I chose Draco.
Using the final bit of power still in me, I yelled toward him, “Draco, don’t come searching for me again.”
“I have already… started loving someone new.”
Beyond the door, everything went quiet for three seconds.
Then the knocking grew louder and rougher than before.
“I don’t accept that, I don’t believe that!”
“You’re still upset with me about that thing, right?”
“Savannah, unlock the door and hear me out.”
“I was only upset that day; I never meant to end things with you.”
“I am sorry, unlock the door, unlock the door, and let me enter, please?”
The door camera lit up Draco’s face.
The tip of his nose had turned red from the cold, and the tears on his lashes had already frozen stiff.
Still, he stayed stubborn, standing outside my door.
In minus twenty-degree weather, the night wind felt painful.
The winter night in Oakland city.
It could freeze a living body to death.
It could also freeze a burning heart.
Yet he kept standing there, stubborn as ever.
Not one step taken, refusing to walk away.
Until morning arrived, soft snow turned his hair white.
Until Ravena showed up and pulled him close against her chest.
She pressed a kiss to Draco’s tear-marked face, warming his already cold heart.
She held Draco’s hands and spoke again and again.
“It’s fine, Draco, it’s fine, you still have me.”
“Truthfully, I already knew about Savannah’s relationship. I was only scared you would be hurt and never dared to mention it.”
“Let’s return home. Let’s go home, alright?”
“I will stay beside you, stay beside you while you step away from the past, stay beside you while you release Savannah.”
Held in Ravena’s gentle embrace, Draco slowly lifted his head.
He gave one final glance toward where I was.
Then he angrily threw the cake in his hands onto the ground outside my door.
He swore that in this life he would never meet me again.
He wished that I would live forever with regret and hurt.
I stared at the screen before me.
Watching him and Ravena lean into each other, moving toward the early light.
Watching him leave me forever on that freezing night.
Not long afterward, Draco and Ravena had a wedding.
Those two slowly met, grew close, and cared for each other, staying side by side for their whole lives.
They turned into a well-known loving pair inside their social group.
Meanwhile, I was cut apart by the murderer and thrown away in open fields.
I turned into a lonely wandering soul in the far hills.
Those thoughts stopped, plus just when I planned to breathe out softly.
Without warning, I caught a run of rushed yelling from behind me.
“Captain Conrad, we located the remains!”
“Every detail fully fits what the message described; they were already passed to the medical examiner. Should we quickly detain the person who posted the message?”
