Chapter Seven: A Promise
556 Words
Yvonne stood on the terrace long after Adrian returned inside.
His words kept replaying in her mind.
I still want to know you.
She didn’t understand why those simple words affected her so much.
She had spent most of her life believing marriage was something people entered because they had to.
Yet Adrian hadn’t treated her like an obligation.
He had asked what she wanted.
That alone meant more to her than he probably realized.
When she finally returned inside, Adrian was preparing to leave.
Richard walked him to the door.
“We’ll speak tomorrow,” Richard said.
Adrian nodded.
Then he turned toward Yvonne.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
He smiled before stepping outside.
Yvonne watched his car disappear through the gates.
Charlotte stood nearby, watching her.
“You like him.”
Yvonne turned.
“What?”
Charlotte gave her a knowing look.
“You heard me.”
Yvonne shook her head.
“I barely know him.”
“But you want to.”
Yvonne didn’t answer.
Charlotte smiled.
“Just be careful.”
“Of what?”
“People aren’t always what they seem.”
She walked away.
Yvonne watched her go.
Something about the warning felt strange.
She didn’t know why Charlotte suddenly cared about who she trusted.
Upstairs, Charlotte entered her bedroom and shut the door.
Her expression changed immediately.
She stared at herself in the mirror.
Adrian.
She had wanted him for years.
She had imagined becoming his wife.
And now Yvonne was the one sitting across from him, smiling at him as though she belonged beside him.
Charlotte clenched her fists.
She had refused the marriage because she thought the Sterling family wanted her to marry Edward.
If she had known Adrian was the groom, she never would have stepped aside.
But it wasn’t too late.
Not yet.
She picked up her phone.
There had to be a way.
Meanwhile, Yvonne sat on her bed, thinking about Adrian.
She remembered the strange sense of familiarity she’d felt when they first met.
His eyes.
His voice.
The way he had looked at her.
She couldn’t explain it.
Then she noticed something on her bedside table.
An old photograph.
She picked it up.
It showed her as a little girl standing beside Richard.
Yvonne stared at it.
For some reason, the memory of a little boy suddenly surfaced.
I’m Adrian.
She froze.
The image disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.
A little kitchen.
A little boy.
A promise.
She shook her head.
“No.”
It couldn’t be.
That had been almost twenty years ago.
She had forgotten his face.
Surely it wasn’t the same person.
Across the city, Adrian sat alone in his apartment.
He couldn’t explain why Yvonne felt familiar either.
He had seen thousands of faces throughout his life.
But hers stayed with him.
He closed his eyes.
Then suddenly, an old memory surfaced.
A little girl standing on a stool.
Wet hands.
A kitchen.
And a promise he had made without understanding what it meant.
Then I’ll marry you.
Adrian opened his eyes.
His heart began beating faster.
He whispered the name.
“Yvonne.”
For the first time in years, he remembered the little girl he’d promised to return for.
And suddenly, the woman he had met yesterday didn’t feel like a stranger anymore
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