Chapter 3
The dimer ended in a cloud of tendon.
On the drive home, Lysander steered in tony allen whale Navier and unt the window, feeling nothing bamptiness.
Then came the screech of thes
Both locked up to see a car careening out of contred straight toward their lane.
Before Navier could react, there was a deafening crash. Their car lurched violently, then everything span,
Navier’s head slammed against the window, Darkness rushed in, swallowing her whinde
Somewhere in the haze, she heard Lysander’s ragged breathing.
Torcing her eyes open, she saw his arm stretched across her body as if to shield her.
A flicker of warmth ignited in her cliest
But the next moment, her heart turned to ice.
Lysander wasn’t shielding her at all–he was protecting the necklace lying next to her–the one Ophelia Belmont had grown him.
Blood smeared across the delicate silver chain, and Lysander didn’t even seem to notice his own injuries.
A thin crack ran through the necklace. His eyes flashed with distress as he pulled out his phone and made a call.
“Get me the best restoration expert. I need a necklace repaired. Immediately”
Looking at the man before her, Navier felt an indescribable wave of desolation wash over her.
His wife sat in the passenger seat, severely injured, covered in blood, in too much pain to move–yet
he hadn’t spared her a single glance.
He cared nothing for her injuries, badn’t even called an ambulance. Instead, he staggered out of the car, focused only on repairing that damn pendant.
Then her vision blurred, her hody Į giving out
The last thing she saw before losing consciousness-
Was his back
In the operating room, harsh lights shone down on Navier’s pale face.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, she heard a nurse’s anxious voice. “We cant reach her husband? No one’s here to sign the consent form for surgery!”
“How can a man just disappear when his wife is in this condition? What could possibly be more important than his wife’s life?”
A bitter smile twisted Navier’s lips.
Of course. In Lysander’s mind, Ophelia and anything associated with her obviously mattered more than his wife’s life.
“…. can sign… myself.” Navier whispered, her voice barely audible.
The nurse hesitated but had no other option. Ghally nodded.
Navier raised her blood covered hand and shakily signed her name on the consent form.
Every letter felt like it drained the last of her strongth
She had no idea how much time had passed when she finally woke up.
But in all that time–Lysander never once came.
11:17
Almost in Love with You: Before That Cruel Summer Took Everything
She knew he was busy with the hecklare’s restoration. Its had no time for her.
On the day of her discharge, Navier’s injuries were still far from healed. She could only leave in a wheelchair.
Lysander finally seemed to remember he had a severely injured wife from the accident.
He came to pick her up, his expression detached, as if this was merely another task on his to do lid.
The driver took a shottest onto the expressway.
The only sound in the vehicle was the rhythmic tapping of yander’s fingers on his Integ
Navier glanced sideways and caught a glimpse of his ser
versation with t
with his secretary, entirely about the necklace’s restoration progress
That necklace, just a casual gift from Ophelia, was treated like a priceless it
While she–a living, breathing human being–couldn’t even gei
eet him to look at her
The car cruised smoothly along the highway, scenery rushing past outside.
Neither spoke, until suddenly Lysander stopped typing, his gaze fixed intensely on something outside.
His breathing quickened, fingers gripping the door handle as if he’d spotted something he’d been desperately longing for
Following his line of sight, Navier saw a figure in the crowd–a girl in a white dress with slightly curled hair and a silhouette just like Ophelia’s
“Stop the car!” Lysander’s voice shot up sharply.
The driver slammed on the brakes, pulling over to the roadside.
Lysander flung the door open the instant the car stopped, his eyes still locked on the retreating figure.
Then he glanced back at Navier, his tone cold and hurried Tind your own way back. I have something to do”
Navier froze, fingers clutching the wheelchair armrests until her knuckles turned white.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Lysander had already pulled her and the wheelchair out of the car, then ordered the driver to turn around.
The car swing around and sped off in the direction where the figure had disappeared, leaving Navier stranded alone in her wheelchair by the side of the expressway.
