On their first date, her face had been flushed beet–red. She barely dared to look him in the eye. When he kissed her, she was so nervous she nearly
fainted.
He even bought a bouquet of hydrangeas, her favorite flower. On his way to meet her, he made a special stop to buy a new cake. Sera had a swe- et tooth, especially for little cakes. The one on her birthday had been ruined by Melina, but that didn’t matter. He would buy her a bigger, more
expensive one.
William leaned against a lamppost, flowers in hand. He knew his friends were watching from a distance, waiting for the evening’s drama to unfold. He felt a strange flutter of excitement, of nervousness, almost like it was a first date all over again.
But the minutes ticked by, stretching into an hour, then two.
Sera never came.
The moon grew tired and hid behind the clouds. William glanced at his watch. It was nearly midnight.
Finally, he condescended to do something he rarely did: he called her. This would be the only call he’d make. If she still refused this olive branch, then he would seriously reconsider taking her back.
The phone rang and rang, but no one answered. It went to voicemail.
Chapter 2
The phone rang and rang, but no one answered. It went to voicemail.
03.48
William’s brow furrowed, a slow–burning anger building in his chest. Suddenly, he heard his friends let out a collective gasp from their hiding spot.
“A car’s pulling up! It’s gotta be Sera, right?”
“Of course it is. She’s crazy about William.”
He instinctively turned, a hopeful light dawning in his eyes. A taxi had stopped down the street. The hem of a white dress fluttered in the night breeze. The figure was slender and small–who else could it be but Sera?
The fire of William’s anger was instantly extinguished. He started to move toward her, then forced himself to stop. He had waited for her all night. She hadn’t even answered his call. As much as he wanted to see her right now, he wouldn’t be the one to make the first move.
But the figure had already turned toward him.
The starlight was faint and distant, the streetlights casting long, dim shadows. But it was enough for him to see clearly.
The girl who had stepped out of the cab was not Sera.
Even though, at a glance, their figures, their clothes, even their hair were startlingly similar.
But it wasn’t her. It just wasn’t.
His friends, hidden in the shadows, must have realized it too. A sudden, heavy silence fell over them.
The expression on William’s face turned to ice.
After a moment, he threw the bouquet to the ground and turned to get into his car. But Melina was already running toward him, her voice choked with tears.
“William!”
“You’re looking for Seraphina because she reminds you of how I used to be, right?”
“You don’t like it when I argue with you, you hate it when I get jealous, you can’t stand it when I dress too sexy.” Tears of frustration streamed down Melina’s face. “So I’ll change back. I’ll be the girl you first fell for. Can we please just be happy together?”
William looked at the version of Melina standing before him. She was beautiful when she cried. The straight black hair and simple white dress made her look innocent, pure. They had been on and off for so many years, and this, right now, was indeed the image of the girl he had first lost
his heart to.
But to his own astonishment, he found that while her tears could still soften him, they no longer pierced his heart with that familiar, desperate ache.
