Home / Love After the Fireworks Fade / Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

All Chapters of Love After the Fireworks Fade: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

Sebastian Morrison was serious as he tore open the packaging on the robot vacuum."This is the newest model. Really smart. Leave this stuff to it from now on. You won't have to work so hard."I looked at the price on the box. Thirty-eight hundred dollars. Not cheap, that was for sure.If this had happened before, I probably would have talked myself into being grateful. Sebastian loved me. His love was just too practical.But tonight, I'd just watched that spectacular fireworks show. Streams of gold had spilled from the sea all the way to the horizon, like a dream that refused to end.And that dream hadn't been mine.I asked quietly, "Was tonight's show your design?"Sebastian's hands stilled for a second. When he spoke again, his tone was casual."Yeah. Victoria's back in town. I promised her I'd put on a show for her every year."Every year.Those two words settled over me, and it felt like something was slowly pressing down on my chest. I'd waited seven years. Waited for

Chapter 2

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

Chapter 3

By the time I left the hospital, it was dark out. I clutched my medication and headed home.The moment I pushed open the door, I heard Victoria's laughter from the living room. She was standing in front of the full-length mirror, wearing my wedding dress. Sebastian stood behind her, bent over, adjusting the veil on her shoulders.That dress had taken me five bridal shops to finally settle on. I'd once sent him a photo of it and asked if it looked good. It had taken him ages to reply. "It's fine."But now, watching Victoria in it, his eyes had gone visibly still.Victoria caught sight of me in the mirror and immediately clutched at the skirt, flustered."Rose, don't get the wrong idea. The shop just delivered it today, and since you weren't looking well, I figured I'd try it on for you."I stood in the entryway, my fingers tightening around the bag of medication. The waist of the dress had been pinned in, taken in to fit Victoria's frame exactly.I remembered, suddenly, that when

Chapter 4

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

Chapter 5

Sebastian stared at the lines on the medical chart, frozen in place. He recognized every single word. But strung together, they cut into his chest like a dull blade.The chart shook in his hands. It took him a long moment to react. Then he snatched up his phone and called me.No answer the first time. No answer the second time. On the third try, all he got was a cold, automated message."The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable."Sebastian's face drained of color. He suddenly remembered my voice on the phone the night before, trembling."Sebastian. I'm bleeding, a lot."And what had he said back? "Rose, get a cab to the hospital. Victoria burned her hand on a firework spark, and I can't leave right now. Just be a little more understanding, would you?"His breathing went ragged. He grabbed his car keys and bolted out the door like a man possessed.By the time he reached the hospital, he went straight for the nurses' station."Rose Ellison. Where's the patient who

Chapter 6

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

Chapter 7

It was raining the day I landed, a light, fine drizzle tapping against the window.I sat in the back of the cab, watching the unfamiliar streets go by. On my phone, Sebastian's messages kept coming in, one after another.Sebastian: [Rosie, I went to the hospital.]Sebastian: [The doctor said you almost died last night.]Sebastian: [I'm sorry. I didn't know it hurt that badly.]Sebastian: [What happened to the baby was my fault.]Sebastian: [I'm so sorry.]I glanced at them, then turned off the screen.There was a time when nothing scared me more than Sebastian not replying to a text. If he was ten minutes late, I couldn't help spiraling. Was he too busy? Was what I'd said too boring? Was I bothering him again?Now it was his turn to explain himself over and over, to apologize over and over. And I realized something. An apology that came this late didn't mean anything anymore.I rented a small apartment in a new city, one with a river visible from the window. At night, the w

Chapter 8

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

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