For Ariella, my feelings were complicated.
Her father was the driver for Killian's family.
But I was the one who first met Ariella.
One day, Killian's family had something urgent, and her dad had to go. He brought her along. Not wanting her to wait in their house, he put her in the pavilion. She sat there, staring at the rain outside, not moving her gaze. I ran out of my house and asked her what she was looking at.
"Watching the rain."
"Is it beautiful?"
"No."
"Then why are you still watching?"
"I'm hungry."
I thought she was really interesting, so I gave her a box of biscuits.
The next time we met was in middle school, and I recognized her right away. We became friends.
From middle school to high school, she was my best friend.
I thought our friendship would last forever.
Until she left for abroad with twenty thousand from Killian's family.
Twenty thousand? Was it enough for her to betray a relationship, to give up on Killian?
I couldn't understand.
And like everyone else, I started to look at her with bias.
I once thought about asking her: "If you were given a second chance, would you regret your choice?" Killian asked her.
On the phone, Ariella's voice came through.
She said: "No! Honestly, I'm really grateful to your mom. At that time, she gave me a choice: either stay with you, but my parents' careers would be affected, and we'd face constant interference from the Sutton family, or I could go abroad. She would provide me with the best educational resources, pay for all the costs, and after I graduated, she'd offer me some work support."
"Then why did you come back? Ten years ago, you ruined my life, and ten years later, you've messed everything up again. Ariella, why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Then have you left me alone? Have you left Amya alone? Why should Amya settle for you? She loves someone so seriously, and yet you degrade her? If you can't let go of me, why are you with her? Since you're with her, why can't you let go of me? Killian, you're not worthy of Amya."
"Shut up!"
Along with Killian's roar came the sound of glass shattering.
"If it weren't for you, we would have gotten married, we would have been fine together. If you hadn't shown up, none of this would have happened, me and Amya…" Killian's voice faltered.
He said: "I love her!"
"But no one in this world is obligated to wait for your belated realization. Killian, even if I hadn't appeared, how long could Amya have held on? She's such a proud person, once she wakes up, you won't be able to win her back."
"I don't believe it!"
These were the last three words Killian said before he left.
I watched him stagger out of the hallway, limping as he got into his car, which sped away. The phone call didn't hang up. After a long time, Ariella's voice came again. "Amya, if I had known you liked him back then, I would never have been with him."
I eventually entered Ariella's house. She poured me a glass of red wine. I asked her, "Where's the baby?"
"He's asleep! Goes to bed at nine, wakes up at seven. His routine is on point!"
"Why? Why did you decide to have a baby through artificial insemination?" Ariella finished the wine in her glass.
"Two years after I went abroad, my parents passed away, both from cancer. The kind that can't be treated. I don't know if you can understand that feeling, but when your closest people are gone, you suddenly lose the meaning of life. Everyone dies, but what am I living for? It wasn't depression, it wasn't a sense of world-weariness, I just suddenly didn't know why I was alive. I suffered for a long time and then decided to have a child. It wasn't about living for the child, but about bringing a new person into this world, watching him grow, slowly becoming alive. That's life."
"Amya, I've always been a very practical and materialistic person. To me, love is a luxury. And what's luxury? It's something I can live without if I'm not rich. It won't kill me. I really think only people like you, who have no worries, deserve to talk about love. That's why I said those words to Killian. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Amya, I'm sorry."
That night, Ariella said a lot to me. She talked about her life abroad.
She talked about raising her child.
She talked about her apology to me.
And her apology to Killian.
She wasn't without regrets.
Killian was injured while trying to save her.
"Even now, when I see his leg, I still feel hurt. The past can't be changed. I thought everyone was moving forward, but even though we all are moving forward, how did things end up like this?"
Amya, I honestly don't know if coming back was the right or wrong choice. I just felt that you shouldn't ever be someone's second choice. You should live proudly."
That day when I returned home, the sky was already beginning to lighten.
Killian got out of the car, looking both sad and helpless.
"Amya, can we really not go back?"
I nodded.
"Killian, don't trap yourself this time, truly move forward!" When I returned home, I didn't sleep.
I dug through one box after another. All of them contained things from my past.
I searched for a long time.
Finally, I found an old camera in one of the boxes.
I flipped through the photos.
There were pictures of me, of Ariella Neal, of Killian Sutton.
Until I came across one photo, and I froze.
"Little angel, give me a peace sign!"
The boy turned around, his face marked with injury, with dried blood on his forehead. His gaze was sharp, almost as if he was trying to scare me away.
But I was drawn to the scene and pressed the shutter.
"Little angel, take this umbrella, hurry home, don't let your family worry. This photo came out really well. If you want it, I'll develop it tomorrow and give it to you."
With a knowing smile, I sent Curtis a message.
"Little angel, got time? Or maybe tomorrow, same place, I'll bring you the photos?" The next second, Curtis called me.
He said, "Don't be late!"
