Chapter 4

Armie had not visited Arya once during the three days she stayed in the hospital. Instead, she received a notice from a student counselor at her alma mater, Svavard U, asking her to attend rehearsals for the university's 70th anniversary.

Arya had confirmed her attendance a month earlier. She had been invited to speak as one of the university's most distinguished alumni. When she first received the invitation, Millie had been thrilled.

"Dad's going with you this time, right?"

Armie overheard her as he stepped into the house, and his face darkened. "You're using a child to pressure me into indulging your selfish fantasy?!"

Arya had wanted to explain, but he refused to listen. "You have no idea how ridiculous you sound. Who do you think you are? Nancy? You don't deserve to stand beside me!"

From that day on, Millie became painfully self-conscious whenever she spoke. Every time she talked to her father, she would quietly ask Arya, "Did I say something wrong to him?"

She was only six. Six-year-olds were supposed to run around and say the funniest, most innocent things, not walk on eggshells with every word.

The memory of the life her daughter had lived before her harrowing death shattered the fragile composure Arya had managed to hold together. Silent tears streamed down her face.

After she finally calmed herself, she wiped away her tears and replied to the message.

…

As part of the anniversary program, Arya joined a group of Svavard U administrators on a campus tour.

When they reached the science building, two painfully familiar voices drifted from one of the laboratories, chatting and laughing together.

She looked up.

Sure enough, Armie and Nancy were inside, apparently conducting an experiment. Their conversation was animated, almost intimate. They leaned close to whisper into each other's ears again and again until the space between them seemed to disappear.

They looked like a couple basking in the glow of a recent confession.

Everyone in the group knew about Arya and Armie's relationship. Embarrassed, curious glances quickly turned toward her.

The counselor hurried to smooth things over. "Ah, that's Professor Nancy Love. We hired her from overseas as one of our chemistry lecturers.

"As for Mr. Simmons, this building was funded through his generous donation. He's also serving as a special consultant..."

'Really?' From where Arya stood, the only person he seemed interested in consulting was Nancy.

Besides, why was a man with an MBA serving as a special consultant for a chemistry department?

'What a joke.' Arya intended to pretend she had never seen them and continue walking with the group.

Then a deafening explosion erupted behind her.

"The lab! The lab's on fire! It's on fire!"

The science building erupted into flames. Fire roared through the structure as thick black smoke billowed into the sky like a stampede of dark horses.

Inside, panic spread just as quickly.

A desperate crowd surged toward the exits. Someone slammed into Arya from behind before she even realized what had happened. She lost her footing and fell as people trampled past her in their frantic attempt to escape.

Amid the chaos, someone grabbed her hand and tried to pull her to her feet.

She looked up and found Nancy wearing a saccharine smile while Armie glared at her.

"Nancy! I know you're kindhearted, but you don't have to risk your life for every goddamn person you see!" Armie snapped.

Then he turned to Arya. "Don't just stand there! Move your ass already! If we weren't trying to save you, neither of us would be trapped in this fire! You're a goddamn waste of everyone's life!"

The flames licking around her had already scorched her skin and raised painful blisters, yet Arya had never felt so cold.

Was this the same monster who had stood just as cold and furious while his daughter lay dying inside a suitcase?

Suddenly, one of the burning pillars beside Arya and Nancy cracked.

"Watch out, Nancy!" Armie lunged forward and shoved Nancy out of the way in a single motion.

The collapsing pillar shattered as it fell. Burning debris crashed onto Arya's thigh, scorching the flesh beneath it. The smell of her own burning skin filled the air as agony pinned her to the ground.

"Help me!" she screamed. "Armie!"

He had already swept Nancy into his arms and sprinted toward the exit without sparing Arya a single glance.

"No, Arya! You should've gotten up and run when you had the chance! You're a fucking piece of deadweight! I'm not stupid enough to risk my life for someone that stupid and insignificant!"

Arya watched him disappear through the smoke, and her heart broke.

This was not the first fire they had endured together.

Back then, Armie had already escaped to safety, only to run back inside to save her.

Afterward, she had asked him, "What if you'd died in that fire because you came back for me? Wouldn't that have been a terrible loss?"

The eighteen-year-old Armie had looked genuinely offended.

"Excuse me? You're the vice president of the student council I've always admired! I want everyone to know I've got your back. How am I supposed to prove that if I run away and leave you behind?

"Don't worry. As long as I'm alive, I won't let anything happen to you."

The eighteen-year-old Armie had been the kindest man Arya had ever known.

That made it even harder to believe that the same young man had grown into the cold, apathetic, cruel monster who could look her in the eye and tell her that her life was too insignificant to save.

Arya thought this was where everything would end.

Then a blast of icy water rained over her.

The firefighters and paramedics had arrived.

She survived.

As she was carried from the burning building, she saw Armie climbing into an ambulance with Nancy.

Standing beside the stretcher, he clutched her hand and shouted in panic, "Hang on! Don't close your eyes! We're almost at the hospital, Nancy! Stay with me!"

He had once said those same words to Arya.

"Open your eyes, Arya! Look at me! Don't you dare fall asleep! I won't let you go! H-Hey! Don't scare me like that! You can't die on me. What am I supposed to do for the rest of my life? Live with regrets forever?

"Arya, look at me, please. Just open your eyes."

The memory of the man he used to be collided with the man he had become, setting her chest ablaze with grief.

She closed her eyes and let the sorrow consume her.