Chapter 4
It was easy to locate Brandon’s car.
After all, it was very late at night. It was rare for people to be so risque in a hospital parking lot.
He must be in a rush. He did not even shut the car door properly.
The torn silk stockings were hanging out of the car. I could hear a woman’s breathless moans.
“Brandon, would Rhea do this with you in a car? Do you like her or me?”
I could hear the man’s familiar panting voice clearly in the empty parking lot.
“In this car, I like you the most.”
Those intimate and vulgar words pierced through mine and seventeen-year-old Brandon’s hearts like sharp daggers.
Young Brandon looked pained. He stared at me and said in a trembling voice, “Rhea, just cry if you feel like it.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to cry.”
I looked away. Even though I was hurt, I was expressionless.
“Brandon, this is your second chance.”
I stood there quietly for a really long time.
Brandon finally got out of the car with a satisfied face.
His tie was undone, and there were lipstick stains on his collar.
He smiled in satisfaction when he looked up and met my gaze.
Then, Brandon’s face went pale.
“Rhea? Why are you here?”
I did not answer. Instead, I stared at Anna, who was standing behind him.
Her face was flushed, and she could not stand straight.
My silence made Brandon even more flustered.
He rushed forward and wanted to stop me. But I took a step back and dodged his hand.
“Rhea, listen to me. It’s not like how it looks. I…”
“Enough!” I stopped him. I looked at him, “I don’t want to listen to this.”
Brandon’s hand froze midair. His lips trembled as though he wanted to say something. However, Anna walked toward me.
With teary eyes, she said pitifully, “Rhea, I can’t hold back my feelings for Brandon. It’s all my fault! You can blame me if you want to… Ah!”
Anna suddenly gasped. It was as if someone had pushed her. She stared at me in shock.
“Rhea, I just wanted to apologize to you. Why? Why did you push me?”
She held her abdomen and cried in pain, “Brandon, my tummy hurts. My tummy hurts a lot…”
Brandon looked worried. He did not look at me when he turned around to help Anna up.
“Anna, are you alright? Hold on, I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Anna grabbed his sleeve. “No, just ignore me. Rhea must be angry. Go and talk to her.”
Upon hearing that, Brandon stared at me in conflict.
“Rhea…”
“I did not push her,” I said calmly.
“Anna is pregnant…”
Before Brandon could finish talking, those words shattered my heart into a million pieces.
He was implying that Anna was a mother. No mother would risk her child’s life.
I smiled and stepped aside so he could access the elevator easily.
“Are you going to leave because of her?”
Brandon looked hurt.
“Rhea, I swear my feelings for you have never changed.”
He sounded confident, as though he wanted to convince me to believe in his love for me.
“But Anna is in critical condition now, I can’t leave her here.”
Chapter 5
“Let me take her to the hospital first, and I’ll come back to explain everything. Please believe me just once.”
I wanted to refuse, but the seventeen-year-old Brandon was crying beside me.
He crouched on the ground and trembled, as if he were an abandoned puppy. He seemed pitiful and helpless.
He mumbled, “Rhea, I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”
He had done nothing wrong.
When he was seventeen, I was the only one for him. He had never betrayed our relationship, and he only loved me.
However, seventeen-year-old Brandon was barely the same person as twenty-seven-year-old Brandon.
I felt conflicted.
I lowered my eyes and agreed to his request under his fervent gaze.
Brandon was overjoyed. He stepped forward to hug me. “Wait for me.”
After that, he carried Anna in his arms and disappeared from my sight.
It was dawn, and Brandon still had not returned.
He begged me to trust him, but he also broke his own promise.
I quietly completed my discharge procedure.
Then, I took a taxi and went back to the place where Brandon and I buried a time capsule ten years ago.
It was under a phoenix tree.
Ten years ago, it was just a sapling.
After a decade, it had grown into a tall tree.
I took the small shovel I had brought with me and slowly but surely dug out the buried time capsule.
I opened the letter Brandon had written ten years ago.
[Hello, twenty-seven-year-old Brandon. I’m you when you were seventeen. I believe you’re having a happy life with Rhea, right?
[I kept thinking what type of life I should give Rhea. Should I give her a rich life or an ordinary and peaceful life?
[Regardless, her happiness is my priority.
[I hope you never upset Rhea.
[Don’t hurt her, and don’t lie to her ever.]
Seventeen-year-old Brandon was sobbing violently when he read the letter till the end.
He cried and said, “Rhea, don’t be sad. Please, don’t be unhappy.
“Just leave me, and don’t turn back.”
Both he and I had understood that twenty-seven-year-old Brandon had used up all three chances I had promised to his younger self.
I wiped his tears away. I was surprised that I was able to touch him.
It was as if I had broken the time continuum and gone back a decade.
“Don’t cry,” I whispered.
Then, I took off the sapphire wedding ring.
Brandon had given that ring to me when he proposed.
It said that sapphire represented an unbroken promise and loyalty.
He also said that I was the only person he would ever love.
I placed the ring, envelope, and the divorce agreement that I had prepared in advance into the time capsule.
Then, I saw the figure of Brandon’s seventeen-year-old self slowly disappear under the tree.
He was still sobbing, but he smiled at me.
He said, “Rhea, don’t forgive him.”
The memories of the past ten years had dissipated alongside his disappearing figure. The sun rose, and there was nothing left of him.
I took out my phone and sent Brandon a text.
[It’s over between us, Brandon.]
Then, the silent phone suddenly started to ring violently.
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