our class.

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When the homeroom teacher set up the “buddy system” for new students, she specifically paired Tiffany with Liam. She made it crystal clear: “If you don’t take this on, you can forget about dating Serena Reed anywhere on campus.”

Liam, who was usually so aloof and distant, had no choice but to take on the assignment.

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At first, it was just regular tutoring sessions and showing her around campus. But little by little, things started to feel really off.

When Tiffany mentioned she craved a cake from that trendy bakery in Soho everyone queues for, he ditched football training to get it for her. When Tiffany posted on Instagram that she was feeling down, he stayed on the phone with her all night. And get this: one time, when she had period cramps, he borrowed money from me to buy her hot cocoa…

I was furious. We fought. And that’s when I started breaking up with him, over and over again.

The first time I dumped him, it was on the phone. There was this long silence on his end, then I heard his breathing, ragged and fast.

It was a total downpour that night. He showed up at my place, soaked to the bone, and stood outside all night. His voice hoarse, he kept calling my name, begging me to forgive him.

The second time I ended things, he skipped a whole day of classes, posted up outside my classroom door, his eyes bloodshot. He shoved a thick, messily written but totally heartfelt love letter into my hands, begging me to get back together, all humble and desperate.

But as it happened more and more often, he finally seemed to figure out my bottom line… that I couldn’t actually leave him!

So, his apologies started getting lazier and lazier. What used to be an instant makeup turned into a day later, then three days, then a week…

Until the ninety-ninth time.

All that pent-up disappointment and heartache, simmering for way too long, just burst.

I finally decided to leave him for good.

The first thing I did when I got home? Fired up my laptop and, without a second thought, changed my top choice on the application. It was supposed to be NYU, our dream school, but I switched it to UCLA, clear across the country.

Next, I started clearing out everything that reminded me of him.

Limited edition plushies he’d given me, matching couple bracelets, little notes filled with sweet nothings, a thick stack of photos… Each one held a memory sweet, bittersweet but now they all felt impossibly heavy.

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I shoved it all into one massive cardboard box.

The next day, I hauled that heavy box over to his place.

His butler, who knew me well, showed me straight into the living room.

In the spacious living room, he and Tiffany were sitting side-by-side on the plush carpet, playing the latest video game. They were super close, and Tiffany kept letting out excited squeals and sweet, flirty giggles.

“Wow, Liam, you’re incredible! I’ve been stuck on this level forever!”

My eyes instantly fixed on the oversized black T-shirt Tiffany was wearing.

It was the limited edition one I’d hunted down for his birthday last year, hitting up multiple malls just to find it.

When he got it, he was so surprised he picked me up and spun me around a few times, then whispered in my ear, his breath hot against my skin, “Rennie gave this to me. I’m gonna wear it every single day,”

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