Chapter 2

The door opened, and Cedric stepped out, a faint smile playing on his lips.

I blinked. Had he lied about the emergency meeting just to sneak out and buy me a surprise gift?

Cedric used to pull stunts like this. Once, I had cried my eyes out thinking he couldn't spend the day with me.

Then he showed up holding an enormous bouquet of peonies and a gift box, gently wiping the tears from my cheeks, laughing as he said it was all a surprise. I had made him swear through sniffles never to trick me like that again.

He had promised me, looking at me with absolute adoration. Was he pulling the same trick now?

I wrinkled my nose and made a playful face through the distance.

Just as I was about to walk over and tell him I’d caught him red-handed, a fresh-faced young girl threw herself into Cedric's arms. She whined playfully, "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?"

Cedric leaned down, his eyes softening as he whispered something into her ear. The girl blushed crimson and swat lightly at his chest. "Can you be serious for once?"

Cedric raised an eyebrow, caught her wrist, and pressed a tender, lingering kiss against her forehead.

"I will always stay by your side."

They held each other tightly under the golden glow of the sunset, looking like the picture-perfect couple deeply in love.

Cedric had said those exact words to me before.

When I was twenty-five.

Nathan's surgery had failed, and in the dead of night, I wandered aimlessly down the streets of Manhattan like a ghost.

Cedric draped his coat over my shoulders, trailing behind me in silence for blocks.

Only when I collapsed on the sidewalk, having nowhere left to go, did he pull me into his arms. His voice had been impossibly gentle. "Heather, I will always stay by your side."

Cedric was eighteen back then. A boy with burning, relentless passion.

When I pushed him away, he kissed me fiercely anyway, muscling his way into my shattered life with stubborn, unyielding force.

A light rain began to fall in the evening.

When Cedric returned home, I was standing in front of the vanity mirror, scrutinizing every inch of my reflection.

Bright eyes, fair skin, rosy lips.

Yet time doesn't lie. I knew deep down that I was no longer young. I had lost the radiant glow of my youth; standing there, I felt as still and lifeless as stagnant water.

A warm, heavy hand settled onto my waist. Cedric leaned down and pulled me against his chest, sounding surprised. "Why are you crying?"

I kept my eyes down, my voice flat. "I poked my eye taking off my makeup."

Cedric let out a soft chuckle. He turned me around, scanning my face before brushing his thumb gently over my eyelid. "Still so clumsy, aren't you?"

Feeling the heat of his thumb against my skin, looking at him through tear-blurred eyes, I asked calmly, "Do you still love me?"

His hand instantly pulled away. Leaning against the doorframe, he looked at me with an unreadable expression. "Why are you asking that?"

I grabbed onto his sleeve, staring up at him through my tears.

After a long silence, he sighed. He wiped the wet tracks from my cheeks and scooped me up, carrying me out of the bathroom with a faint, mocking smile.

"You're a grown woman. Why do you still act like a little girl throwing a tantrum for attention?"