บททั้งหมดของ Love After the Fireworks Fade: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 8

The next day, Sebastian and I went to a college reunion. I hadn't expected Victoria to be there too.She wore a long white dress and sat right beside him. Someone called out, teasing."Victoria's here too? You two were the most famous couple back in school, you know. A fireworks prodigy and a visual arts goddess. Everyone assumed you'd get married the second you graduated."I paused in the doorway.Victoria was two years ahead of me in school. Back then, I'd admired her endlessly. She was beautiful, radiant, and her work hung in the most prominent spot in the gallery every single year. The first time I ever heard Sebastian's name, it was because of her.Everyone said the two of them were destined to end up together. Later, when Sebastian started pursuing me, I used to secretly wonder if fate had finally decided to favor me for once.But now Victoria was sitting right beside him, and every teasing comment from the people around us felt like a needle, pricking into my chest one a

At two in the morning, I woke to sharp pain tearing through my abdomen. I braced myself against the wall to sit up, my vision going dark in waves.Sebastian wasn't home.I hesitated for a few seconds before I dialed his number. It rang for a long time before he picked up. I could hear Victoria's voice in the background, crying, calling his name.Sebastian's voice was tense."Rose, what's wrong?"I leaned against the wall, barely able to breathe through the pain."Sebastian. I'm bleeding, a lot."The line went quiet for a beat. Then Victoria's crying started up again on his end. Sebastian cut in immediately."Rose, get a cab to the hospital. Victoria burned her hand on a firework spark, and I can't leave right now."My fingers curled slowly into a fist. So a single spark on the back of Victoria's hand mattered more than me bleeding through my clothes.I asked quietly, "Sebastian, what if something actually happens to me?"He let out an irritated breath."Don't talk like that

Sebastian suddenly remembered something from a long time ago.I had once run a fever of 39 degrees Celsius and still forced myself to cook dinner for him. When he came home and saw how pale I looked, he frowned. "Why didn't you go to the hospital?"I had just laughed and burrowed into his arms. "I have you. I was waiting for you to come home and take me."At the time, he'd only ruffled my hair, thinking I was being clingy. Only now did he understand what a precious thing it had been, to be treated as someone's family.Sebastian left the hospital in a daze. His phone rang. Victoria was calling.He watched her name flash on the screen and, for the first time, didn't answer right away. The call cut off, then rang again. He didn't pick up until the third ring.Victoria's voice carried a note of hurt."Sebastian, where did you go? My hand still hurts a little."The old Sebastian would have asked right away whether she needed to go back to the hospital. But all he could think of now

I stepped around Sebastian and walked upstairs. He didn't follow.He just stayed there on his knees, calling my name over and over."Rose… Rosie… Won't you look back at me? Just once?"I didn't turn around.Later, I heard from a friend that things weren't going well for Victoria. Once Sebastian stopped orbiting around her, the people who'd surrounded her scattered fast. She'd gotten used to being fawned over, used to having everyone else pick up the bill. But once he pulled away, she found out that her light only shone when someone else was actually lighting it up.She started showing up at parties constantly, cycling through a string of wealthy men. Some bought her handbags, some took her to gallery openings. But none of them were Sebastian. None of them remembered that she liked gold-tailed sparks, or panicked like the sky was falling over a small red mark on her hand.One night, drunk, she called me. Her voice was thick with tears."Rose. I never actually meant to steal h