+25 BONUS
Chapter is
Chapter 33
No many men could have endured what she did.
When they were sophomores, Duncan confessed his feelings to her. She had been wearing a simple white T–shirt and jeans–youthful and full of energy, like a ray of spring sunshine.
you.
“Audrey, 1 l you be my girlfriend?” he said.
Back then, his only thought was to win her over and be with her.
“I’m sorry, 1…” Andrey’s face turned bright red as she lowered her head.
Fearing rejection, Duncan quickly cut her off before she could finish. “Audrey, take your time. You don’t have to answer right away.”
For a month after that, he was on edge, constantly worried that her eventual answer would be a rejection.
Then one day after class, he followed her to the library. She was trying to reach for a poetry book on a shelf that was too high for her. She stood on her tiptoes and tried several times but couldn’t get it. In her effort, she accidentally knocked over the entire shelf of books.
Duncan rushed over and held her tightly in his arms, shielding her from the falling books.
Though she hadn’t explicitly agreed to date him after that, their relationship became much closer.
They started eating meals together, walking to and from school, discussing textbooks, and sharing their dreams.
It wasn’t until the night of their senior year graduation party that everything changed. He got drunk, and with a little encouragement from their classmates, he kissed her. She didn’t resist.
Feeling elated, he drank even more until he could barely stand. She supported him back to his dorm room.
The room was empty. Perhaps it was the alcohol, or perhaps it was the moment, but that night, he made her his.
Audrey truly became his woman.
From then on, they started their business together, working side by side. She always supported him from the shadows, guiding him through every pivotal moment.
But the dream shifted abruptly the night she left him. The finance department had called to say that six million was missing from the account. He searched everywhere for her, practically blowing up her phone, but she never picked up.
In that moment, it felt like his world had collapsed. Audrey was his world, and with her gone, everything
crumbled.
It wasn’t that Audrey couldn’t live without him; it was that he couldn’t live without h
her.
Without her, he was like a fish out of water, gasping for air, always on the verge of suffocating.
In his dream, Duncan’s tears soaked his pillow. His body curled up into a ball, like a child who had lost all sense of security.
The next morning, Duncan’s father, Seamus, came to check on him, worried. He had never seen his son like this- so fragile, so vulnerable, like a small animal in desperate need of protection.
A man in his fifties, Seamus stood quietly by the door, watching his son, who was trembling and weeping in his sleep, curled up in the bed like a broken man.
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+25 BONUS
Chapter 33
When Duncan finally woke up, the first thing he saw was li father standing in the doorway, watching him. His first question was, “Dad, where’s Audrey?”
Seamus opened his mouth, but no words came out. How could he tell his son that Audrey was already dead? That she was never coming back?
Duncan’s mind was unraveling. He was beginning to forget what had truly happened.
But could Seamus bring himself to break this terrible reality to his son?
As Seamus hesitated, Duncan walked over to him, looking strangely energized, as if he had found hope.
“Dad, didn’t you see Audrey leave when you came in?” Dungan asked, his face showing no signs of the sorrow he had felt earlier.
“Duncan… Audrey, she…”
“Dad, I know. Audrey must have gone to buy groceries. Every day, she makes all my favorite dishes. That must be it -she went to get groceries.” Duncan’s expression was completely devoid of the grief that had consumed him before.
Seamus watched as his son descended the stairs, his eyes filled with deep sadness. If he could, he would take all of this pain upon himself, sparing his son from such torment
Duncan hurried out, his heart full of anticipation, heading toward the supermarket. He wandered through the aisles, searching for her. But as time passed, he scratched his head, an unsettling feeling slowly creeping in.
