Chapter 3 The Truth I Walk Back Into
539 Words
Sarah took me to the hospital, but it was already too late. The baby didn't make it.
After the procedure, she looked at me, tears rolling down her face. "Vivian, can you just stop loving Zayn?"
I gave a faint smile. She said that every time I came back from yet another failed proposal. But no one could resist the first light of youth.
I met Zayn at sixteen. I knew every corner of Northbay City like the back of my hand, and I was just as familiar with the scandals of its elite circle, including Zayn, whose love life was always wrapped in mystery.
Once, by pure accident, I ended up hiding in his car. He met my gaze with that deep, unreadable look and held out his hand. "Want to go with me? I'll take care of you from now on."
I took it like a fool. I thought I had finally found my forever person.
But those eight years had been nothing more than a joke.
After leaving the hospital, I went back home to retrieve my documents.
The moment I opened the door, soft, intimate male breaths spilled from the living room.
"Sophia, do you know? Every single day you were gone, I could only look for your shadow in other women. I wanted to come find you. But you said you were free. How could I ever cage you? Now that you've agreed to marry me, you're never leaving again."
Sophia tilted her neck with a kind of regal ease, like a swan gliding across still water. "But what about Vivian? She seems pretty attached to you."
Zayn's hand stilled for a brief moment, then he replied, without a trace of doubt, "Just a naive young woman. A few soft words and she'll fall in line."
I was hidden behind a coat hanging on the rack. My knees went weak, my entire body felt like it had been jolted.
So Sophia got to live life on her own terms, while I was the one stuck behind bars.
I tried to slip upstairs on tiptoe, but in the dim light I knocked a vase over.
The moment the lights came on, Zayn quickly draped a robe over Sophia's bare shoulders. "Why are you back so late? It was only a little wine. Do you really have to make such a scene?"
I stared at him with bloodshot eyes, saying nothing.
He sighed and pulled a red velvet box from the cabinet. "Here. Your belated birthday present."
Inside was the ruby brooch I had lingered over at the mall a few days earlier. "Thanks."
He seemed to ease up a little, reaching out to pat my head, but I stepped aside.
"I'm going upstairs to pack. Sarah wants me to stay with her for a few days."
He froze for a second, then nodded at last. "Alright. Just remember to call me every day so I know you're safe."
After taking a few steps, I suddenly asked if he still remembered the wish I made on my eighteenth birthday.
He let out a faint, self-mocking chuckle, "I'm getting forgetful. I can't remember. Give me a hint?"
I smiled in relief, "Never mind. It doesn't matter anymore."
- Writer
