Anne smiled and nodded at a few children who glanced over their shoulders at her, then picked up her pace to slightly faster than her normal walk. But as soon as she stepped out to the walkway, she sprinted in the direction of the school’s main entrance at breakneck speed. She didn’t think about what came next. She only knew she needed to find him.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally spotted his disappearing back. Even though he’d just left the classroom, his long legs had carried him almost to the other side of the small campus.
“Frederick,” she called out, running after him. For a moment, she thought he would keep walking, but he faltered, then slowly turned to face her. She barely skidded to a stop an arm’s length away from him.
Even as she struggled to catch her breath, her eyes roamed greedily over him. The sheer breadth of the man made him seem like an intimidating stranger. Yet the wayward lock of hair that fell across his forehead was so familiar that her heart ached with tenderness. Her hand twitched at her side, wanting to brush the hair away like she’d done a thousand times.
But a part of her craved to explore the changes in him. She wanted to press her palms against the hard definition of hischest to see if there would be any give. If she spanned her hands around his biceps, would her fingertips touch? How else had he changed? How different would he feel? Her teeth caught her bottom lip as awareness shot down her spine, adding to the confused chaos of her emotions.
“Frederick.” She tilted her head back to look up at him, but the hard glint in his eyes made her want to turn away and hide from his anger.
“Yes?” His upper lip curled back.
“I…” She didn’t know what to say to his cold, shuttered face. He was so angry with her. But wasn’t that why she chased after him? To apologize?
“What do you want?” He turned his gaze toward the playground as though he couldn’t stand the sight of her, offering her his harsh, bleak profile.
The high slant of his cheekbone, his tall, straight nose, and the stern lines of his jaw could have made him appear hard and arrogant, but his wide, long-lashed eyes and his lush lips softened his face into something more compelling than mere good looks. And she knew he became the most beautiful man in the world when those lips spread into a smile. Would he ever smile at her like that again?
Then she abruptly remembered he was waiting for an explanation. Why did she stop him from leaving the school? She wasn’t all that sure herself.
“I wanted…” She should just apologize and walk away, but all the questions she’d suppressed from her consciousness broke through the surface.
She wanted to ask him how he was doing—if he was happy. She hoped he was happy, but… did he think about what could’ve been? Did he everlongfor what could’ve been? Did he wish—even for the briefest second—that they could be together again? But she had no right to ask any of that.
“I just wanted to… to say hello,” she stumbled over her vapid words.
Frederick scoffed, his expression hard and bitter, and her unhappy heart sank even lower. After a moment, he aimed his cutting gaze at her. “Well?”
“Well… what?” She blinked, her mouth going dry. Maybe this manwasa stranger.
“Sayhello,” he drawled mockingly.
She couldn’t hold back her flinch, humiliation washing over her. “H-hello.”
“There. You said hello.” He arched an impatient brow. “Are wedonehere?”
Anne shook her head, troubled by the cruel edge of his mockery. His old wound seemed to have festered into a deep-seated anger. She’d never seen Frederick so furious before—not even when she’d told him that she was leaving him. Had she done this to him? Changed him for the worse? She didn’t understand. He seemed to have an amazing life.
“No? We’re not done?” he snapped. “Because I have a job to get back to. A whole life to get back to that doesn’t involve talking to a ghost from my past.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her throat clogging with unshed tears and unspoken words.
I’m sorry I hurt you. And I’m sorry there’s no place for me in your life. I did that to myself—to both of us—but it was the only choice I could make. The best way I knew how to love you.
He stilled for a second, then his nostrils flared on a sharp inhale. “For what? What are you sorry for?”
“I’m sorry… to have bothered you.” She meant it. She shouldn’t have bothered him.
Anne couldn’t apologize for breaking up with him when she believed she’d made the right choice. If life dealt her that same awful hand again, she would choose to leave him… again. Shewould choose to protect him and his bright future over her own needs.
She wished he wouldn’t be so angry with her, because that meant a part of him was still hurting. And in her heart of hearts, she wanted him to stop hurting even if that meant he would forget her completely. But she didn’t have the power to take away his hurt. All she did was remind him of it.
“Goodbye, Frederick,” she said in a broken whisper.
“Anne.” His icy veneer seemed to crack, and something like remorse flickered in his eyes. “I…”
She turned and ran away from him without waiting for him to finish. She refused to fall apart in front of him and burden him with her selfish tears. She had already hurt him more than enough.
