Chapter 2

Dennis spoke with lazy ease, freeing one hand to lace his fingers through the woman's beside him.

"From now on, I just want to be with Scarlett. Hand in hand, for the rest of our lives."

"So sweet! I want my girlfriend to have a baby with me too!"

Laughter and cheers erupted around them.

"Dennis, have you thought about how to explain things to Anna?"

At the mention of my name, his face darkened instantly.

"I've never planned on letting her come back."

Then he turned to comfort Scarlett. "The housekeeper will handle everything. Don't worry. The only person I want beside me is you."

Snow began to fall from the sky—soft flakes landing on the tip of my nose, seeping cold into my heart.

Three years ago, the day I left, I had grabbed Dennis's hand and asked him, "Dennis, when I come back, will you really marry me?"

He'd ruffled my hair gently, voice warm. "Of course. By then, you'll be so much more mature. Don't worry, I'll wait for you. I will only ever love you."

But now I had grown up. And he was with someone else.

Why? Why did he lie to me?

My chest ached. The tears came without permission, falling faster the more I tried to wipe them away.

In those war-torn countries, I treated wounded civilians under falling bombs and gunfire.

Even then, I kept telling myself, 'I have to survive. I have to come back alive, because I'm going to marry Dennis.'

I even applied a year early to come home.

Today, I finally came back, planning to surprise Dennis. But he was the one who surprised me first.

"I heard Dennis bought a cruise ship. He's planning to marry Scarlett on board," someone said nearby.

I quickly ducked behind a tree.

"Oh my god, I'm so jealous. But what about Anna? Wasn't she the one who loved him the most?"

"You didn't hear? Three years ago, he tricked her into going abroad with Doctors Without Borders. No one even knows if she'll make it back alive. He just wanted to be with Scarlett, but was afraid Anna would throw a fit, so he sent her away. So the moment she left the country, he got together with Scarlett."

Every word struck my ears with perfect clarity.

So this was all planned. Dennis had made his calculations three years ago. And I had believed him—every single word.

The conditions abroad were so harsh, but I didn't feel the pain. I kept going because I believed: if I made it through, we'd be together.

The group walked on, offering blessings to Dennis.

Someone suddenly joked, "Dennis, after all those years Anna's been in love with you, don't you feel bad leaving her out there, working in such tough conditions?"

Dennis didn't even blink. He just kept staring at Eugene.

"She's the one who liked me. I never liked her. If it weren't for my father adopting her—and him being so fond of her—I would've cut her off long ago. You all know she's seven years younger than me. There's no way I'd like someone like that. All these years, it's always been her chasing after me."

I was sixteen when the McMillan family took me in—just starting high school. Dennis was twenty-three, already a college graduate. He had a good family, good looks, and girls constantly orbiting him.

Every time I saw him with someone else, I'd get jealous. I'd find him and say, "Dennis, can you stop getting so close to other girls?"

He'd laugh, ruffle my cheek, and say, "I'll do whatever you say, Anna."