Chapter 3

I hung up the phone.

Vivian's eyes landed on me, her expression shifting into panic. "Stuart! What are you doing here?"

She spun her wheels hard, hurrying toward me.

Daryl froze for a second. Then, seeing it was me, he broke into a warm smile. "Stuart, you came!"

His smile was easy and familiar. Next to it, I felt like the villain of the story.

"You two know each other?" he asked.

Vivian's eyes darted between the two of us.

"Friends."

"You're saying we're just friends?"

Vivian pulled out her phone and typed. [He can't handle shocks. He's basically a stranger to you. Why are you being so difficult about this?]

I smiled.

"Aren't you going to introduce me properly?" I said.

"Vivian, let me introduce you. This is the man who's been funding me for six years," Daryl said.

The color drained from Vivian's face. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed at the hem of my jacket.

[Can we not tell Daryl about us? At least for now.]

[Of course.]

Vivian let out a breath of relief.

[We're already broken up. So it really is none of his business.]

"Do you have to keep saying things like that just to spite me?" Vivian's brows knit together, and she stopped typing.

She was angry. She wheeled herself away on her own.

"Stuart, I never told you this, but Vivian and I were each other's first love."

Daryl's eyes never once left her.

"But after I got sick, I broke things off. If it were up to me, I'd want to be the one by her side. Why couldn't the one who got sick have been her current boyfriend instead of me? Why did it have to be me?"

Something complicated stirred in me toward Daryl. The words rose to my lips more than once, and each time, I swallowed them back down.

"What if I told you her current boyfriend was me?"

Daryl's whole body went rigid. He turned his head to look at me.

One second. Two seconds.

As if it had finally dawned on him, his eyes went wide, and he fled from my sight like he was running for his life.

I was left standing there alone.

Then the director's voice broke the quiet, calling my name gently.

"Mr. Markman, you're here. How much are you planning to put in Daryl's account this time?"

I stared at the tire tracks on the ground and let out a long breath. "I won't be funding him anymore."

"Is something wrong?"

"I'm relocating. It's going to cost a great deal, and I can't afford to keep supporting another person on top of that."

The director nodded, then walked me to the door with a smile. "Then I hope the rest of your days treat you kindly.

"I heard you're getting married. When the time comes, the sanatorium will send along a small gift. After everything you've done for us over the years, it's the least we can offer."

"The wedding's off."

I said it without a trace of feeling in my voice, as though I were mentioning nothing more than an ordinary errand.

The director simply nodded again, then said, with real solemnity, "Then I hope you find someone who truly loves you next time."

"Thank you."

I nodded and pulled the car door open. "Daryl ran off somewhere. You might want to send someone after him. It isn't safe out there."

I'd driven a long way before a license plate I recognized appeared in my rearview mirror. A moment later, Vivian cut me off and forced me to stop.

"What did you say to Daryl?"

"What could I possibly have said?"

The slap landed across my face, a stab of pain sharp enough to seize my whole body.

"He got hit by a car! Stuart, how could you be so cruel?"

"Me, cruel? You're calling me cruel?"

I pointed at my nose.

"We've loved each other for six years, and you're going to doubt me like this?"

Vivian's hand was shaking. As if something had suddenly dawned on her, she reached out, tentative, and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just panicked for a second.

"Stuart, don't be angry with me. I really didn't mean it."

I found the exact spot where her injury was and pressed down on it, hard. She winced, her face twisting in pain, but she didn't push me away.

"Will you calm down? Please?"

Vivian rubbed her head gently against mine.

"I'll go see Daryl at the hospital, just this once. Once he's a little better, I swear I'll never see him again."

"Can't you just not go? I honestly can't tell anymore who it is you actually love."

She let go of my arm.

"It's not the same thing, Stuart. Stop being like this. You're the only one who's ever going to be my husband."

"And what if Daryl had never broken up with you back then?"

Vivian went quiet.