My mind went blank. Before I could react, his
lips came down on mine.
The September breeze was cool, but
somehow the flowers were still in bloom.
The airplane’s intercom snapped me back to
the present. I’d fallen asleep.
How long had it been since I’d dreamed about
those times?
く
As I got off the plane, I remembered what
happened after that night.
Jason and I became official that night. But
there was no courtship.
The next afternoon, he took me straight to
the courthouse for a marriage license, then
told my parents.
I called him a control freak and said he didn’t
give me any time to prepare.
He said: “It’s better to marry you early, just
so I can rest easy. There’ll be plenty of time
for dating later.”
“Lara, as soon as you graduate, we’ll have our
wedding.”
r
Back then, I was so lost in the fairytale.
I forgot that everything has a reason to
happen in a certain order.
We had jumped straight past the dating
phase, and…
Well, it made sense that someone else would
eventually show up to fill the gap.
Chapter 8
After I landed, I found a random hotel and
crashed.
I’m usually a fussy sleeper, but I slept deeply.
It felt like I’d slept for days. I vaguely
<
remember my phone ringing a bunch of times,
but I just ignored it.
Until it died, and I just fell right back to sleep.
When I finally woke up, four days had passed.
I felt rested but also a little scared.
What if I had died here, alone? No one would
even know.
My phone was overflowing with missed calls
and texts. I skimmed through them and
replied to a few.
Then I called my parents. They had been
separated for a long time, but never actually
bothered to get a divorce.
く
It wasn’t even for me, they just liked their
freedom.
They were perfectly happy doing their own
thing, always having separate vacations.
They were just too lazy to get a divorce, and
they figure that life is too short to make a
fuss, and they’d end up buried together
anyway.
They may have been a mess, but… they tried
to do their best for me.
I always thought that I could live with a
marriage like theirs.
After all, it was just a lack of love. At least
they still respected each other.
く
I figured I could just close my eyes and carry
- on.
But I finally understood. My parents were able
to tolerate their marriage because they were
never actually in love.
So nothing anyone else did really mattered.
Jason and I had once been in love.
We both knew what love felt like. I couldn’t
accept a marriage like theirs.
And he couldn’t accept Sarah’s death.
After I hung up, I got two more transfers.
They may have been flawed, but they did their
best to show me they cared.
<
Jason had called too, but I ignored it.
We were divorced, there was nothing more to
discuss.
After I spent a few more days chilling at the
hotel, I realized I didn’t actually have a place
to go.
Thanks to my family’s wealth and Jason’s
care, I had seen more of the world than most
people by the time I was still a child.
Before I got married, every time I had a break,
I was off on some adventure with my friends.
The vast landscapes of the Northwest, the
Northern Lights, it was all so whimsical.
I loved lying in my tent, under the vast sky.
looking at the hidden stars.
Back then, I had the courage to dream. I
would just jump in and do things.
But once I got married, I had to just be Mrs.
Sterling, someone who wouldn’t embarrass
Jason.
Now, I was free again.
