Chapter 22
After that, Ryan infiltrated every corner of Thea’s life.
He found her contact information and sent sweet photos from their past.
Daily essays about the most trivial moments from when they were dating.
Gifts identical to ones he’d given her before.
He waited on her route to and from work, wearing clothes she’d once bought him.
But Thea refused everything he sent. She blocked every number he messaged from.
She avoided any place he might be.
She changed her transportation to avoid any contact with him.
Not out of fear, but pure disgust.
A month later, her secretary knocked on Thea’s office door.
“Director, Ryan’s been waiting downstairs for three days. Should we call the police?”
Thea frowned slightly. “Send him up.”
Soon, Ryan appeared.
He looked even more haggard, his thin frame swimming in shirts that once fit perfectly.
“Thea, did you see the photos I sent you?”
Thea’s expression was blank. Ryan started to panic.
“I’m not in a hurry. I’ll wait for you to remember slowly. When you do, you’ll know I’m the one you love.” Ryan tried again.
“Remember what?”
Thea laughed.
“Remember how on our anniversary, Lyra staged her whole act and you had wedding guests slap me to defend her?”
At her words, Ryan froze.
“Or how you thoughtfully gave me allergy medication so I could make more herbal soup for Lyra?”
“Well, or maybe forcing me to kneel in public for Lyra, locking me in that warehouse to ‘teach me a lesson’?”
With every sentence, Ryan’s face grew paler.
“Or, do you want me to remember how you ripped my mother’s oxygen mask off right in front of me?”
Ryan’s whole body shook. He could barely stand.
He frantically shook his head. “No… it wasn’t like that, Thea. The hospital had already said your mother couldn’t be saved, they could only…”
“I know.”
Marcus had already told her about this.
Ryan looked at Thea-her gaze was cold and distant, sending his heart plummeting into the abyss.
“Thea, I did a lot of things wrong, but Marcus lied to you too. These past three years…”
“These past three years, he made me a better person.”
Thea cut him off. “What about you?”
Ryan was speechless.
This whole month, all he’d hoped for was that Thea would remember their past.
But now that she truly remembered, he suddenly realized the shared memories he’d been counting on were riddled with wounds.
“Thea…”
Ryan broke down.
“I’ve been trying so hard. I just want one chance.”
“I’m sorry, I really know I was wrong. Can you forgive me just once?”
“But all I ever wanted was someone who deserved me. And I gave you that.”
Thea just opened the door for him. “Please don’t let me see you again, okay?”
He’d thought agreeing to this meeting meant hope for a fresh start.
Only now did he realize it wasn’t.
Thea was different from him. When Lyra had come to him, he hadn’t rejected her thoroughly enough because he’d wavered.
But Thea hadn’t wavered at all.
“…Okay.”
Ryan walked out of the office like a zombie.
Behind him, Thea was answering a call from Marcus, her voice full of sweetness and joy.
“I know, I already had afternoon tea. I won’t have another low blood sugar episode.”
That happiness had once been his.
Ryan mechanically walked out of the office building. He knew he no longer had the right to appear before Thea.
He pulled out candy from his pocket and put it in his mouth.
The sweetness of the candy spread a bitter ache all the way to his lungs.
Blood rose in his throat, but he swallowed it back down.
Tears fell without him realizing it.
Ryan finally kept a promise. Two years later, at his mother’s funeral, when Thea and Marcus came to pay their respects, he deliberately stayed away.
As Thea was leaving, his mother’s friend was still lamenting.
“Ryan seems very sick. He donated all the money from selling his company, only kept enough to buy an urn. He’s arranged to be buried with his ex-wife.”
“The Mitchell family line ends here.”
Thea paused briefly, then got in the car with Marcus and left.
From the corner, Ryan watched her figure with longing, then started coughing again-violent coughs that made his whole body ache.
But he smiled.
10 90
At
least Thea was happy.
And
soon, he wouldn’t
have to
suffer
anymore.
This was good.
