By the time I woke up the next morning, the rain had long stopped.
Sunlight poured in through the window, bright and clear, as if the whole world had never known a shadow.
For a fleeting moment, I almost believed that everything from yesterday was just a bad dream.
Then I shifted slightly, and a sharp sting shot through my injured leg.
With the pain came everything else—a tidal wave of tangled memories from the day before, crashing over me all at once.
Dolly.
The moment her name crossed my mind, a crushing weight settled over my chest.
Her strange hostility in the clinic yesterday, and her taunting words.
Now, it all made sense.
I reached for my phone and saw a message from Pierse.
"Eva, you’re hurt. Get some rest. I already took care of things at work, so you don’t have to worry about going in today."
"Something came up at the office, so I’ll be home late. Don’t wait for me for dinner."
I didn’t reply.
Instead, I got in a cab and headed straight to our old university.
It was just after class, and students streamed out of the buildings.
Dolly walked out with her head high, looking every bit the picture of confidence.
The moment she spotted Pierse’s Bentley parked by the gate, she ran straight to it, throwing herself into his arms.
"Pierse, I missed you so much."
He wrapped an arm around her and smiled, pressing a quick kiss to the tip of her nose. "Still mad at me?"
"Of course I am! Unless you make it up to me properly today."
"Alright, today I'll do whatever you want."
Then, right there on the street, they kissed—long and deep—before finally pulling apart.
I sat in the car, silently watching as the Bentley disappeared into the distance.
The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror and asked cautiously. “Do you want me to follow them?”
I shook my head. “No. Just take me home.”
…
It didn’t take much effort to track down Dolly’s social media using the phone number I saw in Pierse’s messages.
She hadn’t bothered to hide their relationship at all.
Hundreds of posts chronicled every little moment between them.
"Had another fight with my roommates. Such a bunch of morons. My mom just tells me to reflect on myself, but Pierse? He immediately got me a luxury apartment. Being loved feels amazing."
A memory surfaced in my mind.
Back in college, I refused to help my roommates cheat on an exam, and things had never been easy between us after that.
They would even lock me out of the dorm when I went to shower, just to make things harder for me.
Pierse wanted me to move out, to get a place off-campus so I wouldn’t have to deal with them.
But back then, we were just broke students.
Even a simple studio apartment was more than we could afford, something we had to carefully consider.
And now, he could rent a high-end apartment for Dolly without a second thought.
I had turned down the idea of moving out back then.
We even fought about it.
"I can just call the dorm supervisor to handle it. There’s no need to waste money on an apartment."
Pierse pressed his lips together, watching me intently. "I just want you to have a better life."
I sighed softly. "I know how hard you work to make money, and I just want to make things easier for you too."
In the end, he didn’t say anything else—just pulled me into his arms, his eyes turning red.
…
"I really wanted to go to Disney, and the moment I mentioned it, Pierse booked the tickets right away. Full VIP access, no lines, no hassle. Just imagining my mom sweating in line with her brat while I got the royal treatment makes me feel amazing."
I gripped my phone tightly, the sudden wave of pain doubling me over.
I thought of that summer when I was fifteen—the rare time my parents weren’t fighting.
They locked me at home and took my little brother to Disney.
Pierse showed up that day and took me to a small amusement park in a nearby city instead.
The roller coaster cost three dollars a ride, the carousel two dollars a turn.
The rides were old and worn, but I still had the time of my life because no one had ever taken me anywhere like that before.
Pierse stood off to the side, watching me the whole time, his eyes gradually turning red.
On the way back, we walked under the moonlight, and I heard him say, "Eva, one day, I’ll take you to Disney too."
