Home / The Lonely Lights of Winter / Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

All Chapters of The Lonely Lights of Winter: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

Right after I put the contract away, the phone rang. It was the funeral home.Vivian Cross had been staring down at her phone, but caught a few words and looked up. "Who died?""A distant relative," I replied, hanging up before she could ask anything else.She just hummed in response and went back to her phone, then walked straight out the door. She forgot to wait for me again, like always. I didn't think much of it and followed her out.I'd barely gotten my hand on the car door when she grabbed my wrist.Vivian pointed at the car parked behind hers. "Ethan, drive yourself to set. I need to bring Miles his breakfast."I froze for a second, then pulled my hand back."Okay," I said quietly.She seemed surprised I didn't fight her on it the way I used to. For once, she gave me something close to a warm smile."Remember to eat something. You're getting too thin," she said.I glanced at the back seat of her car. There had to be a dozen different breakfast dishes back there, still

Chapter 2

Vivian's head snapped up. She put her phone away and took the slip of paper. By the time she looked over at me, I'd already dropped mine into the box. She dropped hers in right after."Why so secretive? We only find out on the last day of filming?" she teased Samuel, then looked at me confidently. "We're not getting divorced."She helped me haul our bags to the hotel after that. We'd barely reached the door when her phone rang. She smiled right away and stepped aside to take the call. I dragged both suitcases up the stairs by myself.When she came back, I held out her pajamas out of habit. She shook her head and didn't take them."I lost another bet to Miles," she said, laughing softly. "He says we can't sleep in the same room for the next seven days."My hand hung there in the air. The old me would have started a fight right then. But I barely had the strength left to breathe, let alone argue with her.I pulled my hand back and lay down on the bed. "Suit yourself, then. I'm tire

Chapter 3

Vivian took Miles skiing in Windridge. She took him to Isla Serena for a vacation. She even took him all the way to Frostlight Village to watch the northern lights.I was in so much pain that it took me a long time to put it together. Those were the exact places Vivian and I had planned to go to for our honeymoon years ago.My finger hovered over the screen for a long time. A drop of blood from my nose finally landed on the photo of the two of them smiling under the aurora. As I fumbled to wipe it away with a tissue, my thumb slipped, and I accidentally liked the post.Not long after, Vivian called from a number I didn't recognize. It was the first time she'd reached out in four days."Ethan, it's Miles' birthday. That's the only reason I went abroad with him," she said, sounding tense.I wiped the blood off my face and told her in a hoarse voice that it was fine.Her tone softened as she added, "Ethan, once we finish filming this show, that'll mark the hundredth bet between me a

Chapter 4

I woke up in the crew's medical van.Miles was mumbling beside me, "This is all my fault. I picked the wrong road. I'm such an idiot. Ethan won't blame me for this, right?"Vivian pulled him into a hug and murmured, "Of course he won't."The doctor next to me opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but I shook my head at her.We'd only rested an hour before Samuel called us back to keep filming. This time, the crew sent us straight into the jungle. Miles insisted on tagging along.As snow rose past our ankles, I glanced at Vivian out of habit. Back when we were together, she always knew I hated the cold, and would wrap her hand around mine every time it snowed. Now, she reached for Miles' hand without a second thought.We'd walked a good distance before anyone noticed I'd fallen behind. Vivian saw how pale I'd gotten and opened her mouth, then closed it again. All she managed was a weak excuse."Miles isn't feeling well," she said.I didn't answer. I just put my head

Chapter 5

Samuel's hands shook as he handed Vivian the box of slips."Every single one Ethan wrote… they all say... divorce," he said.Chris' face had gone white with panic. "Ms. Cross, we did what you asked and went to bring him back last night, but we searched for hours and couldn't find him."Vivian didn't react to any of it. She stood frozen, listening to the man's voice on the radio. Her hands curled into fists and her eyes went bloodshot, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.Samuel and Chris had already put it together."That voice on the radio... it sounds like him.""It's not him. Shut your mouth," Vivian snapped back instantly.I hovered above them all, watching her with a strange kind of calm. So, this was how she reacted to news of my death. I actually thought she'd be relieved. She was finally free of me, free to be with Miles.Vivian gripped the slips of paper in her hand, reading them over and over. She turned to Samuel. "How is this possible? He loves me. Why wo

Chapter 6

Vivian found my cancer diagnosis sitting by the front door. She rubbed hard at her eyes, like she couldn't believe what she was reading. I leaned in close to study her face. The shock and the guilt written across it didn't look fake.I'd never once tried to hide that I was sick. Every time my body gave out on me, or when the pain in my stomach flared up, she looked right past it. I left the diagnosis out on that table for weeks, but she never even glanced at it.Every time I tried to bring it up, she cut me off impatiently before I could finish, or just blamed me for something else. Eventually, I stopped trying to tell her at all.Vivian stared at the report, murmuring to herself, "How is this possible? Ethan can't be sick."I shook my head at her, even though she couldn't hear me. "Vivian, everyone gets sick eventually."She wandered upstairs in a daze. Nothing looked out of place, except for the photos. All the framed pictures of us that used to cover the walls had been taken do

Chapter 7

Vivian sat there clutching the urn and my letter, reading it over and over like she couldn't make herself believe it."Why didn't he mention me? Not even once?" she asked, her voice shaking so hard it barely sounded like her.Chris had nothing to say. He just kept his head down and waited for her to calm down.But she only got more frantic, grabbing him by the collar. "Tell me this is fake. Tell me it's fake!"He had no answer, so he just let her scream it out.I stood there watching her coldly. "Vivian, why did you wait until I was dead to finally regret everything? Why did it take my death for you to love me?"Almost like she sensed me there, Vivian suddenly went still and pulled the urn tighter against her chest. As a cold wind blew past, her eyes turned red-rimmed."Ethan, is that you?" She looked around, desperate. "Come out already. Stop playing hide and seek with me."All that answered her was silence.Miles pushed through the crowd and walked up to her. Underneath his

Chapter 8

Not long after, people online dug up Miles' real identity.He never actually earned a master's degree. He found someone else's ID and had been living as that person for years. Even the story about saving Vivian's life turned out to be a lie.He overheard it from someone else during a night out pouring drinks for clients. Vivian really had been saved by a young boy back when she was a child. Miles had built an elaborate story around it, part truth and part invention. Somehow, Vivian believed every word and kept him close ever since.By the time she learned the truth, it was already the seventh day since my death. My spirit had been bound to her side for all that time, unable to leave.For seven days, Vivian didn't eat or sleep. She just held my urn and called my name over and over.Whatever was left of my humanity kept fading. I couldn't feel anything anymore, no matter what I watched her do. I just stood beside her, watching her with a flat look.She held a massive memorial for m

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