All Chapters of When the Wind Blows, She Never Looks Back: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Exhausted, I set down the mug of ice-cold tea and hung the damp scarf on the coat rack.Chloe crawled out from under the thick duvet and grabbed my hands. “You’re freezing!” She pulled my hands into her palms, rubbing them briskly to bring back the warmth. Then, she looked up at Valen with a soft, pouty frown. “Valen, I told you we should have waited a bit for Sera, but you were in such a rush.”Valen held up his hands in defeat. “Alright, alright, princess. My bad.”As he spoke, he gently guided Chloe back onto the bed, carefully tucking the blanket around her shoulders. “You’re in fragile health, and you’re terrified of the cold. Why are you trying to warm her hands when you can barely keep yourself warm?”Then, he tossed a towel toward me. “If you’re cold, hurry up and take a hot shower. Don’t expect Chloe to wait on you.”The towel landed squarely over my head. My frozen arms couldn’t react in time to catch it. I pulled it down slowly, then walked silently into the bathroom.

After all the endless dragging around, I felt myself starting to run a fever.Valen was the first to notice that something was off with me. He pressed his palm against my forehead, then pulled out a thermometer to check my temperature.“103.6 degrees? Sera, you really know how to cause trouble for us.” He let out a heavy sigh.Chloe walked into the room, looking somewhat worried. “Maybe we should cancel today’s itinerary. Sera is burning up so badly; it’s too dangerous to leave her alone at the hotel.”Valen hesitated.I forced a faint smile. “Don’t skip it on my account. You guys should go.”“Are you sure? But your fever is so high…” Chloe brought over a mug of hot tea. “Sera, take some fever reducers first.”I took the pills from her and swallowed them down.Watching me finish the medication, Valen glanced down at his phone. “The tour guide is already here. It’s too late to cancel now anyway.”“Sera, I’m leaving the medicine right here. Remember to take it. We’ll be back soo

The moment I got back home, I collapsed onto the soft bed my mom, Margaret Winters, had freshly made for me.My parents followed me into the room, looking at me with deep concern written all over their faces. “Sera, weren’t you supposed to be in Iceland for two weeks with that Valen kid? It’s only been a few days. Why are you back by yourself?”I buried my face in the pillow. A heavy wave of exhaustion crashed over me, leaving me without the energy to speak.Arthur Winters, my dad, started getting anxious. “Sweetheart, did that Valen kid do something to you? Just say the word, and your old man will go break his legs!”I let out a soft laugh. Shaking off the crushing weight from my heart, I could finally laugh from the absolute depths of my soul.“Dad, calm down.” I rolled over and stared up at the ceiling.Pasted right above me were the glow-in-the-dark stars Valen and I had bought together when we were kids, the ones that used to illuminate the room whenever the lights went out.

After lounging around the house as a total couch potato for a week, my limited-time status as the pampered family favorite officially expired.My parents began to find everything I did annoying.“Just look at you—you don’t wash the dishes, you don’t make your bed, all you do is lay on the sofa all day,” my dad grumbled, mopping the floor as he aggressively pushed the mop right past my feet. I hurriedly lifted my legs out of his way.My mom sat nearby, mindlessly eating potato chips and adding fuel to the fire. “I told you yesterday we shouldn’t spoil this girl. Look at her, it’s only been a week and her true colors are already showing.”I squeezed my throw pillow tightly and fired back with absolute confidence, “You guys were the ones who told me to come home and relax! Mom, your exact words were that you were going to help me gain back every single pound I lost.”My dad let out a soft chuckle. He mopped a few more strokes before he couldn’t help but chime in again, “Sweetheart, w

Six months later, I returned home—except this time, I had a permanent little shadow trailing right behind me.“Sera, where am I crashing tonight?”“Sera, let me carry your bags for you.”I walked ahead, a mix of mild exasperation and fondness washing over me.Rain Beckett was a guy I had met down in Seattle. We had both just graduated from college and, as it turned out, actually grew up in the same hometown. We hit it off almost instantly. Because he was a few months younger than me, he used it as an absolute excuse to follow me around all day, constantly calling me his “favorite senior.”Rain chattered relentlessly as he followed me right into the residential courtyard.“Wow, Sera, there are so many trees around your neighborhood.”“Sera, how old do you think that tree is?”“Sera—”I brought my steps to a sudden halt.Valen was standing beneath that same old scholar tree right outside my apartment building. He had leaned down quite a bit, and there was a tiny, jagged nick on