I Can’t Keep You, so I’ll Let Go Chapter 05
Third-Person POV
Meanwhile, the Hunt residence’s living room was buzzing with excitement.
Reynold’s acceptance letter occupied the center of the coffee table.
Ollie’s mother, Nicole Gibson, looked at it over and over. The smile in her eyes was completely impossible to hide. “Reynold really made us proud. All his hard work this past year paid off.”
Ollie’s father, Frankie Hunt, was also wearing a rare smile. He looked down at his phone to browse venues for the celebration dinner. “Since both our boys got into college, let’s make the celebration dinner a grand affair. We’ll invite all our friends and relatives. Give everyone a reason to celebrate.”
Paige sat nearby, her head down as she texted classmates she knew. “I checked around. The ballroom at Starry Hotel is pretty nice, but booking it now is a bit tight.”
Julia was there too. She held her phone, her thumb hovering over her chat window with Ollie.
The last message sent was hers. “I’ll come pick you up for dinner.”
But there was no reply.
She frowned. Just as she was about to type another line, a notification from the family group chat popped up on her screen. “Ollie has left the group chat.”
The noise in the living room came to an abrupt halt, as if someone had hit a pause button.
The smile on Nicole’s face instantly froze. “Why did Ollie leave the group?”
Paige was stunned for a second, her brows quickly knitting together. “What is Ollie throwing a fit over
now?”
Frankie had been reading the menu, but his face fell the moment he heard those words. “The celebration dinner hasn’t even happened yet, and he leaves the group? Who does he think he’s giving attitude to?”
The more Nicole thought about it, the angrier she got. She dialed Ollie’s number directly.
But after several of her calls went straight to voicemail, frustration twisted her features.
“He’s got a lot of nerve. Including him in the celebration dinner was giving him a graceful way out, and he actually has the audacity to put on airs?”
Reynold sat in the corner of the couch, hugging his knees. His voice was soft and timid as he spoke. “Is Ollie still blaming me? Maybe… you shouldn’t include me in the celebration dinner. I’m not your biological child anyway…”
The moment he said that, the attention of everyone in the room immediately snapped back to him.
Nicole rushed to put down her phone and sat beside him. “What nonsense are you spouting? This is your
celebration dinner. How could we not include you?”
Frowning, Paige chimed in, “Ollie is the one being immature. What does that have to do with you? Stop taking the blame for everything.”
Julia pressed her lips together.
She had initially wanted to suggest that Ollie might just be in a bad mood. But seeing Reynold’s eyes welling up with tears, she swallowed the words back down.
In the end, she only murmured, “Ollie really crossed the line this time.”
Reynold kept his eyes cast down, his tears balancing on the edge of falling. “But Ollie has never liked me. Does he think it’s because of me that he can’t go to Brookmere?”
Nicole’s expression darkened completely. “He’s so smart. He’ll be fine wherever he goes. Reynold, don’t let him get to you. He was raised away from us, so he has a wild temper. He can’t bear to suffer even a
little.”
When these words were spoken, no one in the room felt that anything was wrong-even though Ollie had been the one constantly compromising and swallowing his grievances for the past year.
But at this moment, in their eyes, his decision to leave the group chat was simply childish behavior and an intentional attempt to make the family look bad.
Frankie gave a cold look and tossed his phone onto the coffee table. “Leave him be. Ignore him for a couple of days, and he’ll realize that he’s wrong.”
Paige nodded in agreement. “He’s been stubborn like this since he was a kid. Once Julia goes to pick him up, he’ll definitely come crawling back.”
Julia looked up when she heard her name.
As she stared at the empty chat log on her phone, a sudden, inexplicable wave of irritation washed over
her.
Ollie had never ignored her.
In the past, no matter how upset he was, he would always reply almost instantly whenever she texted.
But this time, the chat was deafeningly quiet.
Julia stared at the screen for a long time before finally giving in and typing a message. “Ollie, stop acting
out.”
The message remained stuck on a single tick for a long time.
She froze.
Paige leaned over to glance at the screen, and her expression changed instantly. “He blocked you?”
Nicole’s temper flared at those words. “He even blocked Julia? What on earth is he trying to pull?”
Frankie slammed his cup down heavily. “Let him throw his tantrum! I want to see just how long he can
keep this up.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the doorbell suddenly rang.
Nicole walked over to open the door. The moment she saw who was standing there, she was completely
stunned.
