Chapter 3

During the long three-hour flight, the one chattering away with Julian was Sloane.

And I was completely shut out of their world.

I jammed in my noise-canceling earbuds, blocking out their piercing laughter, and stared down at my phone, casually chatting with the AI.

"Will you really show up?" I typed, a sliver of absurd anticipation rising in my chest.

"Whenever you want me to, I'll be there."

Seeing the instant reply, my heart skipped two beats, and my cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

"Aria? What's wrong?"

Julian's voice suddenly rang in my ears, laced with rare urgency.

I looked up to meet his furrowed brows. He stared hard at my flushed cheeks.

"Are you having another panic attack?"

Before I could answer, he started frantically digging through his carry-on.

He used to always, without fail, carry my anxiety meds in that bag.

Ever since I watched my parents get gunned down, being in enclosed spaces triggered my panic attacks.

For twelve years, whenever we went out, the meds were always in his bag.

But after rummaging for a while, his movements slowed down. His face dropped.

The meds weren't there.

When he packed, his head was probably so full of this thrilling trip with Sloane that he had completely forgotten about me.

"I didn't bring them..." He looked at me, a flash of genuine panic in his eyes as he gripped the empty bag, at a loss.

To cover up his guilt, his tone instantly hardened, as if blaming me for having an attack now. "Why didn't you check your own stuff before we left? I can't be expected to remember every little thing for you!"

"I'm fine." I coldly looked away, staring at the clouds out the window. "Besides, you won't need to carry them for me anymore."

After being abandoned by him over and over again, I had long been forced to handle my illness on my own.

Julian opened his mouth to speak, but Sloane suddenly screamed.

"Ah! Julian!"

A glass of champagne had spilled right onto Sloane's pale thighs.

Julian whipped his head around. His earlier panic over me vanished in a second.

He pulled out some tissues and patiently wiped her legs.

"It's okay, don't move, I got it." His voice was dripping with tenderness.

Sloane leaned back in her seat with a fake pout, but her eyes looked past Julian, staring directly at me.

"Oops. Sorry, Aria." She drawled in her signature mean-girl tone. "Did Julian used to take care of you this carefully too? I feel a little bad being the third wheel between you two."

I didn't know how Sloane always managed to make the air so incredibly toxic.

I smiled, didn't reply, and stood up to go to the restroom.

Suddenly, the plane hit turbulence. I lost my balance and fell backward.

A ringing filled my ears. Just as I thought I was going to hit the floor, a pair of strong hands caught me steady.

In that split second, I remembered what the AI had said.

"I'm right here. I won't hide. I won't run. When you fall, I'll catch you."

I turned around, still in shock. The person holding me was a muscular bald guy, smiling warmly at me.

"Thank you..." I breathed a sigh of relief, but a deep, inexplicable wave of disappointment washed over me.

What was I even expecting? It was just a damn app.

I stood up straight. Before I could thank him again, a sharp pain shot through my wrist.

A strong force yanked me into the camera's blind spot by the restroom.

It was Julian. He looked furious.

"You're not a kid anymore, Aria! Do you know how dangerous that was? Did you think you could get my attention with a cheap trick like pretending to fall? What if you got hurt!"

I looked at him in disbelief, like I was staring at a complete stranger.

"You think I did that on purpose?"

"Didn't you?" He ran a hand through his hair in sheer frustration. "I'm going to say this one last time: drop the act. I want a free life. I don't want to walk on eggshells every day, holding a glass doll that could shatter at any second! Would it kill you to stop relying on me?"

With those few words, he burned my world to the ground.

A wave of humiliating shame, mixed with bone-chilling cold, shot from my toes straight to my head.

I looked at the man who had been by my side for twelve years.

So, in his eyes, all my pain, my fragility, and even my accidents weren't just shackles holding him back. They were cheap tricks to beg for his pity.

I gave a bitter smile. The last shred of hope in my heart turned to dust.

I suddenly felt so exhausted.

"Understood."

I turned around and locked myself in the restroom.

Splashing freezing water on my face, I looked at my pale, empty-eyed reflection.

Ten minutes.

In this tiny space, I finally figured one thing out.

I would never love Julian again.