Chapter 42
+25 BONUS
As Duncan watched Lucy walk away, he couldn’t help but wonder how many secrets she was keeping from him. Yet, faced with Audrey in this state, he found himself unable to utter a single word of reproach.
Lucy, afraid of Duncan’s questioning, left on her own, with Duncan following close behind. He had always felt guilty about how he had treated Audrey before, so now he didn’t want to press her further.
From that point on, Duncan was practically inseparable from Lucy. She didn’t receive any more strange phone calls and didn’t even step out of the house. But the incident lingered in Duncan’s mind, an obstacle he couldn’t
overcome.
He felt that although they were physically close, their hearts were worlds apart. He didn’t know what she was thinking. Aside from some deliberate attempts to please hith, most of the time she seemed uneasy, as if she were afraid of something.
Duncan brought up the topic of marriage multiple times, only to be rejected each time. Audrey didn’t want to marry him, to be with him for life. She was unwilling.
Until June 21st, Audrey’s birthday, when Duncan bought a two–million–dollar diamond ring and proposed to Lucy again.
“Audrey, marry me,” Duncan said, getting down on one knee in front of her, ready to slip the ring onto her finger.
Lucy’s eyes welled up with tears. If only he weren’t seeing her as Audrey at that moment, if he were proposing to her as herself. If only Duncan had loved her, Lucy, from the beginning. But that wasn’t the case. He loved Audrey, and everything now was for Audrey. All his kindness toward her was meant for Audrey.
She felt like a thief who had stolen something and didn’t want to return it. How pitiful!
She wanted to marry Duncan too, but he had mistaken her for Audrey, and everyone in the city wouldn’t. The registry office certainly wouldn’t–they couldn’t even get a marriage certificate.
Without realizing it, Lucy’s face was streaked with tears. Fighting back the pain in her heart, she said to Duncan, I’m sorry, but now is not the time for marriage.”
The ring slipped from Duncan’s hand, and he felt as if something were tearing his heart in two. He watched helplessly as the woman he loved fled from his proposal.
He had never thought Audrey would leave him until she actually did over a year ago. Only then did he realize that Audrey staying by his side wasn’t a given; he had to fight for it.
So when she called him the day after she left, he told her he was going to get engaged to Heather, hoping to provoke Audrey into coming back to him.
But when she really did come back, he hated her. He hated her for leaving him, for marrying another man. He had completely forgotten that in their relationship, it was always Audrey who had given more. He had never said he would marry her, had never made any promises.
But she didn’t care about any of that. She left alone when she was sick because she didn’t want to be a burden to him.
Now that he wanted to make promises and take action, she refused. Perhaps this was heaven’s punishment for how he had treated her before.
After Duncan’s proposal, Lucy began to intentionally avoid him. She was afraid that if he proposed again, she wouldn’t be able to resist saying yes.
Chapter 42
+25 BONUS
A month passed, and Lacy received a call from an unknown number. When she heard the familiar voice, her face paled.
Peter was back. He had disappeared for two months, and now he was back. He still wouldn’t let her go. Had he run out of money?
