Chapter 10
After Damon left, Shane stood by the cold, desolate river, staring at his phone. The screen lit up and dimmed repeatedly with incoming messages, but none of them were from me.
Perhaps he was thinking about the past. Back then, I had already noticed his change in attitude. toward Amber and often got upset.
Yet, after each argument, I’d feel like I was too petty. After all, Amber was his stepsister. There was nothing wrong with him treating her well.
I taught myself to ignore my doubts, constantly dismissing my suspicions and convincing myself not to let such trivial matters disrupt the harmony between our families. Once I thought it through, I’d apologize.
24 hours had passed since my last message. I had been missing for a whole day.
Plop!
Shane hurled a stone into the water, his irritated voice cutting through the silence. “Go ahead, sulk all you want. Let’s see how long you last this time.”
I stood beside him with a bitter smile. My longest streak had never exceeded three days. He thought he had me figured out, confident I didn’t have it in me to throw a serious fuss.
As I quietly gazed at his handsome, now irritated face, a memory surfaced from when I was 12
at summer camp.
Trapped on the mountain during a rainstorm, Shane was the one who risked landslides to climb back up and find me.
Sobbing, I threw myself into his arms and chastised him for being so reckless. I worried he would have gotten hurt because of me.
Even though he was covered in mud, he smiled brightly at me. “The thought of you being out there alone, scared and upset, made me want to fly to you.”
I was too young to understand love back then. All I knew was that it felt warm in his embrace, and I wished he could protect me forever.
Now, despite being clearly in the wrong, he showed no remorse and thought I was the one being unreasonable instead.
It appeared that when love faded, even the smallest things would become unbearable.
On the fourth day after my death, Shane finally began to panic. He opened our chat history. It was still stuck on that last voice message he had sent. My phone remained turned off.
“Mr. Lundberg, your coffee,” Devon said, placing a cup of coffee in front of him.
Chap 10
Shane finally noticed he’d been staring at his phone for half an hour. Four days had passed. He must be thinking I should have had enough
by now.
Grabbing his coat, Shane stood up and strode out
“Mr. Lundberg, you have an important meeting later.”
“Reschedule it,” Shane instructed without turning back.
Driving straight into the city, he went to find Jenna.
“Ms. Moss, someone’s here to see you.”
I hurried over. Jenna was my high school friend, forced by her parents to abandon her passion and become a high school teacher..
She knew about my problems, so she wasn’t friendly with Shane. “What are you doing here?”
“Allison is with you, isn’t she? Tell her that if she keeps up her tantrums, it’ll be embarrassing for everyone-
Jenna cut him off sharply, “Shane, are you serious right now? Aren’t you the one who abandoned her at the altar? How is she the unreasonable one?
“She apologized to every one of the guests even as they mocked her. So who exactly is the embarrassment here?”
Her words struck a nerve, and Shane’s expression darkened. “I don’t owe you an explanation. Just call her and tell her to come home immediately!”
It was only then that Jenna realized I hadn’t gone home these past few days. Putting aside her anger toward Shane, she asked anxiously, “Allison isn’t home?”
“Stop pretending. You’re her best friend. She always goes to you after we fight.”
It was true. Jenna was my closest friend. There was no one else I could confide in other than her. Shane must have chosen not to search for me because he assumed I was with Jenna.
Jenna’s expression shifted dramatically. “Are you kidding me? I went back to my hometown right after the wedding because my grandmother was critically ill. I just returned to work today.
“What happened to Allison? Did you piss her off again, you jerk?“.
