a P

m suddenly reached across the t

to trace the bon

anniversary," he said,

you've always wanted to visit. I'

n my throa

im light of the dining room, I felt a

o used to run errands in the lashing rain j

my own painful, r

at he might just be overwhel

like Sophie was just a tedious

gambler, I chose

e William-and us

lly wore the crimson dress he h

me unusually early,

arp, formal black suit

lashed in his dark eyes as he w

d out to

lding my head with his palm to prevent me from hitt

nd smooth. He then produced a velvet box from his pocket and sl

favorite old song played soft

as warm and perfe

en the car's Bluetooth suddenly rang

on the dashboard scr

creen to answer with

ie's panicked voice filled t

reporting a burst water pi

king and how terrified she was

ished from William

s, the seatbelt digging

eel, making an illegal U-turn in

d against the

as, accelerating wildly

at me, frozen in

yes full of an urgent panic

n the city," he explained quickl

isk is high. I have

ched to a hal

la from the back seat. He

he restaurant," he urged, his

you as soon a

car before I even had

as the rain poured down

l, slapping sound, the soaked fabric clinging li

shoot into the curtain

rred into a distant red do

d my face, ruining my st

h churned

wer right abdomen began to throb with a shar

rmy night exactl

an acute appe

floor in agony, sweating through

voice notes, begging him to com

m three despe

s later, he

us

door through blinding pain that nig

hey had arrived twenty minutes later, my appen

mbling from a cold that

es, Sophie's leaking apartment

for survival were met w

that felt like a shard of glass in m

very first automated reply, the moment he

last shred of hope in my heart, leavi

ber to the expensiv

wn the concrete stairs into t

I pushed the

s of the closet, and grabbed the handle of my ma