I Hated You First

by Rachel John

My heart wasn’t free to give. It already belonged to this spitfire who didn’t want it.

My dad must’ve had all sorts of worst-case-scenarios rolling through his head when it came to me. But he forgot to mention Stockholm syndrome, avalanches, alien invasions, and the possibility that I might be replaced by a robot wife.

Chemistry was a funny thing. I truly believed you could create chemistry with a person if you both wanted it. You could choose love. You could build it. None of this falling out of love business.