Reunion Is Difficult Chapter 07
Amanda stared at the message I had sent her.
[I’ve moved on with my life. Please stop contacting me.]
Loud ringing filled her ears.
She suddenly remembered what Kevin had said when he was desperately trying to stop her from leaving.
“Amanda, why do you think he went to Westmere? Who is waiting for him there?”
With trembling hands, Amanda picked up her phone and called a friend who had studied in Westmere.
“Find out who this woman is.”
Her voice shook on the final few words.
She refused to believe it. I had loved her so much. How could I have found someone else so quickly?
The information came back swiftly. Without a moment’s delay, Amanda set off for Merrichester.
It was the middle of Merrichester’s long winter night. She remained outside the Merrichester University Institute of Biological Sciences until morning.
By the time someone found her at dawn, she was nearly frozen.
When she opened her eyes, she did not call for help. Instead, she whispered the name she had been longing to say, “Leigh…”
After completing the second experiment, I rubbed my aching lower back.
Anya walked over and pressed a small tin of herbal muscle salve into my hand.
“My mom sent it from Rosavia.”
Instead of taking it, I looked suspiciously at the bruise around her eye.
“Did you get into a fight?”
“Don’t even get me started.” She waved a hand. “When I came in this morning, I found a woman from your country nearly frozen outside. I helped her up and gave her some warm water. The first thing she did after coming around was punch me. It hurt like hell. She said I stole her fiance. Excuse me?”
My stomach dropped.
“Where is she?”
It had been a month since I last saw Amanda.
She was curled up in the corner of a couch at the Merrichester University Institute of Biological Sciences.
She looked far more worn down than I remembered.
Her dress was wrinkled. Her hair was dry and unkempt. Dark circles shadowed her eyes.
The moment she saw me, she sprang to her feet. Her eyes lit up.
“Leigh, I finally found you.”
To avoid making a scene in front of everyone, I pulled Amanda up to the rooftop.
She stood beside me and asked softly, “Who is that woman?”
I paused. “She’s just a colleague.”
She let out a long breath of relief. “I knew you still loved me.”
I shook my head.
“Amanda, we’ve broken up.”
“Broken up?”
She repeated the words as if tasting them for the first time. She frowned and said, “You don’t get to decide that on your own. Leigh, what have I ever done to you? If you’re mad because I designed Kevin’s best man’s suit or went shopping with him, then you’re blowing things completely out of proportion.”
Blowing things out of proportion?
Something clenched painfully inside my chest. A dull ache spread through my entire body.
Even at that moment, she still believed that all the special treatment she gave Kevin was perfectly
normal.
“Nothing’s going on between Kevin and me. I only looked after him because he was your best friend. Are you really going to hold that against me?”
Her voice carried that familiar tone of reproach, as if it was all just routine.
I stared at her, suddenly struck by how absurd it all was.
“I got a secondhand suit while Kevin got a bespoke one. That was just you looking after him? I asked you to come shop for wedding supplies with me, and you said you were too busy, then turned around and went with him. Was that just looking after him too? Amanda, who do you really love?
“There’s one more thing,” I said, suppressing my anger. “I didn’t hit him that day. Check the security footage.”
After voicing all the grievances I had buried deep for so many years, I felt a weight lift from my chest.
Amanda’s face went pale. Her lips parted, but for a long moment, she could not utter a word.
After a long silence, she spoke in a trembling voice just as I turned to leave.
“You promised you’d marry me.
I closed my eyes in exasperation and shook my head.
“Leigh, don’t go!”
Amanda suddenly rushed forward and grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t leave me! I can’t live without you! Please give me a chance to make this right!”
I had no idea where she found the strength, but her grip was so tight that pain shot through my wrist.
Unable to pull free, I could only cry out helplessly, “Let go of me!”
“He told you to let go. Didn’t you hear him?”
The slap came hard and fast. Caught completely off guard, Amanda released me and stumbled back.
The next moment, Anya had pulled me to her side.
