Chapter 3

Crystal froze.

She thought that I was just being temperamental and leaned in to kiss my tears away.

"Dan, I know that I was wrong. It's just that Reuben's health isn't too good to start with, and I guess I spoke too soon and too harshly because I was so concerned about him, since he's like a close brother figure to me.

"Reuben's already feeling terrible about it and wants to apologize to you for just now. Just let go of the past and pretend it never happened, alright?"

I dodged her lips and pushed her off of me. I came clean with her and said, "I know that Reuben is actually your first love, not me."

Crystal's face darkened. She suddenly grabbed me tightly by the wrist and demanded, "How the hell did you find out about it? You investigated me in secret, didn't you, Daniel Summers?"

My wrists hurt from her vice-like grip. I looked at her and felt my nose tingling with tears once again.

"Does it matter how I found out about it?" I asked. "Crystal Harper, you were the one who brought your first love home without telling me anything about it and then misunderstood me afterward. Don't you think that you're the one with some explaining to do instead?"

She fell silent after I bombarded her with my questions. She then muttered begrudgingly, "We'd already broken up. He's nothing but a brother to me now."

The way she still called him her "brother" stung me in the ears. Suddenly, the voice from seven years later exploded in my mind—I could hear myself arguing with her over her infidelity, and how Pearlie kept calling Reuben "Dad" instead of me.

I had enough of it all.

I flung her hand off me and headed out.

"Only you and God will know whether you're really treating him like a 'brother' or not. We're breaking up, Crystal."

However, the moment I yanked the room door open, I saw Reuben eavesdropping on us at the door. His eyes were rimmed red, and he grabbed me by the arm the moment he saw me.

He then said pleadingly, "No, Daniel, you can't leave! Crystal and I were just young and dumb back then, and today was all my fault. Please don't argue with her because of me. I'll just leave if you don't like me.

"I'm nothing but a disgusting troublemaker for everyone anyway. I might as well just kill myself!"

The moment Crystal heard him saying that, she couldn't care less about me anymore and hurriedly grabbed him and pulled him toward her. Then, she turned to me and screamed, "What the hell is going on in your head, Daniel?

"Reuben's already apologizing to you and asking you for forgiveness! And you're still going to hold that against us?"

In my daze, I seemed to see a scene from seven years later. It would be when I caught Crystal and Reuben red-handed doing the deed in my bedroom when I came home early from a business trip.

The way she glared at me with hatred in her eyes then, like I was her sworn enemy, looked exactly the same as she was doing now. She demanded to know why I refused to forgive her as well.

I didn't say another word and shoved Reuben out of the way before storming out of the house.

Crystal still wanted to come after me, but Reuben suddenly stumbled to the floor and cried out in pain. So, she gave up on running after me and went back to check on Reuben instead.

I walked out of the house and stopped a cab by the roadside. The wind was cold and chilly, but I never felt more awake as the frosty wind enveloped me.

The cab came to a stop by the roadside. Just as I opened the door to get in, Crystal suddenly grabbed me from the back and stopped me from going in.

She glared at me angrily and forcefully dragged me back.

"You're coming back with me, Daniel Summers! Reuben's throwing a huge fit and threatening to end his life because of you! You must come back with me and apologize to him right now!"

I shook off her hand, wanting to ignore her, but Reuben soon ran out after us. He also grabbed my arm and tried to yank me back into the house, apologizing at the top of his lungs as though he wanted the whole neighborhood to hear him.

The cab that I hailed saw the commotion and drove off without another word.

In the scuffle, I never even realized that Reuben had somehow managed to drag me out to the center of the street. It wasn't until glaring headlights suddenly flashed at me in the dark of the night that I realized a truck was heading straight toward me.

The truck tried to stop with a loud screeching of its tires, and suddenly, everything felt like it was in slow motion.

I saw Crystal's terrified face as she reached out for me. But Reuben was also falling in the other direction beside her, and her arm that was initially stretched out toward me suddenly changed direction and grabbed Reuben instead.

She managed to pull him to the roadside in safety. However, the truck also ran straight into me the next instant.

My body flew into the air several feet off the ground, and then I landed heavily on the ground a few seconds later. I felt an excruciating pain spread all throughout my body, and warm, sticky liquid began pouring from all of my wounds.

Just before the world blacked out for me, I heard a robotic voice in my ears.

[The storyline has been changed.]