Chapter 6

The next morning, I was awakened by raised voices at the front door.

I heard Mom speaking in a low voice. Her tone was unusually cold and firm. “He doesn’t want to see you. Please leave.”

A dull ache spread through me. I threw on a jacket and walked over to the window.

Hannah was standing outside. She was still wearing the same dress from the day before, but it was badly wrinkled now. When she saw me standing by the window, her eyes lit with desperate hope.

“Honey, please come out and talk to me.”

I did not move.

She kept her face turned toward the window. Her voice was painfully hoarse. “I took the earliest flight here. I didn’t pack anything. Eric, I’ve learned my lesson now. Please don’t leave me.”

In the past, I could never bear to see her like this.

Whenever she called me “honey” with tears in her eyes, I would always give in to her. I would remember how much those seven years meant and forget how she had hurt me, though looking at her at the moment, she felt like a stranger.

One by one, the neighbors began peering out of their homes. My mother did not want me subjected to any more humiliation, so she turned to close the door.

Hannah suddenly reached out and caught the door before it could close.

“Please, Mr. and Mrs. Shuman, I’m sorry. I know I hurt Eric. Just let me see him. I’ll explain everything to him.”

My father’s face darkened with fury. “Explain what? How you were dating my son while celebrating a third anniversary with another man?”

The color drained from Hannah’s face.

She probably never imagined that I would actually tell my family everything.

For seven years, I had always covered for her.

When she said she was busy, I told my parents she was busy with work.

When she said she was not ready to meet my parents, I claimed she wanted to establish her career first.

When she said keeping our relationship private was her way of protecting me, I told them she was simply a private person.

I had become the most devoted accomplice to her lies.

This time, I would not make excuses for her anymore.

When I stepped outside, Mom took hold of my hand, as though she feared Hannah might pull me back into her life.

Hannah’s eyes immediately filled with tears when she saw me.

“Eric, I’ve made things clear with Josh.”

I looked at her calmly. “Made what clear?”

“I told him I’d marry you. I’ll find some way to make it up to him, but I won’t make the same mistake again.”

She stepped toward me eagerly. “I’ve booked our flights. Let’s go home and set a wedding date. You’ve always wanted to meet my mom, right? I’ll take you to her now.”

I suddenly laughed.

Everything I had waited seven years for had become effortless the moment she was afraid of losing me.

Meeting her family. Setting a wedding date. Acknowledging our relationship publicly.

Each time I had carefully asked for those things, she had told me to wait a little longer.

Yet at this moment, she could offer them all without a second thought.

Not because she had finally learned to cherish me, but because she had realized that I really did not want them anymore.

“Hannah, it’s too late,” I said.

Panic flickered across her face as she reached for me. “No, it’s not. As long as you’re willing to turn back, it’s not. We’ve been together for seven years. You can’t just throw all of that away.”

I took a step back to avoid her hand.

“When you were building a three-year relationship with Josh, how come you didn’t think about those seven years we shared together?”

Her hand froze in midair.

My phone rang.

Dirk’s name appeared on the screen.

I glanced at it and put the call on speaker.

Dirk’s voice came through. “Eric, something’s off with Josh. He deleted all his social media posts and said he was going to look for Hannah. Can you talk to her and ask her to come back and calm him. down?”

I stared at Hannah.

Instinctive concern flashed across her face. Her hand moved toward her phone before she could stop

herself.

In that instant, everything became clear.

She kept insisting that I was the one she loved most, that she wanted to marry me, and that she would never make the same mistake again.

However, the moment Josh fell apart, she could not help but panic.

I hung up and said softly, “See? I was never the only person you wanted to hold on to.”

Hannah opened her mouth, but no words came.

I placed the ring she had given me on the stone step by the door.

The ring rolled across the step and came to rest at her feet. It was glinting sharply beneath the sun.

“It’s over, Hannah.”