The pain and resentment had long faded as the scars on my hands healed, blown away by time.
Once home, I sorted the scattered sketches on my desk.
Just as Felicity had said, I never entered university, and I never had another chance to rise in life.
As I returned the sketches to the cabinet, I suddenly found an old letter.
The handwriting was bold and steady: "To Emily Carter."
At the end, he wrote that he would give me everything he had, yet in the end, I lost everything because of him.
My thoughts were pulled back to the past.
William and I were childhood sweethearts, growing up side by side.
We lived in the same neighborhood, and back then, he had a warm family.
Later, his father’s business expanded, and he came home less and less. He would always run to my house, saying it felt like home, unlike his own.
When he was six, William’s father cheated, and his mother smashed everything overnight, then stopped caring about him altogether.
During the divorce, his parents tossed him around like a burden, without wanting him.
The once warm family of three was now just an empty house.
In the end, my parents took pity on him and cared for him like their own son.
From then on, William and I were inseparable, never apart again.
He was always outstanding, with excellent grades and handsome looks.
And I was just an ordinary girl, not pretty, with average grades, my only notable quality being perhaps my talent for drawing.
But I never felt unworthy of William.
He once said that our family gave him the warmth of all families; we were his family.
He also said that I was a ray of light in his dark world.
One evening after self-study in my first year of high school, I walked home with William as usual.
In a secluded alley, we encountered William’s father.
He reeked of alcohol, his words and actions unsteady, and his behavior erratic.
It turned out he had gone bankrupt, his mistress had run away, and now he had turned to William.
William didn’t want to go with his father, who suddenly lunged at him, trying to drag him away.
I stood in front of him without hesitation, driving his father off.
Actually, I was so scared my legs could barely stand, but I was even more afraid of him getting hurt.
That night, William hugged me tightly and said he would only love me for the rest of his life.
After entering high school, William became increasingly outstanding, attracting countless girls to pursue him.