He Mourned My Death, I Loved Another Man

On the day they were about to sign their marriage license, Matthew Walsh had just slid the document across the desk to Dakota Carter when her phone started ringing. She picked it up, and within a few seconds, every trace of a smile on her face vanished as if it had never been there. After hanging up, Dakota grabbed Matthew's hand and said, sounding genuinely sorry, "Matt, wait for me. This time, I swear I will find whoever killed our parents and make them pay with their blood." He watched her hurry away, never imagining that what came next would be her supervisor showing up at his door three months later. The man, Captain Morgan Walker, brought a death gratuity check and the kind of news no one ever wanted to hear. His voice caught as he said, "Mr. Walsh, Dakota was ambushed while on a mission. Her body... was never recovered." He handed over the official death notice, and there was her photo, still wearing that bright, confident smile from when she first started the job. From that day on, Matthew's world completely fell apart. The depression drained everything out of him. During the day, he could barely stay awake, and at night, the nightmares never let him rest. In those dreams, Dakota was always covered in blood, reaching out to him and saying, "Matt, don't wait for me anymore." Then, early one morning, as he lay on the sofa and slit his wrist again, feeling like all hope inside him had died, a familiar figure suddenly flashed across the TV in the living room. His eyes flew wide open, and he even forgot to breathe. It was a news segment about a romantic event for 100 couples. As the camera swept through the edges of the crowd, there she was, Dakota. She was wearing a white dress, gently brushing a few fallen leaves off the shoulder of a guy in a white shirt. The razor blade clattered to the floor. Without a second thought for his bleeding wrist, he stumbled out the door and ran straight to the police station. "She wasn't dead, was she?" He grabbed Morgan by the sleeve, his voice shaking. "I saw her. She was with some guy!" Morgan avoided his eyes and let out a sigh. "Dakota was alive, yes. She got captured by the enemy during a mission. Later, she was rescued, but she was badly hurt. The first thing she did when she woke up was ask to request to leave the force, and she made us keep it from you. As for why, she never said." Matthew stumbled out of the police station and, without even realizing where he was going, found himself standing in front of his parents' grave. The photos of them on the tombstone were still smiling. He crouched down, and the cries he had been holding back for so long finally broke free. Then the matching pendant around his neck suddenly slipped off, hit the stone steps with a sharp c***k, and broke into two halves, letting a small photo fall out from inside. It was a picture of him and Dakota when they were 18, both holding up their acceptance letters to Elowen University, their eyes crinkled with smiles and full of hope for the future. Memories came flooding back. That summer, Dakota's parents, both narcotics officers, had their identities leaked and were targeted for revenge. While on their way to celebrate Dakota and Matthew getting into college, they were ambushed and killed. Matthew's parents happened to be with them and died in the same attack. When the killer's photo was made public, Dakota clenched it in her hand, her eyes burning red. Right then and there, she tore up her acceptance letter to Elowen University, saying she would reapply the next year, this time to the police academy, and catch the killer herself. From that moment on, Dakota protected Matthew like her life depended on it. He still remembered one time when he took some cold medicine, passed out, and missed replying to her messages. That same night, Dakota flew all the way from Veyra to Elowen, and when she stood outside his dorm building, her eyes were red. She said, "Matt, you're all I have left." But now, not only was she alive, but she was also staying by the side of the son of the man who had killed their parents. She had even gone so far as to trick him with that whole "died in the line of duty" story, leaving him to suffer through three years of hell. Matthew looked at the layered scars on his wrists, let out a laugh, but the tears kept falling. If this was how Dakota wanted to say goodbye to him, then he decided that they were done. Completely done. He pulled out his phone and dialed an overseas number. It belonged to his aunt, Serena Lawrence, someone he had only ever heard about from his mother. He said, "Aunt Serena, I want to come stay with you. Can you help me get a visa? And... help me disappear." It was the third time he had reached out to Serena. The first two times, she had been the one to contact him. The first time was when he was a freshman in college. Serena found him and asked if he wanted to move abroad with her. The second time was the year Dakota supposedly died. Serena said she could take him overseas to start over. Both times, he had said no because of Dakota. Now, he didn't want to stay there anymore. Serena replied, "Alright, pack your things. I'll come get you within a week." He had barely hung up when a familiar number suddenly appeared on his phone. It was Dakota's number. His heart gave a sharp, painful lurch. It turned out she had been using that same number all along, which meant it had never really been unreachable. She just hadn't wanted to pick up. His eyes burning red, he pressed the answer button, and for a moment, there was nothing but dead silence on the line. Then, a few seconds later, a sigh came from the other end, her tone just the way it used to be. "Matt, let's meet." He was about to refuse when she spoke first, her voice carrying the softness of surrender he hadn't heard in so long. "Matt, I've missed you." Those words pierced him like a needle, popping every last bit of armor he had put up. He remembered the first time Dakota got hurt on a mission. He had been so upset that he wouldn't talk to her, so she held him and softened her voice to calm him down. "Matt, don't be mad. I won't ever upset you again." Matthew bit his lip so hard that it almost drew blood, but in the end, he still let out a quiet "Yeah." "Matt, where are you? I'll come get you," Dakota said. He looked at the smiling faces of his parents on the tombstone and said in a low voice, "My parents' grave."