Chapter 2

With that thought in mind, I'd gotten out of the car and lay down in the snow, letting the flurry of white flakes bury me.

Just as I was slipping into a deep slumber, a car suddenly pulled up on the snow-blanketed ground and stopped before me. A young lady hurried out of her car and approached me, dragging me out of the snow with some effort.

When I opened my eyes and met Moira's gaze, I felt as if I'd seen the light.

Moira had rescued me. She'd probably guessed at my intention to seek a cold, lonesome death, for she held on to me and talked to me through the night.

She told me, "It's wonderful to be alive. You've already arrived on this plane of existence called 'life', so you may as well learn to love, experience, feel, and admire everything joyous around you."

She also told me, "Everyone has that one tumultuous year in their lives that will turn their course toward something beautiful and liberating."

I stared at the young lady with the bright eyes and suddenly heard a voice in my head, telling me: "Keep living. Do it in Grandma's memory."

While chatting with Moira, I was surprised to learn that she was my senior in university. From then on, we got to know each other better and became close. I slowly made room for her in my heart.

On the night she graduated, I watched her dazzle at the graduation dance. For the first time in my life, I rallied the courage to confess my feelings for her in front of everyone.

When Moira nodded in agreement and beamed at me, I was so overwhelmed that I stepped forward to scoop her into my arms. I felt like the luckiest, happiest man in the world.

Moira took over her family's company not long after graduation.

The year I graduated, I made a compromise with Moira after seeing her leave for work early in the morning and return home late at night, the shadows under her eyes growing prominent with her routine.

I gave up my best career choice and arrived in the city where Moira was. I managed the company alongside her, and just like that, I worked as her secretary year after year.

During my tenure, we secretly got our marriage certificate. We never told anyone about it.

Moira claimed that her parents wouldn't let her marry a man with a mole under his eye, for some reason or other, and that she'd need some time to change their minds. She also said that if word of our relationship got out, it might jeopardize the company during its growth phase.

All I'd cared about was Moira at that point, so I believed every word she said.

In retrospect, if she'd truly loved me, she wouldn't have had such material and shallow concerns. If anything, she would have cleared every obstacle in our path.

In the third year of our marriage, Moira told me the company planned to expand its business operations abroad. After some thought, she decided I was the only one capable of executing that mission.

A simple instruction from her was all it took for me to pack up and go abroad all by myself to expand business operations there.

The snowfall grew heavier, and I instinctively lifted my gaze to the light pouring from the windows of the house in the distance. Bitterness crept up on me like vines.

I shook my head, clearing the thoughts clamoring in my mind.

I got up to leave, but no sooner had I risen on my feet than I spotted Moira holding hands with a man as they came toward me. Behind them strolled the older man whom Moira had called "Eric".

Moira froze in surprise when she saw me, too. She probably thought I'd left by now.

I couldn't hear what she turned to say to Eric, but he left with a smile. Now that it was just the three of us, Moira approached me with the man in tow.

She eyed me impatiently. "Didn't I tell you to leave? What are you still doing here? You're doing this on purpose, aren't you, Liam? You just want to get on my nerves!"

I fixed my gaze on their interlocked hands and asked in a low voice, "Aren't you going to explain yourself?"

Panic flickered in her eyes when she heard my question. She winced as she countered stiffly, "Explain myself? What for? Noah and I are just friends. What you saw at the house earlier was just an act to convince Noah's parents of his happy marriage!

"You saw it yourself—his parents are old, and we're only doing this to give them peace of mind. Why do you always have to be so unreasonable and paranoid?"

"And what about the baby? What's the story there?" I asked flatly as I assessed the obstinate woman before me.

Upon hearing this, Moira went still. When she snapped out of her daze, she stammered, "T-That baby was just a young actor we found. We figured we may as well go all out, seeing as we're acting and all…"